I purchased he Harman Kardon for just pennies under $750. I have a dedicated Home Theater room and was looking for a reciever that was upgradeable via inputs on the back (6.1 format?). I was a little concerned about 65 watts per channel. Trust me, I am no longer. This unit really puts out an abundance of sound. It runs a little warmer than most revievers but I can live with that. The room is about 20' X 18' with 10' ceilings. It allows for seperate adjustments of all speakers including the Sub & center. I owned the Sony 925 and the Yamaha 792, neither unit compares to th HK 65. I'd give it a 5 if the manual was a little better and the reciever was a little more user freindly!

--continued--
Instead HK is telling people to take it to a service center to be fixed. Well
the tech instructions are simple: replace fuses......(that's it? ) hard to
believe and by my experience not very effective. The tech team at HK appears
to be frustrated with HK management. In particular Mr. Tom Mcloughlin the president of the company that has taken the position not to allow returns for new replacements. One tech suggested highly that we all send letter after letter to Mr. Mcloughlin and Mr. Christian at: 250 crossway park drive, Woodbury NY,
11797. The only way to fix this problem is a New 2nd production reciever..PERIOD
In my view, the reason we pay more for HK products is for there reputation for low noise, high amp, reproduction sound quality. If there are enternal flaws
that cause hiss, humm, or video interference, it should be fixed at the production level and tested for quality assurance. This send it to Joe Blow service center -- is bogus to HK employee's that are forced to tell their customers this and a bogus solution to a manufacturing problem. Please take the time to speak your mind. Like HK would tell us........HEAR US

I, too, read the reviews about hum but went ahead and bought this unit. A mistake. It had hum. I did notice a posting here that someone said HK told him that units made after November 1998 were cured of the problem. Maybe so, but mine was manufactured in October 1998. Its going back in exchange for either a Denon or Yamaha. Any recommendations?

Well, after much deliberation and debate I finally got the AVR-65. This one was manufactured Nov 98, and has none of the hissing problems that some have talked about. Overall very clean, warm sound.
This unit definately has alot more subwoofer punch on movies then my previous pro-logic receiver. Overall movie (Pro-logic & Dolby Digital) sound and effects seem very good. I am, however, somewhat disappointed with overall sound quality in normal stereo mode on CD's, etc. This unit needs an EQ bad (as do most surround receivers for good stereo sound). It does have a much warmer sound then the Sherwood Newcastle, Sony 30/50ES, etc in my opinion though.

I bought the Telarc DTS Sampler CD and ran that through and was quite impressed with the DTS and overall performance of the unit.

Overall? I think this is a great unit for the money (I got the AVR-65 and ISF Calibration for my Toshiba 61H95 for $1200 out the door).

Mike

--continued--
Instead HK is telling people to take it to a service center to be fixed. Well
the tech instructions are simple: replace fuses......(that's it? ) hard to
believe and by my experience not very effective. The tech team at HK appears
to be frustrated with HK management. In particular Mr. Tom Mcloughlin the president of the company that has taken the position not to allow returns for
new replacements. One tech suggested highly that we all send letter after letter to Mr. Mcloughlin and Mr. Christian at: 250 crossway park drive,
Woodbury NY,
11797. The only way to fix this problem is a New 2nd production reciever..PERIOD
In my view, the reason we pay more for HK products is for there reputation for low noise, high amp, reproduction sound quality. If there are enternal flaws
that cause hiss, humm, or video interference, it should be fixed at the production level and tested for quality assurance. This send it to Joe Blow service
center -- is bogus to HK employee's that are forced to tell their customers this and a bogus solution to a manufacturing problem. Please take the time to
speak your mind. Like HK would tell us........HEAR US

I will be talking to a H/K rep on Monday the 18th of Jan. I will try to get as much info as i can. They have been calling me quite often in the last couple of days but i havent been home to field the calls.

ITS GOT HUM AND HISS???One star.
HK where's the Quality Control.

I received a HK AVR 65 about 2 weeks ago. It was marked as made in November
1998 and has speaker binding posts that will also take bananna lacks.
(somebody said that makes it second generation. I found the manual to be quite
confusing and the set up of the receiver to be less than intuitive. Having
said that though once you learn it it is quite easy to operate and make
changes. And the remote is first rate in both range and flexibility.

I have had a chance to play everything thing through it including CD's, DVD's
DTD DD e.t.c Without getting into a lot of hype I would just like to say
that it sounds just like a good receiver should sound transparent and linear.

I was also surprised at how well it handles demanding peaks. The receiver seems
to have quite a bit of reserve.

As to the hum and interference problem. There just isn't any. Is it possible
that I have a second generation receiver or am I going to be surprised in
the near future?

Anyway, other that the rather arcane manual I am quite happy eith the receiver.

OH, I CAME SO CLOSE TO BUYING ONE OF THESE, MY HEART AND MIND WAS SET, MONEY IN MY HAND----UNTIL I STARTED HEARING TALES OF HISS AND HUMM. BEING BLINDED BY THE SUPERIOR QUALITY OF THE PAST HK PRODUCTS I DIDNT BELIEVE THEM. UPON AUDITIONING THE AVR65 AT CIRCUIT CITY I DISCOVERED THAT THE CENTER CHANNEL SPEAKER WAS HUMMING WHILE THE UNIT WAS IN STEREO MODE!!! QUESTIONING CIRCUIT CITY'S SETUP OF THE UNIT I LISTENED TO OTHER RECEIVERS BUT THE PROBLEM WAS ONLY EVIDENT WITH THE AVR65. I DID NOT HOWEVER HEAR ANY HISS UNLESS I PAUSED THE SOURCE AND TURNED THE VOLUME ALL THE WAY UP- THEN I HEARD A VERY SLIGHT HISS, BUT IT WAS ABOUT ONE THIRD OF THE AMOUNT THAT WAS PRESENT FROM THE NEIGHBORING TOP OF THE LINE ONKYO. I FEEL THE HISS WAS NOT A PROBLEM IN THIS PARTICULAR UNIT. THE TONAL CHARACTERISTICS WERE OUTSTANDING AS USUAL FOR HK BUT THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THE HUM IN THE CENTER. I OWN AN AVI200 (GREAT UNIT BY THE WAY) AND THOUGHT HK RELEASED A UNIT WORTH ME FINALLY MAKING THE MOVE TO DD/DTS. LOOKS LIKE I WILL HAVE TO WAIT. I ASKED HK WHAT THEY WERE DOING ABOUT THIS BUT NO REPLY. THIS IS ALSO VERY UNUSUAL FOR HK. ANY PROBLEM THAT I HAVE EVER HAD OR ANY QUESTION I HAVE EVER NEEDED ANSWERED, HK WAS THERE. I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED HK BUT I QUESTION THEIR SUDDEN LACK OF QUALITY AND SERVICE. THEY BETTER GET WITH IT QUICK, FIX THIS UNIT AND TAKE CARE OF THE PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT THESE DEFECTIVE RECEIVERS. THEIR OWN REPUTATION IS ON THE LINE WITH THIS ONE. IF THEY DONT REACT TO THIS IT WILL COST THEM THE SALE OF AT LEAST ONE UNIT-I WILL PROBABLY GO FOR THE SONY 9000ES PRE AMP INSTEAD. VERY SAD.

Well I was wrong....I had the AVR 65 for a week and guess what....The interference with my television kept getting worse and then finally this past Friday.....a loud hiss at only -30db....which is nothing volume wise so the hiss is really irritating... I got a good deal on the unit from Uncles for 699 but it wasnt worth this hassle. I called HK and they didnt have much to say for the tv interferece but the hiss they knew about and they recommended that I replace the unit if I can with a newer mfg. date....however no one seems to have anything newer then the Nov. 98 models. I finally gave up...called Uncles and they were very helpfull...they took the receiver back and I am trading up to a Yamaha RXV995...more power, less thd..., more optical inputs...
I loved HK....ever since i have had my AVI200MKII....but I must say they screwed the 65 up big time..... The sound was clean while it lasted so I am gonna rate it at 3...but it looses 2 points for the lack of QA on HK's part.