Purchased the HK AVR 45 a couple of weeks ago. I upgraded from a Yamaha RXV660. Musically there is no comparison. The HK is much superior. It has a much warmer natural sound to it than the Yamaha. The low end from my DCM's is much tighter and realistic. Pretty easy to operate without the manual and seems solidly built. The remote is programable but does not have the codes for my Rotel CD player. It also will not correctly work my Pioneer 414 DVD player. There is a slight hiss/hum from the Center Channel at all times. Other than that I think it is great for Dolby Digital and Music. Not quite at the level as separates but overall much better than other recievers that I listened to.

After returning a Kenwood VR2080 DTS/DD Receiver, I picked up the Harman Kardon AVR 45. My review is as follows:
Sound Quality (Movies):
Excellent! I was pleasantly surprised with the natural, uncolored sound this unit generates. The sound is that superior to that generated by the Kenwood I had previously owned. The bass response seemed tighter and fuller and the dialogue from the Center speaker was crystal clear and sharp.

Sound Quality (Music):
Excellent! Again I was surprised at the quality improvement over the Kenwood. Music was natural sounding and clear.

Ease of use:
Excellent! I had this unit up and running in no time, and switching between modes is easily accomplished. The remote controls all of my other components and is also easy to use.

Overall Impressions:
I really like this unit. I am also greatful for the ability to connect an outboard DTS decoder, in case DTS takes off.

This is my first HK receiver, and so far, I am sold on this brand. I like the quality of the components, the quality of the sound, and the ease of setup and use. No complaints!

I found a great web site that carries the complete harman kardon line at great prices. it is www.sounddistributors.com I saved $300.00 by buying my receiver from them!!!

I recently bought a Harman/Kardon system to test it. It is reasonabelly priced for all the features it has. The sound doesn't have much coloration, and has pretty good imaging. The high current it provides makes the most complicated musicals easy. If you are an entry-level audiophile, I wouldn't recommand it, you can get something nicer like the NAD's for the same price. But if you are upgrading from sony , kenwood, pioneer or aiwa, and want a decent stereo system with digital capabilities, this is the system to buy.

HARMAN/KARDON AVR45, a KILLER sound for the price!!!NO HUM, NO HISS, NO DISTORTION, NO FLAW, NO NOTHING...
Just LOUD, CRISP, CLEAN sound. The BEST receiver so far!!!
I love it :-)
It deserves more than 5 stars!!!

I got the HK AVR45 recently and its just awesome. The hookup wasreally easy and programming the remote was a cakewalk.
Got this from Sound Distributors for a really good deal.
Ive got this hooked up to polk RT1000's and I must tell ya...
music never sounded better.

A full enthusiastic thumbs up to this recieiver.

I researched about the realiabilty of the Harman Kardon products and came across a site www.ubid.com where they sell thousands of refurbished
Harman Kardon products. That tells you something about the Company and
its product.

May be they are the poineers but they have one of the worst realibilty
and service charges in the industry.

When you buy a high end product you expect it to perform and last as well.

For the same reason I would give this product a Single Star and advice
people to consider reliability before picking up a receiver.

So far my AVR45 has been reliable. I would say they are far better than the industry average when it comes to reliability and service.

I bought this receiver about 7 months ago. The reason I bought it was for my DD DVDs and they sound fantastic on it. I used to have a Dolby Digital ready receiver but the AVR45 and it's true DD blows it away. I highly recommend it.

A wonderful, solid home theater receiver for the money. Powerful, clean...what more can you want from a receiver? Don't need 150 different "sound fields." The remote is easy to program, but they could expand the code tables a bit -- instead of listing a number of codes for a given brand, they could break it into models per brand, but that's a minor quibble. After all, we're looking at the receiver here, right? I'd recommend it to anyone.