Recently Received My HK avr65 and i must say i am disapointed. For the first couple hours i was in heaven, but then the volume dipped really low. I had to turn the voolume to 20 db just to get decent sound in the dolby digital mode. Many people seem to have this same problem. I would recommend either a sony es, yamaha, or a pioneer elite as alternatives, the sound from the other ones is not to the same level but they are easier to operate and the volume actually stays where u put it. also if u hook a sub up to the avr65 u must set the speakers to small, bummer if you have really great fronts and must set them to small

i bought this receiver new for 700 and i'm impressed with its capabilities. DD sounds great but i havent tried dts yet. The bass is adequate although you may need a subwoofer to get more kick out of your home theater.

I purchased the AVR65 sometime in December and ran into several problems. The most annoying was the video interference issue. I bought it from an online store, so I could not return it but I had to pay for the shipping to get the damn thing exchanged. Some of the problems went away but the video %@#&*%! noise was still there. then I started to write to HK. We exchanged a few email but no concrete solution. I finally received a package a couple of weeks ago for a fix to the video problems, They sent me a couple of "ferrite cores" to wrap my AVR65 power cable and by cable TV output to remove EM interference. Well, you know what happened, --- IT DID NOT WORK. They sent me a letter stating that if that did not work, then to buy better sheilded cable. Why would I want to do that? I spend $900 so that I don't have to do that. I have tried everything from oving the receiver away from the TV to high shielded cable and what not.
Is'nt there some FCC regulation that prohibits appliances from interfering with other appliances? I still looking for some answers. Has anyone else had any luck with getting rid of the video noise? Maybe we ought to start a campaign to force HK to replace our receiver - with the receiver of our choosing (whatever band it may be). That should send a message.

-Dinesh

PS: I give 1 star rating for the remote. Thats all. I gave it 3 the last time.

IT HAS BEEN A WHILE SINCE I CHECKED ON THE STATUS OF THE AVR 65. I CAN SEE BY THE REVIEWS THAT THE QUALITY OF THE UNIT HAS NOT IMPROVED. I HAVE SENT A LETTER TO HK TRYING TO GET THEM TO ACT ON THIS TRAGEDY. HK IS A NAME THAT HAS REPRESENTED HIGH QUALITY PRODUCTS FOR A LONG TIME. THE AVR 65 HAS MADE A VERY POOR SHOWING. IT HAS TARNISHED THE HK NAME AND THE TRUST THAT PEOPLE HAVE HAD IN THE COMPANY. MAYBE WE WILL SEE SOMETHING IN Y2K BUT I HAVE BEEN HOLDING MY BREATH FOR TOO LONG NOW. THIS IS WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN TO HK. ANYONE WHO HAS A COMMENT ON THE UNIT CAN TELL HK DIRECTLY BY GOING TO-- http://www.harmankardon.com/feedback/comment/comment.ehtml)AND TYPE THEM A LITTLE NOTE. HOPEFULLY THEY WILL GET THE MESSAGE AND REVAMP THIS THING. TIME WILL TELL.


I HAVE THE AVI 200 AND I LOVE IT. I HAVE ALSO LOVED THE FACT THAT YOU WERE THERE IF I EVER HAD ANY PROBLEMS. I ALMOST BOUGHT AN AVR 65 TO GET ON THE DD/DTS BANDWAGON. UNFORTUNATELY I DIDNT FEEL THAT THE AVR 65 REPRESENTED THE SAME QUALITY THAT MY AVI 200 HAS. MAINLY BECAUSE OF THE INABILITY TO ACCEPT BANANA PLUGS AND CERTAIN ISSUES WITH NOISE AND RELIABILITY. I HAVE LAID BACK AND WAITED A WHILE FOR IMPROVEMENT BUT PEOPLE ARE STILL GRIPING ABOUT THE HISS AND HUMM PROBLEMS WITH THE UNIT. THE ONES THAT ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO GET A NOISE FREE UNIT ARE GENERALLY PLEASED. THE ONES THAT GET ONE OF THE NOISY ONES HATE LIFE. THIS SITUATION WAS SUPPOSEDLY ADDRESSED WHEN THE UNIT WAS FIRST RELEASED. YOUR TECH DEPARTMENT CLAIMED THAT THE NOISE WAS DUE TO A GROUND PROBLEM AND WAS A SIMPLE FIX. IT SEEMS THAT THE PROBLEMS ARE PERSISTING HOWEVER.
MY POINT IS THIS----PEOPLE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT BUYING A NOISY THOUSAND DOLLAR RECEIVER. THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE TO LOOK FOR CERTAIN PRODUCTION NUMBERS OF UNITS THAT HAVE LESS PROBLEMS. YOUR CUSTOMERS SHOULD NEVER SEE LINES IN THEIR TELEVISION SETS BECAUSE OF SOME INTERFERENCE GENERATED BY THE RECEIVER. THE VOLUME KNOB IS FLIMSY TOO. AND WHAT HAPPENNED TO THE ABILITY TO ACCEPT BANANA PLUGS?????? THEY PLUG RIGHT INTO MY AVI 200!!!
I HAVE CONFIDENCE THAT YOU CAN RECTIFY THIS SITUATION. IF YOU DONT IT COULD END UP HAUNTING YOU FOR A LONG TIME TO COME.
I AM NOT TRYING TO BASH YOUR COMPANY OR PRODUCTS. THE AVR 65 HAS HUGE POTENTIAL IF THE BUGS ARE FIXED. THAT IS WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN IN ORDER FOR ME TO PURCHASE ONE. AND THAT IS WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO DO--- ONCE THE BUGS ARE FIXED.

I am sorry to say that this site was discovered after i had purchased this product. My 1st AVR65 had all of the problems listed on this site.1st - Hum and Hiss in all modes on all channels etc 6 channel direct
2nd - 'pops click's crackles when i changed imput selector'
3rd - RF interference.

I have to confess i was keen to get into DVD after seeing how wonderful the picture and sound quality was..
I thought the AVR-65 was my answer. It had all the features i needed, DD, DTS 6 channel imput - 2 friends had earlier HK products which sounded great.
I had to take the first AVR-65 back as it was distressing to sit in my lounge and listen to a constant hiss at -20db when listening to DVD's at this volume with silent pieces... bit wierd..
Took it back the Salesmen though i was crazy... until i showed it too him..
They swaped it over for another one...same problem... would not swap...
Said that it had to be fixed... Q. Why does a brand new AVR-65 need to be fixed?
A. The product is not faulty as it basically does what it was intended to do, however the build quality and the sound quality are not up to scratch.

Basic cost cutting deletions of noise reduction and interference reduction components will lead to a cheaper more affordable market driven product - but throw away the basic reason for purchasing a HiFi Sound satisfaction.

This product is not a genuine HK - it is a cheap excuse for a Reciever.
Why have a product that brings the days of analogue tape hiss, vinyl record
crackling and poor electronics back into the living room.

Come on HK... you may sell alot based on price - but cost cutting has made
a once highly regarded quality product manufacture to look like a cheap
tacky(TEACKY)manufacture.

I know the Audiophile class of TEAC product is great sounding ...
I know the KMART TEAC product is shit sounding...
HK has entered the KMART - cheap to make - shit sounding - poor quality arena.
I know there USA and Japan made products a great sounding.
The marketing (clever), the product (poor).
I also know that sales persons promote this product far harder than say a YAMAHA
as they have a greater profit margin on the product... a pitty some Sales people
do know the real story but would rather not be bag a product they sell.
They plant the seed of a good sounding product but it is all took late.
Once you have put it in your own home and out of the sales person influenced environment..

I couldn't have my brand new product repaired so i bit the bullet..
traded in for a DSP-A1 no radio but who cares the AMP is more than 10 times better - but double the price.. oh well luckey i could trade in ....
luckey i had the extra money..... now i am satisfied.

Don't want to offend anyone - but its all about company direction.

Foolishly, i bought this product thinking all the problems would have been fixed by now. I talked to numerous HK reps and they duped me into thinking so...my serial number was 10,000+ so i thought i was ok. WRONG! the first thing i noticed after unpacking this unit was the poor build. its heavy, but has extremely cheap knobs and faceplate. it doesnt even accept banana plugs, and the binding posts are flimsy and crammed together. good luck trying to get anything over 16 guage wire into them.
after hooking up the avr65 (a pain) and powering up, to my disgust loud hiss/hum was coming from all my speakers, especially the center channel.
loud central channel hum occured even when i was running in analog mode, with NO signal being sent to it. this was extremely noticeable and annoying, especially in quiet passages in movies/music. i thought, ok maybe its some kinda interference. but i hooked up my old 300$ dollar sony pro logic, no hum or hiss at all. TOTALLY unacceptable, especially for a receiver in the 800-1000 dollar range. HK said they would send me a kit, i said no thanks. what a joke, this unit is going back.

as for the sound, the bass was pure mud, even after playing around with its settings for over an hour. similarly priced denon and yamaha blow it away.

it has one of the worst on screen programming interfaces you can imagine, a total headache. the remote is large and utterly worthless. its not a learning remote, and the codes that it did accept were set to the wrong buttons and only worked about 1/2 of the functions. the avr65 also lacks adequate digital inputs (only 1 opt 1 coax)

this unit went back yesterday for a Denon avr3300, for the same price it is a million times better than the hk avr65. unless you want an overpriced, poorly built receiver that hisses and hums, AVOID this unit like the plague! 0 stars if i could!

feel free to email me with any questions!

First of all the receiver is great. I compared DD on avr65 with dd on yamaha that my friend has. Although the yamaha has more watts/ch., it is not comparable to hk. The sound is A LOT better coming from hk rather than yamaha. But the sound on hk does dip alot after some time, 40 dB, to get decent sound from dd and dts. I dont mind that. Crank it up to 20dB and it'll shake the room for you.
My receiver has no hiss or hum. Like everyone else, I experienced the RF interference there when i first set up the system. I called hk ,and the sent me the ferrite core kit that was supposedly able to eliminate the RF interference. Well, the ferrite core did reduce the interference but the interference was still there in a small magnitude. I bought a new coaxial cable to the tv (a more expensive one than the one that i have), and it goes away. The picture is crystal clear and together with the great dd/dts sound, you wont regret buying it.

Overall i give it 4 stars because of the RF interference. If is wasn't there , i would give it a perfect 5.

I purchased the AVR-65 a little over a month ago. I have been doing research on what to buy for almost a year. My current system consist of the AVR 65, the Sony 5 disk DVD, a 32 inch Toshiba TV with component video, and a digital Pioneer tape deck. The speakers are the new infinity HPS 1.5 (X4) and center and the HPS 250 sub woofer. I can not get over how awesome the sound is. I can put in my James Taylor DVD and hear every note that is played and sung as if I were setting right beside James Taylor. I highly recommend the Harmon Kardon AVR-65. The only difficult thing is getting the remote programmed so that my wife and kids can hit one button and turn on all the components that they want to see and/or listen to.

This reciever is a great piece of equipment. I highly recommend it. This is great piece of sounding equipment compared to other recievers. I was close to getting STR-DE935... and I'm glad I didn't. I'm really happy with my 65, it's great, it has everything. I recommend it highly.

I've been looking to upgrade my HT for some time now and can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. I've tested the HK AVR 65 and 85, the Sony STR DE935, the JVC RX888VBK and the ONK TXDS575. I have read up on and listen to demo's in the store's for other models. I've always been a fan of HK and almost bought the AVR 85 but recently drop it form my choices due to its lack of DTS. I had a problem with the AVR 65 (distortion) which has been stated in various other reviews. I called HK today to see if the problem has been corrected and the rep statment follows: This is a know problem with the AVR 65 and will be corrected in a future model but will require a total redsign of the interal components. Things like RF sheilded chips due to the new digital chips being used in these receivers. There know of only 150 units out of 10,000 that have had this problem. Reality is that all units could have this problem depending on the setup, location, cables used etc. He also stated that there will not be any new models out until after the first of the year. This is a problem considering you are paying $800.00 plus. You should not have to worry about these type of problems for the price you are paying. This is what I would expect from a $200.00 or less unit. So until HK releases their new units next year look at other units in this price range.