Sound Quality, Price/Performance

Not a plug-and-play system

This is an outsanding receiver. I was very anxious about the problems posted on this review at first. After spending 2 days of setting up every possible configuration, I settle down the best performance for each component. I am 100% satisfied with this receiver and believe H/K has worked out the bugs on this receiver. The refurbished is a good deal. If you just want to plug-and-play, I don't recommand this system. It is definetly a hi-end product for people really love good sound.

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Kenwood KR-V990D

Audio quality, price

sometimey remote replaced with Philips Pronto

I was looking for a Home Theater reciever for under $1000.00. I looked at the Onkyo's and Pioneer's and Sony's, even considered they Vantas DPA Processor. I have a friend with a Denon AVR4800 and he wanted me to get one of them but I really didnt want to spend more than $1000.00. I then read some reviews on the HK and remembered a freind had an older HK AVR 85MKII which was really great. So I auditioned it at several shops and liked what I heard. I think HK gives you more bang for the buck then any of the so called big names. After getting it and listening I am convinced it is a flagship level piece. Some deride it for its lack of THX certifcation and no ES, EX or 6.1 modes, but there is so little software available in these modes it was'nt worth the extra money to me. I did some interesting comparisions with the lab test published in Sound & Vision mag and Home Theater. If you look at the lab test results in both mags for the HK, and the Denon AVR 4800,5700 and 5800, you will see that the all fall very close to each other and the HK betters the Denons in some test. No I know this really just speaks to amplifier efficiancy and quietness but it shows that the HK is up to par with the high price Denons. Anyway, I am not saying the HK is the best receiver, just that FOR ME, it was the most reciever I could buy for my money. I enjoy my AVR 7000 greatly. I wish I had the loot for a Denon 5800 or a B&K 307 but I have sound as good for a lot less.

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Sony STR D1015

Power pure and clean!

Most horrible remote I have ever encountered.

An excellent AV reciever. I must admit that this thing is the centerpiece of my "in contruction" home theater and music quality was not a priority for me. I have Polk RT800's in the front with a Polk CS245 for a center and Infinity Entra Ones in the back. The power this thing pumps to that setup is excellent. The one thing I've always liked about Harmon Kardon is it's simplicity ... they concentrate on making clean powerful recievers not like lesser brands (ie Sony) that spend their R&D dollars on 15 billion surround levels or dancing lights, etc. This reciever make a good centerpiece in any Home theater I only wish it had THX 7.1
As for the remote what a piece of crap and my Radio Shack 8 in 1 universal doens't have a code for it!

Power, Ease of use and setup.

Very deep.

Enough power to drive demanding speakers. Don't find any quality use for vmax modes.

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First big AV buy.

As clean as a HK shall be.

What happen to the bass?

With combination of AVR7000 and Boss AM15, I feel cheated. This receiver definitely needs a seperate powered subwoofer. I don't like loud bass, but I find no bass now. OK, I need to start my ebay shopping again. Did I mention that I paid $725 for the receiver and $830 for Boss AM15? Great price for a poor engineer.

Sound clarity, built like a tank,tons of power, great looks and yes believe it or not no problems,

None

I will make this brief, there are problems with every brand of audio equipment, I had a new onkyo 5 disc dvd player burn up right in front of me in the first ten minutes of use, my new denon from tweeter lost the right channel sound after one week, my 6 year old avr 80hk is still going strong it now belongs to my son who plays it 10 hours a day no problems, i love my new HK7000 even if breaks down today I would send it back and get another,I feel bad for those who have experienced bad luck, but i do not believe HK is any worse then any other brand,And the sound is great much better then any Yamaha, or Denon, I will post again after a few months,so others can see if all stayed well with my HK 7000

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Yamaha,595A denon 4800 hk avr 80

QUALITY SOUND,PRICE,HARMOND KARDON NAME. PLENTY OF INPUTS INCLUDING DIGITAL AND OPTICAL. GREAT BASS

slight popping noise when switching sources. not all the time.

THIS IS STILL AN OUTSTANDING AV RECIEVER. GOES WELL WITH MY KLIPSCH KLF 20'S FRONT AND REAR, KLIPSCH RC 3 CENTER CHANNEL,AND MY VELODYNE POWERED SUB. GREAT BASS EVEN WITH THE SUB ON.

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HARMON KARDON 3600

Sound, power, ease of use, remote

Speaker connectors, size

The AVR7000 was the only 5.1 receiver capable of a good stereo sound, awesome compared to the Denon and Onkyo flagships. I spent a good while listening to a bunch of receivers and none of them came close. The power supply is huge and really produces the dynamics and clarity you would expect from an audiophile stereo amp. Driving my high-end Triangle Ventis which will go as low as 2 ohms is no problem, even combined with the 4 ohm center and surrounds, and there is plenty of power to rock the house in stereo and in 5.1. I have had it for 9 months now and not a single problem to report, although I feel compassion for the other unfortunate owners. Could it be that the 110 Volt model is more unreliable than the 220? A small weakness are the speaker connectors. They are very closely spaced and seem a bit fragile. I reverted to banana plugs for my 6 mm2 cables.

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Kenwood, Denon, Onkyo

Nicely made, Powerful, Nice feature

Weight, Size, Get warm easily

I've had this thing for a year now and i still love it. I had 3 AVR 500s before i finally boned up and bought this. For music in Stero it can't be beat in the A/V reviever field. The power is really amazing. This thing is a real workhorse. It is on from 3-11 everyday. I have never had a problem with it. Definately worth the investment.

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H/K AVR 500 and 100

Good power, good sound, versatile

Not great sound or power for HK's flagship unit.

I am pleased by the increase in raw power over the Sony. Finally, I have a unit that can drive my NHT front tower speakers. It does make a difference.

What did surprise me is that the HK sounds very much like the Sony, but with more power. Usually, the tone, dynamics, depth and separation will vary between different AVR manufacturers. However, it does not vary much between the Sony and the HK. This is remarkable, and also a little disappointing.

The HK is very versatile, but maintains a reasonable degree of simplicity. There is not really an overload of sound modes--it just includes the ones that people really use.

Hookup was relatively simple, except for initially having to assign the optical outputs (for the satellite and DVD) to get sound out of the system. Otherwise, no significant setup issues.

I would have liked to see two additions. First, I would like to have at least one more optical input (it has two). And I would have liked the option to connect a second subwoofer. Otherwise, no major issues with the back panel set up.

In summation, I would describe the sound as very clear, somewhat dynamic, but yet a little dry. This unit does not match the sound quality of the flagship Yamaha's and Denon's. In fact, I thought that even the Denon 4800 was superior to the HK, and definitely had warmer and a more sophisticated (rich)sound which I preferred. Also, the other units afforded more "separation" of sound. However, the competing units in question are also at least twice as expensive as this one, so the comparison is really unfair. I do think that the sound quality from a unit in this price range is good.

I think that if reliability is not an issue, this will be a receiver that I keep and will enjoy for a fairly long time.

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Sony 333ES