Bought it in 1999 I think. It already had the volume fix done,and it has been working and playing lika a charm ever since. Been thinking about exchanging it plenty of times but every time I back. If it works, why fix it? Yes there better ones out there, but they cost.

i own two of these and they work great!

the first one i bought at a garage sale in santa rosa ca for $100 for my store. i bought a pair of bose 301s and mounted them on the wall, plugged the receiver into my computer for cds and streaming and let it rip. fantastic!

i mostly listen to kcsm, kdfc, bbc6, and st. louis hip hop streaming at low volumes, but every once in a while i like to hear it loud with songs like "destroy everything you touch" by ladytron, u2 "pride - in the name of love", or the pixies " into the white". this unit sounds like a friggin jet taking off! awesome. i only wish the speakers were bigger and could handle all the juice inside that big heavy black box.

i was so impressed i bought another one from a little sh*t salesclerk at hollister clothing company in the parking lot of the valley fair mall in santa clara, ca. kid said it worked, and i paid him $100, but it didn't work, and the kid shined me on when i wanted to return it. naughty boy!

sent it to the repair center in sacramento and $175 bucks later it was returned to me ready to rock, and rock it does. this one is hooked up to a panasonic led 42" screen, blue ray, and wall mounted bose 301 speakers in the living room. Volume control through the Blue Ray.

if you find one at a good price and it meets your needs, buy one! you won't be disappointed.

Bought the AVR 500 in college circa 2000 and its been in constant use ever since. I know its gone months without even being turned off. Ive moved across the Western US a few times taking my audio equipment (which also include Infinity Interlude speakers) so I know its rugged. Its been rock solid - no issues whatsoever and still sounds like the day I bought it. I hope to get another 10 years of use out of it at least. Best product investment ever!

Exceptional for home theatre, Great for music, Service Department (I guess they're used to it by now)

Reliability

I purchased my AVR 500 a little over a year ago knowing full well of the reliability issues. I too encountered the volume problem which was repaired by H/K with a two week delay. I later encountered an issue with the sub pre-out which was fixed by H/K in less than one week. H/K's customer service rep in Canada is a pleasure to deal with. Since having everything up and running, the system performs exceptionally. Although stereo sound is quite good, the real value of this receiver is in home theatre.

Similar Products Used:

Front: Monitor Audio Bronze 3's Rear: MA Bronze 1's Centre: MA Bronze Centre Sub: MA ASW 100 Cable: Kimber 8TC Bi-wire TV: Toshiba 34HF81 DVD: Older Toshiba

Seemingly limitless power Peak power of at least 200 to 300 watts per channel

Sorry to be repetitive, but I am going to be redundant and reiterate what other reviewers have said: Reliability problems. Limited surround modes, though Logic 7, DTS and DD are all you really need.

Nice and heavy 35 pound amp. This thing has more than enough power than most normal people need. I got mine for a dirt cheap price, which was a good thing because the left surround channel made a crackling/buzzing noise in all surround modes.I had it sent to H/K for repair. When they sent it back, the problem was still there. After reading some of the negative reviews here, I have concluded that H/K must be getting a little weary of repairing avr 500 lemons. For the price I paid for this thing, however, I am not too bitter. It sounds fantastic for both music and home theater. The sound is so warm, bass is deep tight powerful, the highs crisp and clean. The ultra-wide bandwidth amplifier can reproduce the drop of a pin to the explosion of a volcano with mind-numbing realism.With its +/- 45 amperes of high instantaneous current capability, it can drive almost any speaker effortlesly. I was watching "Twister" on DVD down in my den with a pair of 200 watt towers. I turned the volume to max, and was amazed with how it controlled the speaker drivers from distorting with its high-current power. With a receiver so powerful, it seems a waste of its endless power to use just bookshelfs and a sub, although it can make my Paradigm Titans sound like they are subwoofers. That is the beauty of high-current. It actually protects your speaker drivers from damage at high volumes. I laugh at people who say it needs more power. This thing can pump 70 watts of continuous average power into your speakers.Most of the time only about 15 to 20 watts are being powered into your speakers at any given time with a receiver. But with this 70 continuous high-current watts, there is an enormous headroom for things like explosions gubshots, sudden loud sounds etc, that draw extra power. The peak power of this receiver is easily 250 to 300 watts with all channels driven: It chews up and spits out most budget amps, who can only muster a brief 100 watt spike a 1khz while driving a single channel. The high-current power also allows for use with power sapping low impedance speakers. With lower resistance in a speaker, more current rushes to it, straining the power supply of the receiver. But as we know, the h/k avr 500 has plenty of power and curent to back it up, so low impedance isn't much of a problem. I think its a good idea to use at least 12 gauge speaker cable. Perhaps many of the problems with overheating that some people were having could have been in part due to using very thin gauge cable, which stifles the receiver's ability to pump out current to the speakers, and causes it to run very hot after a short while. The clicking sound on the volume adjustment that so many people are crying about doesn't bother me much, but I do agree the remote could be better. Initially I had all my speakers set to "LARGE." But I discovered that when I changed the setting on the surround speakers to "SMALL" and kept the rest of the speakers on "LARGE", there was a sudden and dramatic increase in volume from the receiver. I was watching Fight Club at the time, in Doly Digital, during the car crash scene when I discovered this, and I have since discovered that the increase in volume works in all surround modes. I also have a piece of advice for people who are using large mains with no subwoofer. When you watch movies or listen to music in Dolby Pro logic mode, put the center channel setting to small and you will notice a huge response in bass from the mains, because frequencies below 90 hz will be fed to them. This goes for a lot of receivers. I always set my center to "SMALL" in spite of its size, because all it really takes care of is dialogue, which doesn't need much bass. I can't say I really recomend this receiver, But I think the avr 520 looks like a real killer, judging by the reviews on this site. As I type this, the 525 has just been released. It has full bass mangement on all 7 speakers.

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Yamaha Panasonic Kenwood Sony Pioneer

Performance and Valve, i took a risk though to get the value.

Remote is old fashion OSD sucks, useless

I purchased a referbished unit on uBid, even after all of the horror stories about the 500. But when they worked the review from critics was raving, so I took the gamble. We I got a bad one, the right channel didn't work and because of some intense buzzing and the unit would shut down 1 min after turning on. But...I had it sent to a repair house in Califonia and the fixed the whole thing on harman's tab. It was apparently one bad circut that was causing all of the malfuntions. Now the thing rocks. It is amazingly clear, I am running paradigm monitor 5s and I am consitintly blown away by the natural sound. It is incredible to hear mistakes in some of my favorite recordings. The home theater functions are fantasting although they are cumbersom to deal with. Once it is set then you are ready to roll, but that inital set up is a pain. Bottom line, don't get on of these unless you have a real warentee and paid very little. Go for the 510, problems have been fixed and performance is even greater. I would get a 510 in a heart beat, harman put out a lemon but stood by their work.

Similar Products Used:

sony, yamaha, other harman

Looks cool and has/had DTS.

CHINA. CHINA. CHINA SUX and so does HK. Poor build. problems problems problems.

Absolute total complete piece of trash. Unit has problem after problem after problem. First it''s the clicking in the rear right speaker when adjusting volume. Next is the random streaks of total distortion in anything from rears to fronts to center channel. Then we have the slow deterioration of functioning video jacks. Now all the piece of trash is really capable of is playing music. You ask, "what about HK support". They suck so bad it is truly disgusting.

Logic 7, precise stereo imaging, warm bass

Remote is so-so

I just replaced my 13-yr-old system (an audiophile-quality Proton integrated amp and floorstanding audiophile-quality speakers) with the AVR-500 ($599) and the Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble IV HT speakers (a cube/subwoofer system for $199 - I know what you're thinking, but just wait until you're married). All kidding aside, I can't believe my ears. This rig sounds terrific!

I was scared at first. After I hooked up the system, before listening to anything, I stuck my ears up to the speakers. I heard a mild hiss (and a mild hum in the center channel). Uh oh. This would have been a big no-no in my former life as an audio snob. My Proton system never hissed. For you not-yet-reformed audio snobs, let me clarify that at a couple feet (let alone normal listening distances), the system is silent. Nonetheless, I went into "panic mode".

Heart pounding, I stuck in one of my "test" CDs. I dialed up the volume. My panic eased, and then turned into elation. The imaging was very precise, even better than my previous system! (I've heard that despite their shortcomings, cube speakers can have great imaging because they use a single driver). The bass was warm and confident. Maybe I did okay after all.

Further listening has only improved my impressions of this reciever. Let me say that Logic 7 is miraculous. Remember: this is not an ordinary DSP. It adds NO artificial ambience (like those crappy reverb and delay "theater" effects). In music mode (for stereo recordings), the sound stage is widened, without losing any precision, and the natural ambience in the recording is subtly spread to the surround speakers. I feel immersed in the music, yet the spirit of the recording remains undisturbed. I agree with another reviewer that Logic 7 sounds better with some material than with others. Tracks with dense sound and LOTS of reverb (U2 "Sunday Bloody Sunday) lose a bit of their punch, and sound better in old-fashioned stereo mode. Still, for the vast majority of my recordings, Logic 7 is, as Martha Stewart would say, "a good thing".

In Logic 7 cinema mode, Dolby Pro Logic surround is sent, as normal, to the rear speakers, but so is some of the natural ambience of the front right and left channels. Again, total, seamless envelopment. For you old-timers, Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense" (my favorite concert movie, hands-down) sounded incredible. I preferred Logic 7 Cinema to Dolby Pro Logic when doing an A/B comparison. Regarding the digital surround modes, I don't have a DVD (yet), so I'll leave that discussion to the other reviewers. I'm waiting for the DVD-audio standard to be integrated into all DVD players before I buy.

I hope it's come across that I'm very happy with this purchase. Now I've got to go write a review of those amazing little speakers!

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Yamaha, Denon, Sony DB-930

current,looks,bass

hard as fuck to use OSD

verry good receiver with nice power,awesome base reproducion.Doesnt sound like seperates or anything but comes pretty damn close for the price.
I went to circuit city to buy this receiver and they have this thing hooked up to 100 dollar bookshelf speakers and i couldnt hear it before i purchased it I was asured that within 30 days of purchase i can bring it back if i didnt like it so i baught it and i am verry happy that i did

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denon,HK

Good sound, many features.

Remote, OSD, clicking volume.

This is a fine looking receiver that sounds even better. I used to have an AVR65 which had problems so I swapped it for this one. Problems gone.

This receiver has Dolby Digital, DTS, and Logic7 Cinema/Music modes. It has pre-outs, which I'm using, but no main-ins. The manual is not accurate when it comes to labeling the pre-outs, which caused me a little confusion in setting it up. The clicking sound when changing the volume is really annoying, but I'll live with it. The remote is terrible. The fullscreen OSD is terrible, luckily it doesn't have to be used a lot. There's no input labelled TV, so I had to use Video2. There weren't enough video inputs to use all of my DVD, VHS, and LD without resorting to using the front jack panel. It sounds like I'm harping on this receiver too much, but I thought I'd give some negatives because all the positives have been so well covered. All in all, I like this receiver a lot.

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AVR65