Power, sound quality, Surround processors.

None as far the product goes, set up can be a bit tricky and the manual no matter how many times you read it may as well be in greek. $$$

First of all this review is for the new 525, 70x7. What a wonderful piece of equipment. I tested everything in the same price range from every maker out there and I kept coming back to the HK sound. High end is bright and pure and the famous HK bass is excellent. Stereo is nice, although I am starting to like the DD 2 for music as well. Movies are amazing with the 7.1. My only complaint is the learning curve to use the thing. It took me three weeks and several phone calls to HK, but in the end it all well worth it. It runs hot, but that is the norm for HK. Make sure that you leave plenty of room for ventilation.

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Everything

I found the set-up to be uncomplicated. Of course, after a careful reading of the owner's manual. The 75 watts per channel output provides plenty of power for my Energy Connoisseur speakers. The surround sound menue,ease of operation and sound produced are excellent.

None

Excellent performance for home theater, television programming and music. I purchased the 520 from Mike Embers at www.acousticsounddesign.com. He was very helpful and patient as I made several changes.

Sounds great,works great,does all most all thing I want,esp like the large front plus LFE option,can still use the nice woofeers of the AR's and just cross it over for real low .

No included 6.1 DD ES,not real u-pset,but would be nice,notice the 525 has this and the rear 7.1 amps this one lacks.Now,the MANUAL,LOL....it it a trick?? I work on import cars,so im used to some "loss of clarity in conversion to english etc.BUT OMG this manual? is a disaster,the rear hook up pictures are in black,with dark gray lines to show where cables/wires/etc hook up.I finally just winged it ,hooked it up using basic stero common sense.For someone who has never hooked up a AV receiver ,this could be a nightmare. Other than the manual.and lack of DD ES ,I think its great.

Had bought an Onkyo 600 before the HK,But found out the Onkyo would not live with my 4 OHM AR and M&K front and center channels.So I did more research and came up with the HK 520.Soundwise it completely destroys my JVC 801,I didnt realize what the difference between a bargain recievere and a Highend,to me at least LOL.All my speakers sound better,I was about to spend a ton on new speakers ,blaming them for my dissatisfaction.AR TSW 510's front ,M&K THX 750 center,and a JBL 100 watt sub.After hooking up the HK ,I realized the speakers were not the problem!VERY HAPPY with it.

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JVC *2, Onkyo,

Powerful amps Clean sound Diverse and configurable

HEAVY. Can challenge weaker racks. I wish it had more optical inputs on back.

As most in these forums, I did my homework extensively. I looked at Denon, Onkyo, Yamaha and Marantz brands settling finally on the AVR520. This unit replaces a four year old JVC 5.1 unit that has been a good HT receiver. After upgrading to a 64" Pioneer HDTV I wanted a my audio to be more powerful. My speakers are the Paradigm Performance series. Phantoms as fronts, CC170 center and Titans in rear topped off with a PS1000 sub. After getting the speakers and inputs all connected, the OSD or on-screen display was easy and funcitonal. When testing my first DVD I had to fumble with the remote to find the volume. MAN THIS IS LOUD!!!! My subwoofer has awoken!!! The JVC did not do my Paradigms justice. This receiver can match if not exceed my speakers. At the cost that OneCall is selling these (had $10 coupon), it's a no-brainer. This is one clean powerful receiver.

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Demo'd multiple brands as mentioned in summary.

Power--accurately rated by HK. Amps-clean--especially in 2 channel--exceptional sound for its price. HT-no complaints-for this or any other price range. Configurable and future-proof(if there is such a thing). Hefty--35lbs.

Heat--keep it well ventilated this baby gets hot. Appearence: I guess I'm sort of a snobb when it comes to this, but I like the clean face-plates like the Brit's use on their receivers--the 520 is a bit flashy for me.

I waited till I had this unit awhile to write a review. Echoes of all those that praised the 520--a beefy unit that flawlessly handles HT and does 2 channel music very well. Have had no reliability problems, and set-up was fairly straightforward. I am using Athena Spaekers all around--AS-F2's up front, AS-B2 surrounds, and AS-C1 center. The F2's have two 8" woofers and weigh 50lbs each--in two channel stereo, the 520+F2's=wall shaking but warm and accurate presentation. Is it audiophile heaven? well, not quite. My grado, senns, and ety headphones still get the edge--but this is not a fair comparison as the grado's list price is almost as much as the 520's list price. Besides, the shortcomings I hear may be a function of the Athenas, and not necessarily the 520 itself. At this price range, and given the the unit pulls double duty, it is hard to complain about its capabilities. The amps are clean and powerful. The digital processing for HT delivers in all formats, and gotta love the DP-II. Extremely configurable, and the onboard DAC's keep pace with my sony 333 ES CD player--except, of course, when the 333 is playing an SACD. The remote is not the most user-friendly, it certainly confounds my wife, but, ..honestly that's not all that hard to do :), however, after using it a while i've come to appreciate it especially its versatility in learning the codes of ther equipment. All around, the 520 is a well thought out unit that exceeds all expectations at this price range. Highly recommend.

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demoed many sony's, onkyo, denon, etc.

Power. Clarity. Versatility.

Music.

Had this AVR 520 for about ten months now.I listened to many different recievers before making a decision. It's high current amplifier definately provides ample power for my home theatre needs. It's easily capable of destroying speakers if you want to push the volume up. DVD sound reproduction is clear and realistic. The unit has so many options for configurations and sound modes that it can be a little overwhelming at first. Read through the manual a couple of times and it starts to makes sense. Versatiltiy is a strong point here. I will have to say that if your main interest is music then I don't know if this would be my first choice. I find it lacking something . I believe "bright" has been used by other reviews I read here before. I find it is critical to play with the different modes/processors to get the best sound with various types of music. This becomes a bit annoying if you have home burned cd's with mixed music. If you are a real audiophile that likes to "play" then this will just be a plus to you. The HK "logic 7" processor makes poor recordings sound a lot better and fuller than they really are. I have had no reliability issues with the unit at all, although I have read about others that did. The fact they pretty much all said customer service was number one.

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Marantz. Sony.

flexibilty,future expandability,and I know that H&K were modest in there watt rating.SOUND SO GOOD I THOUGHT ABOUT MOVING INTO MY VIDEO ROOM PERMANENTLY.

I WISH I COULD HAVE WRITTEN THE MANUAL.

I was almost going to purchase this through Crutchfield but saw it on line at Costco.com amazing price for an amazing product.I must admit I have not owned an AVR before with this kind of cpabilities so the feature were quite a large array. A lot of inputs,expandability,practically very usefull.WOW WHAT A SOUND I GET AT THE MOVIES!!The watts have to be under rated.Can't remember which movie it was but the sound effects emminating from my speakers scared the heck out of my dogs.

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I HAVE OWNED STEREO EQUIPMENT FROM AKAI,MARANTZ,PIONEER,SANSUI,SONY,MACINTOSHAND YAMAHA.AT THIS PRICE AND PERFORMANCE YOU'LL HAVE TO STEAL IT FROM ME TO GET IT FROM ME.

Flexibility, legitimate power output, and just plain quality.

None

Thanks to the Audio Review site, I did extensive research and decided on this product. A truly outstanding piece of equipment. Sound and flexibility extensive. I found manual to be a bit confusing, but Harman Kardon technical support was superior. They were concise and clear in getting me set-up.

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Jvc

Very nice sound for 2 channel stereo listening such as a CD. Numerous inputs/outputs for the future.

Did not enjoy HT sound. Out of the box will only provide 5.1 - need amplifier for 6.1 or 7.1 (can get expensive adding an amplifier for people with a budget - this receiever is no inexpensive). 2 units brought to the house were returned due to left channel speaker failure (#1) and generalized hum and "alien-like" sounds coming out of Pro Logic II decoding (#2).

I had 2 of these receivers that I brought home and returned. The first receiver had a problem with the left front channel (sound was muted - speaker problem ruled out by use of several different speakers, all of which had the same problem). The second receiver produced a hum out of all 5 speakers (problem occured even with no components connected - only speakers connected). In addition I believe the Dolby Decoder was bad as Pro Logic II produced what sounded like "aliens" coming out of the 2 front and 2 rear channel speakers. During initial use of the receiver I was very impressed with 2 channel stereo sound for music. I did not find the sound very satisfying for HT. The center channel did not seem to produce a clear / concise dialogue. The rear speakers seemed weak in volume and clarity. Receiver can handle 7.1 using outputs to an amplfier, but only has speaker connections for 5.1 directly off the receiver. Unit also runs hot. I have to give a low rating as there are reliability issues (to take another unit home would have left me with lots of questions - What else would go wrong after 2 units failed?) and I a was not satisified with HT sound. I do feel that the 2 channel stereo sound is worth giving a listen if that is one's primary use of the receiver, but HK makes 2 models specifically for listening to music for far less money. Value Rating: -2- since I only liked 2 channel stereo out of the unit, I feel the unit is too much that alone. Overall rating -2- I just was not happy with the unit for HT.

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Onyko TX-DS 797, Denon AVR 3802

Best option for pre-out/main-in connections. For a standard AV reciever it may seem a bit pricey, but for those that need exceptional flexibility the AVR520 is the clear winner and an incredibly good deal.

Limited optical inputs, would like to have a couple more optical options. Not really a weakness this is just a note - like all recievers of this caliber, it weighs a ton and puts out a good bit of heat.

I have a decent system using all NHT speakers (2.5i mains, supercenter, 4 SuperOne's in the rear - two per side wired in parallel). Pioneer Elite progressive scan DVD player and previously driven by a Sony DTR 915. Recently added a NHT SubOne that has a very nicely designed external controller box. The downside is that the Sony's basic sub output does not provide enough adjustability and my system's performance actually downgraded with the sub attached. To solve this required an Amp with pre-out and main-in connections. This allows fully customizeable crossover control and is the only way to fully integrate a sub. The HK AVR520 was the hands down winner in terms of sound and price. If you need or want the pre-out and main-in connections - the HK AVR520 is your best bet and easily beat out the comparable units from Denon, NAD, Pioneer Elite, Onkyo and a couple others I don't recall offhand that I listened to. Interestingly, the ARV520 was the lowest cost unit of all I listened to and provided among the best pre-out/main-in connection set. If you use a powered sub (and it would be a mistake to use an unpowered sub), then the ARV520's power output is more than enough for home use. I found the setup and use of the 520 to be pretty straightforward and not all that difficult to do at all. I use Dolby Digital exclusively so I don't have a good opinion on the other surround modes. The music modes do work very nicely though, and I do use them.