I purchased the AVR35 Yesterday from Top Appliance City in NYC,and couldn't wait to hook it up to my Pioneer DVD-606D and Energy Take 5 speakers. I must say the the sales person was very high pressure and the store does not have any of the receivers hooked up for listening. They also have limmited quantity in stock on the displayed items and try to sell extended warrenties on every product for an additional $100.
The set up of the unit was very easy and it is critical to have the optical connection (fiber optics). The difference in sound on DVD with the AC-3 mode was tremendous vs. the traditional analog. I was not satisfied with the sound until I noticed that you must configure the receiver to Small (by default Large) to properly work with a satillite speaker system with separate sub-w. Once I properly setup the receiver to handle dolby digital via the optical link the sound quality was clear and true. However, there was a slight hiss in the speakers that were not being used at the molement. The overall theater sound was very good.

I then put a traditional audio cd in the DVD player and was very disappointed. I tried various modes and found that Hall 1 seemed to be the best reproduction. The Stereo mode and Pro-logic modes made the music sound distant and muttered on occasion. I can only think that this unit was specifically designed with only the home theater in mind. It seemed that the entire mid-range was missing?

I will be returning this unit and replacing it with the Yamaha RX-V795, which has DTS decoding built-in and a few more features (too many to list) for about $200 more. Overall, I've heard my Take 5 system sound outstanding with other receivers and the AVR35 did not do justice. The Take 5 system has the potential to reproduce and project sound at a amazing level. I would pass on this receiver.

I have had my HK AVR35 for a couple of months now. I am very satisfied with the receiver. I just got a DVD player and tried the DD. It is awesome! The receiver plays as loud as I need it even though it is only rated at 40 W per channel. I have not had any problems whatsoever. I really like the programing flexiblity for each of the inputs. For example, when playing a DVD the receiver stores the channel settings for home theater. However, when a CD is played, the receiver changes to the settings I have set for playing music (i.e. only the two fronts and the sub on). I also like the ability to fine tune the output to the sub. I like to turn it up a bit when watching movies.

Just bought my first home theater system to take advantage of the AC-3 audio in DVD. I decided to go with the HK AVR35 and the JBL SCS125 speaker set. I must admit that I am impressed. After watching Aliens and Predator, the latter being only Digital Dolby Surround, not 5.1 :(, I must say WOW. My room was shaking with every gun blast and explosion. And I haven't even cranked it up yet.
For a starter system that I paid about $650 (receiver and speaker set) for, I won't need to upgrade for a long, long time.

I just finished hooking up my AVR 35 with some Polk RM700's and rear bose speakers and a pretty cheap no phrills dvd player (with optical connections.)
It blew my mind!
It was awesome, we watched movies till 4:00 am. Never in my life did something give me so many chills. I would recommend this to anyone who asks. It does have some upgrade limitations, and not enough inputs and outputs. but for a simple home theatre with speakers, dvd and a lot of time to enjoy. it is awesome. Although the remote does lack something to be desired. once you setup the system, In AC-3 mode there is no need for any adjustments. It just does everything for you. The sound is once again, awesome.

I give it Five stars.

I purchased this amp as a complete home theater come hifi unit. My first impression of the AVR-35 was that of disappointment. Music CD's sounded simply aweful, and the tape deck sounded worse than my portable radio. The tuner is also not that much better, sounding shallow and harsh. My opinion soon changed when I played my first DVD (Enemy of the state). The bass and mid range was far better than on any other source, and the high feq's shone through without any sign of harshness. The DVD performance is far better than any other source I have ever heard played through the AVR-35, but it's musical ability with sources other than DVD make this amp fall very short of glory. I sold a NAD 3020i amp which I had setup to play the DVD in stereo, and this amp simply kills the AVR-35 in performance and clarity. The AVR-35 sounded so clinical after the smooth sound of the NAD.
I will be trading this amp in on a DENON 1700, which is smoother, and much more powerful, that's if DVD's sound as good on this amp as they do on the AVR-35!.

My conclusion :- DVD rocks big time!, other sources suck!.

Just picked this up from Circuit City for $499 and I was very impressed. Bundled it together with JBL SCS125 speaker package. I wish it had more inputs, but the front input helps with hooking up some rarely used components (Playstation, Video Cam, etc). I looked at several Sony's and JVC's, but this one caught my eye (even though a little more for the same features), but well worth the money.

I have been collecting music for many years (have approx 1000 CD's of mainly classical and 60-70' rock origin), but I have never owned a decent stereo. I decided that now the boom-box had to go and spent many hours during a recent vacation to circle between the local Circuit City, Best Buy and enthisiast music stores to find a good deal. I was decided to go for a quality set, but of course, money was not unlimited.
I ended up at Circuit City as they seemed to have a broad varity of both popular and quality equipment. I narrowed my selection down to be a choice between the Sony STR-DE825, Onkyo TXDS 575 and the HK AVR 35. I was tempted by the Sony's bell and whistles and it was cheapest. The Onkyo seemed to be the best value for the money, but I included the HK in my final listening test as I knew HK was definitely a quality receiver. On the paper the HK was coming out short. It was the most expensive, has only 45 watts per channel, no DTS, no SuperVHS input and probably only half the features of the other contenders. But then I started the listening test, and what a significance in favor of the HK. There will probably be people who still like the Sony or Onkyo, but I found them very "metallic" sounding and somewhat exhausted in their sound picture. The HK had a warm natural sound which immediately spelled me. The test was performed with Polk RT800 and similar Inifinity speakers (I bought the Polk's) and included classical, popular and rock music.

Now at home I have mounted my HK AVR35 with the Polks and added my Panasonic DVD/CD X410. The Panasonic is obviously the weakest link, but still the sound is awesome. I can hardly wait until I have saved money for a Polk subworfer and a quality CD player.

I recently bought Harman/Kardon avr35. It sounds great.I compared it with Denon 1100 and other similar products in the
same per channel watt category and avr35 came the best.
Initially I tested with only Front Speakers-> Stereo seemed to be very good.
Then with Centre Speaker and 3-Dolby Stereo just reveals what it can do when
compared with Hall1, Hall 2 and Theatre.
With AC3 inputs its simply great. I would recommend for best performance
front speakers should be spaced quite enough so that the centre channel
sound can be perceived more clearly.
I don't think anyone can complain about this product if they are serious!!

fair price,good performance for dolby digital and pro logig, nice remote, great customizing features

not many audio inputs, terrible am/fm, not much on power here

As a man usually scrunched for cash, the step up to dolby digital was a hard one, i didn't have alot of money and was looking for a speaker/reciever combo that could give me the most bang for the buck. i choose the psb century line(know across the world for their wonderfull musicality)for my speakers. the 300ci for the mains, 200ci for the center, and the alpha minis for the rears, then i went out looking for the proper reciever so i could experience dolby digital from my newly bought dvd player(a fine one from philips magnavox). i was looking for 2 things, performance and a good price. i choose the harmon kardon 35 not because it had a gazillion features and a billion watts but for its fine sound reproduction, easy to setup parimetters and sleek look. yes it doesn't have alot of power but mating them with my efficient speakers and cutting of the low end with my atlantic technology subwoofer made the walls flex! i have never had this thing close to full throttle and have had it at around or above theatrical levels! u don't need alot of power to achieve great sound people, u need a great product; and the 35 is. ok, it does have downfalls, a week after i got it one of the aluminum connectors for the audio inputs fell off and was missing and it doesn't have alot of inputs(if u have more than 4 video sources and have alot of audio sources, this isn't the reciever for u). and the remote can be a hassle, press the wrong button and it could switch to another av or audio source. bright music and movie soundtracks will be downright annoying through this reciever. but give it a great soundtrack or musical source and sit back and enjoy! pure delight through this puppy. i also love the big letters and numbers on the display plate in front, they are always cleary visible. so i don't see why anyone would want this reciever unless u need alot of power, which u shouldn't if u have a subwoofer. even with out one it sounds wonderful. i'm gonna give it 5 stars for value and 4 stars overall cause of the lack of inputs and the problem i had with one of the inputs.



GOOD LISTENING

Similar Products Used:

sony str905, denon,marantz,technics, and others

I used to work in a major audio store that sold several different makes and types of receivers. As an owner and former audio salesperson I can say that Harman Kardon makes a GREAT RECEIVER. I choose the AVR35 for three reasons, dolby digital, performance, cost. If you like HK and you wnat a good receiver the AVR 35 is the one to go for. HK makes other models that have more power, THX processors and a few other extras. But you'll find that the AVR 35 with a set of good speakers is all you need to have a kick ass system. If your gonna buy a receiver check out hk first...you won't be disappointed.