Well lets begin by saying i've owned my 25mkII for about a year and a half. Overall i'm very impressed with the reciever. The suround mode and the music are a pleasure to listen too. Hooked up to a pair of Paradigms, wih my favorite classical cd in, all i can say it's sound stage is incredible. If you close your eyes you can almost point to the different instruments in the orchestra ( yeah the speakers help too). In Dolby Pro Logic? Lets just says, stick a THX movie in, and turn the volume up about half, and watch the smiles when the THX logo comes up, thats all the proof you'll need!

I own a pair of Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble 2 speakers (Looking forward to getting the towers sometime soon) and a the AVR25MKII, and I can only say one thing!!! It sounds awesome, I like all types of music, Dance, Trance, House, Classical, and I have never had one song that sounded bad on the system as well as the speakers. My friend has a Onkyo and I truly can hear a difference. The HK has warmer sound, better bass, and better surround sound than any other machine I have heared for that price!!! I can only say one thing for people that believe that the HK is nothing else than excellent... Get your hearing checked...

I listened to the HK and a Onkyo tx-sv535 both about the same price and on the same speakers and I'm sorry HK fans but there was no comparison. the highs on the onkyo are brighter and more accurate. So was the bass. I switched back and forth between some DCM's, JBL's and Klipsch 4.5 and the onkyo sounded better on all the speakers. it was louder cleaner and brighter. My friend bought the HK and I bought the Onkyo. I also purchased the 4.5 Klipsch speakers and center channel with some Eosone surround speakers and powered sub. sounds very good for less then $2,000 bucks . Before you by the HK go truly put a comparable onkyo next to it on the same speakers and you will notice a big difference.

I recently got a H/K AVR 40 and its a real pity why you dont have a reviews page for this magnificent receiver. This one just kicks ass. I also got a pair of DCMs (gosh I cant remember the model name..KX10 was it?) to go with this. I also had to oppurtunity to compare the sounds of the Onkyo tx-sv444, another Kenwood 106 VR, a Technics, Pioneer, and a Sony (all between $200-300). There were remarkable differences between all of them. The Technics had a pretty rich sound but I thought the Kenwood had more bass and it came closest to the H/K but sounded a little flatter (compare the 2, and you will notice the diff). The Onkyo was brighter but had absoutely no bass. When I turned up the treble it sounded pretty harsh. But it was the brightest of them all. But the best sounding was the H/K AVR-40 with more bass, real clean midrange and a good strong treble. Man the clarity and the overall sound quality just blew the others away. Crisp is an understatement here. I just cant describe the sound in words. I advice to all of you is to *listen* to these different receivers and then go for the best sounding. Dont always believe the sales person. *You* are the best judge cause every individual has different tastes. For audiophiles/musicians like me, however this is one of the best budget receivers ever built.
(55 watt per channel doesnt make a heck of a diff. A 125 watt per channel reciever for the same price is only marginally more powerfull with sound quality that just sux!!)

I bought this receiver last summer. It's really great receiver in its price range. With a punchy bass and clean and open midrange, it sound terrific when i hooked it up to my Polk Audio RTS speaker. I had MARANTZ SR-670 before i switched to HK. HK sounds lot better than MARANTZ especilly in bass.

I've lived with the AVR25Mk2 for about six months, purchased at Eagle Audio in New York,(Highly recommended!) while working there this summer,along with 5 of
NHT's SuperOnes.(Jury's still out on this one; if you can afford a subwoofer,get one, AC-3 is here to stay, folks.) After breaking them in, well, this combo sounded FINE.I am an budding audiophile who has listened to all of the high end stuff (Pro-ac's, Audio Reasearch, Krell, Citiaton, Cary intergraded stuff, etc.)Are these Sterophile class A-B rated products in danger of sharing thier places with the HK? Nope. Soundstaging is good in my smallish (15 bt 20) room,dynamics good at near THX levels, yet there IS some signs of strain on very high peaks. I know that most of the people who have purchased is product are ery happ with it, and God bless em', but I cannot advocate the use this or any reciver.Build quality is good, the transformer and heatsink used in the HK seem to be of pretty high build quality, but I am saving my pennies for an AMC pro-logic pre-amplifier and a Parasound/Rotel 5-channel amp. This combo will kick the ass of any reciver on the market, all at about $1,750 sans interconnects. Buying a reciver makes good sense, after all, it is an cheaper alternative to seperate components, BUT in 6 months, with the AMC pre I can upgrade to AC-3 and DTS (AMC will introduce a decoder for both formats); can you folks do the same? This lack of flexabilty would be very much a problem for me had I'd known what I know now.(Just try listening to a DVD in prologic and you'll see what I mean.Would I buy this thing again? Yes; but I do know and strive for better sounding products to own within my budget.Buy this thing, sell it for about $350 and get yourself seperates. You'll be glad you did. P.S. and the sping clip terminals for th surround channels suck. There, I said it. Shoot me.

Ok, I broke down and finally ordered a HK-25mkII. A lot of my decision wasbased on the excellent reviews I have seen on the net (especially this web site). I ordered it from Damark for $341. I will write a follow up review when I receive it, but let's just say that it is intended to replace a Kenwood 1080VR Dolby Digital receiver (returning). Crazy huh? To me, sonics is everything. The stereo mode on the Kenwood is ok, but it could be a whole lot better. The HK is so cheap, it will buy me some time for Dolby Digital and DVD equipment to drop in price and fully standardize. Later I will probably add a B&K AV5000 to it. Eventually I will replace it on my main system with a B&K DD Preamp. The HK will then replace the Kenwood 8070 that is driving my computer system.

The avr25mkII is a fine product. But, to correct Mike Roth, the avr80mkII has +45amps, not 30amps. The 80 is also quieter.

I recently purchased an HK AVR25 mkII as a replacement for a Sony STR-D911 that was having problems. For me the lack of Dolby Digital readiness was not really an issue as I use my system for music 90% of the time with an occasional rented movie or with a Surround TV broadcast.
The quality of this receiver was very impressive in terms of build quality and sound when compared to what is available for the $330 I paid. I compared against Sony, Pioneer, JVC, Denon, Kenwood, and Techincs. As this seems to have sold for about $700 a little over a year ago, it seems like a bargain as long as you don't need AC-3 readiness. The price drops on DPL equipment have helped as I was considering a Stereo only receiver until I realized the price drops on DPL stuff made them a better buy.

The sound quality is so superior to what my old Sony offered, it is quite surprising. The Marantz CD63SE CD player and B&W 602 speakers had capabilities they could not show before. Granted this is no hi-end separates type of system and can't compare sonically to one, but for the price it is not bad. The sound fields like Theater and Stadium even sound half decent…not like most I have heard.

I really like it's rather plain appearance very much, but this is just a matter of taste I suppose as my wife upon seeing it the first time said "That's ugly, does it sound better than it looks?" Gold plated inputs on the CD and a high pass when connecting the subwoofer outputs in exchange for the PHONO section would have been nice to have, but again, for the price I am not complaining. I understand that the replacement AVR40 doesn't have the PHONO section.

Overall 5 stars.

I USED TO BE A BIG CARVER FAN, THEN I COMPARED THE HARMAN,A 1OO WATT ONKYO, AND A CARVER AV RECIEVER THROUGH A SET
OF INEFICIANT CARVER SPEAFERS. THE AVR 25 PLAYED WARMER
AND CLEANER. IT COULD USE MORE SUROUND MODES BUT I GIVE
IT 4 STARS ANYWAY. IF ANYONE KNOWS THE EFECTS A HARMAN
5800 AMP WOULD HAVE ON MY RECIEVER PLEASE INFORM ME.
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