Awesome deal got mine for $399 brand new, crtuchfield had them for $999.99! My new AVR55 replaced my old tired Pioneer VSX503S and WOW what a difference in sound. I heard things from my cd's that I have never heard before. The sound for home theatre is amazing now all I need is a nice DVD player! The AVR55 needs just a little more power to drive my KLH Tower speakers rated at 375 watts each. Yeah I know there KLH and iam in the market for some new speakers like AR's 328PS. I give the AVR55 5 Stars for Good Looks, quality, and Superb Clean Loud Sound!

I just purchased a brand new out of the box HK avr55. I had a bad feeling when I read the box and it said "made in Korea." I thought HK's were made in the US? Oh well. I hooked up all my speakers, my Toshiba DVD player, CD player, and I was ready to rock. Turned on the receiver.. so far so good. I then changed the surround parameter to "theater" then all of a sudden a few of the fluorescent display characters went dead. Everything else works fine except for that. Now this isn't a Ubid refurbished unit, it's a brand new receiver from a local dealer. After spending some time auditioning the receiver, I haven't been impressed. For music it sounds about the same as my old Denon AVR1100 receiver (AC3 ready 55x5). After auditioning my friend's Denon 2700 with my same speakers and listening to a Denon avr 1700 at a local dealer I'm ready to return this HK and switch over to Denon. The 5 channel stereo on Denon sounds a hundred times better (it's almost like the poor man's DTS) and even 2 channel stereo to me sounds better IMHO. It's funny because I assumed that the HK would sound worlds better for music than the Denon. All three units sounded fantastic in DD, including the HK. The Denon midrange just seemed so much clearer than the HK and the Denon bass seemed less muddled with my sub. Oh well, just a part of the process of elimination.

This unit easily merits a 5-star rating, especially at the current prices, youwould have to be a fool to pay more than $400. I have tried the Denon AVR2700,
and I could not wait to get it back to the store, it was so bad. Nice remote, though! Five-channel stereo, big deal! Unless you have similar speakers all around, I think it is a complete waste! In DD and Pro-Logic modes, the H/K absolutely stomps all over the Denon, and I used to be a big fan of their products, especially CD players. If you can get your hands on an AVR75 at
current prices, go for it, although the AVR55 is not such a bad compromise!

Just bought the AVR55 for 399 from Sound City based on the reviews here. A word of warning to those who might be tempted to buy one from ubid. Ubid only gives you a 90 day warranty. When you buy from Sound City, you get the full HK 2 year warranty. BTW, the AVR55 described above for 316 is a DENON AVR55, not an HK. I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of this amp so I can start using the ac-3 from my DVD.

out of all of the reviews i read no one mentioned ac-3 rf input on avr55 for the laserdisc junkies who still have a player.so what i want to say is all you folks who have dvd with your dolby digital and dts recievers ,like yamaha,denon lower end ,sony the list goes on --pull out another 150 dollars for a demodulator for ac-3 on laserdisc ,not even the new hk series or yamaha's 2095 for 1500 dollars has this feature.hk avr 55 has it built in for 399.00 plus it does as good of a job as some 800 to 1000 dollar recivers.jurrasic park,titanic only released on laserdisc not dvd and baby they sound good in ac-3 ,so get that 150 dollars and add it to that 1500 dollars you already spent on the 2095 yamaha reciver ,,,im a whole lot richer with the hk avr 55 and happier.rf input is still important ,outboard demodulators, more interconnects yipee ---not....

I have had the AVR55 for a month. For the price,($400 or so) this is the best value in the market,if you... a.)value sound quality b.) have low impedance speakers. There may be other recievers at this price point that have more features, even HK's own AVR45, but none of them weigh 33lbs!!! This may not be something that is considered important, but all that weight is in areas that do matter. Massive transformers,etc.This reciever had an original list price of $1000!!!.The remote works fine, although there are far better ones available in the aftermarket, at least the remote isn't a design defect, like the Sony ES50's or the Kenwood 2080-90. Hurry and find one if you can.

All together, I don't think I could have done better for the $400 (total) I spent on this unit, but this unit is not without flaws. If I have my CD player (FL8300) stopped, or even unplugged from the receiver, and I play with the volume, I hear tiny audible pops between each increment, and a much larger pop when I hit MAX volume. The remote could have used better batteries, but I'll have to disagree with those who think it sucks. It's a _learning_ remote on a $400 receiver for crying out loud! It can control everything I have. Ergonomics are just something you have to get used to with any remote. If it didn't pop, I'd give it 5, so I'll give it 4 on the bang for the buck.

I just purchased this receiver, and I have to saw that I love it already. It sounds wonderful and it gives a lot of current to the speakers. They are things that I hear on my cds that I never heard before. An excellent receiver for the college student.

Does anyone know the different between Harmon Kardon (with 'o') and Harman Kardon (with 'a') Receivers ?My friend has got a Harmon Kardon AVR-75 (with 'o') receiver from an auction. Is it same with Harman Kardon AVR-75 (with 'a') ?

This A/V receiver rocks...I got it for a steal, it has AC-3, and the sound is beautiful. What more could you ask for??? The 55 watts per channel is more than enough unless you room is huge or your a bass junkie. I paired this with an H/K CD player, a Pioneer DVD, and Infinity speakers all around, WOW, not bad for under $2500 TOTAL.