I own the AVR-20II, and I am very pleased with its sound and construction quality, so when it came time to upgrade to Dolby Digital, I concidered the AVR-65. Unfortunately, the receiver did NOT meet my expectations. Harman Kardon has cut a lot of corners on their new products, and it shows.
Some of the AVR-65 limitations are:

- It only has ONE optical digital input. So you will be out of luck if you want to digitally connect your DSS or CD player.

- Very limited and hard to read display. It is silly that a receiver in this category does not have a dot matrix display.

- The posts to connect the speakers are flimsy, and they do not accept bannana connectors; The old AVR-20II did. Hence, you will have to connect the bare wire to the amp.

- It does not have connectors for a second set of main speakers, but the AVR-20II did.

- It does not have a "loundness" button as my old AVR-20II.

- The volume knob does not rotate when you change the volume using the remote, and it does not have a red LED on it. My old AVR-20II had these two features. Seeing the knob rotate while you are sitting on the couch, speaks volumes of the OLD Harman Kardon quality. Unfortunately, their new equipment does not.

I had the AVR-65 for three days and decided to return it to the store. Looking at this internet site, I noticed the incredible ratings the Yamaha 995 and 2095 have. I decided to audition them and ended up getting the Yamaha 995. Amazingly, I paid exactly the same price for the Yamaha 995 as for the Harman Kardon AVR 65! And the Yamaha 995 has all the features, and a lot more, than the Harman Kardon AVR-65.

If you want a superb receiver with 100x5 watts of power, 8 S-video inputs, 5 optical inputs, a warmer and richer sound, check out the Yamaha 995.

pre amplifier systems

I just returned the HK AVR-55 in exchange for the AVR-65, I want to tell you I read all the crap about the hiss in the the receiver. And I do hear a slight hiss with my whole damn house completely quiet. It’s soMynute that who cares, how can you enjoy a great piece if equipment like the HK’s with your ear stuck clear inside the tweeter. Why all the negative stuff guys come on. I ‘d be willing to bet if you checked every receiver and amp from Kraco to adcom YOUR GONNA HEAR HISS! Why don’t you tell
How good it sounds playing the music that’s much more important then how quiet it is. For you new comers go out and buy this reciever it’s a unified remote, SVHS switching on DVD (As Yamaha about that) every speaker is completely programable from levels t on/off per input. Sleep timer, remote lights up at the push of a button, multi-room control, upgradable 6 channel outs, I can go on and on I got my for $737 delivered maybe you can beat that price but what every friend it’s well worth it. If you want to know
More email me I’ll answer. Enjoy! -JR-

O.K. I've finally received my H/K AVR65 + Atlantic Tech's 250.1 (6-speaker system). The installation did take me a long while. I remembered when I hooked up my Yamaha receiver it was such a breeze. For whatever the reason the Japanese made equipments seem easier to assemble than others.
At any rate, I have to tell you other than wrestling with the installation, it's the greatest audio equipment I've ever got for myself. I'm soooooooo happy now that I can enjoy it for years to come.

The combination of H/k AVR65 and the Atlantic Tech's 250.1 speaker system produced the SWEETEST music. I only had time to try out Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 and I was totally captivated by the calrity and the richness of the sound it produced. It's heavenly.

I did also watched a few segments of The 5th Element just to see how it sounds playing DVD movies. I felt as though I was thrown right into the middle of the action. It's totally awesome.

By the way, I paid $788 for my H/K AVR65. I know it's probably not the best deal I can get but I really couldn't care less. The same machine at Cambridge Soundworks selling for $1,000. I felt I got a decent deal and that's good enough for me. Besides, I didn't really have the time to look around and wait too much.

You can't do wrong with this receiver.

can someone that has seen or owns the avr65 please tell me how many video/svideo inputs it has in the back. thanks a ton.

Ive owned the avr-25II the avr-55 and now the avr-65,,and they all sound the same,,,GREAT!!!

I'd like to say great things about the AVR-65, but unfortunately I can't. I too, as many other reviewers have observed, can hear a substantial amount of hiss and hum from my AVR-65. In addition, there's noise coming out of the center speaker even when in two channel stereo mode.
The volume of the hiss is significant only when using the coaxial digital input connected to my Panasonic DVD-A310. The hiss is barely noticeable when the analog input from the VCR is selected, or the DVD-A310 is turned off. Haven't tried the optical input. The hiss is easily heard one meter from the speakers with the volume set to -40 dB. It produces room filling sound at 0 dB.

The hum is present whenever the receiver is on. It can be heard throughout the room. Tried disconnecting all inputs from the AVR-65 and the hum is still present. The level of the hum is independent of the volume control settings, and is loud enough to remind you of the sound a high voltage lines in the distance, regardless of where you are in the room. This is true even without a subwoofer connected. Eliminated ground loops by trying the AVR-65 in standalone mode (connected to speakers and power outlet only). Same result.

A substantial amount of noise comes from the center channel even when surround modes are off and listening to a Denon DCM-350 CD player. The surround channels stop making noise when the surround modes are off, but the center channel always produces noise. Turned off the television and everything else within 15 feet, to no avail.

Made a visit to my local Circuit City to see if the AVR-65 in their demo room had the same problem. It did. Same hiss, same hum.

Since so many are posting the same comments on this site about this particular type of receiver, and I personally have observed the problems on two different systems, I have reached the conclusion that HK has a quality control problem, and a substantial number of defective receivers are out there. It may be a great design and a great company, but they've let some bad apples through.

Sad to say I'll be returning my unit soon. I had high hopes for the AVR-65, and a very positive view of HK. Now I'm not sure.

Thanks for your patience.

-Roger

Recently picked up an AVR-65. Replacing an AVR-80 THX unit. First impressions are it is more cheaply made. I have not broken the unit in yet so it is hard to say if it sounds better or worse. FM broadcasts seemed "spitty" but that may be the broadcast itself.
My biggest concern is that I purchased the unit to be able to use AC-3 from my Pioneer CLD 605's coaxial RF output. That todate does not work. (readout says "NO DATA") Could it be that the 605 is not really AC-3 compatible without a $300 demodulator????? Nowhere in the CLD 605 instructions is THAT mentioned. If that is the case PIONEER will certainly hear from me.

Anyhow back to the AVR-65. It certainly took a lot of searching the manual to get up and running. A couple hints. 1) Make sure to press AVR on the remote control to turn it on, before you spend hours changing batteries and such. 2) take a few minutes to read how the remote works and how the menus use certain keys. It is not as easy as the AVR-80.

Also I experienced hum in two (HK-16) power amps I connected but they are old and may need work. The internal amps did not seem to have that problem.

I also experienced a strange video anomaly. When using the video inputs on VIDEO 3 (front panel) all video had a very pronounced :herringbone effect. All other video was crystal clear.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Even though, I have pointed out the problems I have not ironed out as of yet, I like this unit, and the few films I have watched have been really good sonically.

If anyone knows about this mating of the PIONEER CLD-605 with this unit please let me know.

I just got my AVR 65 from Uncles Stereo $699....plus tax...am a local. The unit has done nothing but surprise me until now. The hissing and humming you guys are talking about does not exist on this particular reciever..mfg date is November 1998. Ofcourse if I turn the volume up to +5 DB...the max...then I do hear a slight hiss.....havent got a humming problem. The unit was fairly easy to setup with the manual, video essentials dvd, and a 35 dollar radio shack sound level meter which made everything sound perfect. I kid you not....go to Radio Shack get this sound level meter...set the range at 70 and slow response...set ure receiver test tones on (any receiver).....and measure the sound from each speaker....u will be shocked to find out that all of them are at different levels and not giving u optimal sound from the system.
The only problem I have with the receiver is that there is only one optical input...I would love for it to have 2 or 3 so I can hook up my Mindisc deck and a cd player in the future...but maybe there will be some sort of hub out by that time..hahaha. The other minor problem which is related to the cable tv where I live is that when I am watching cable I get some wavy lines diagnolly down the screen of my 7 year old sony 27" pip tv... The TV is old but its the cable that screws up the picture when the receiver is turned on.

Apart from the minor issues the receiver kicks ass.

I love the sound that I get from this receiver. If only I wasn't having problems that have been reported by other reviewers on this site.
My 3 yr old sony tv gets wavy lines through some of the channels when watching cable even when there are no connections between the tv and rec. There is a slight hum in the three front channels - even in straight stereo where the center is not used. I have it in for service and should hear something by friday.

Y'all are welcome to email me if you are having problems with EM interference and I'll give you an update.

Thanks,

Ross