Power, ease of use, quality, musicality(?)

When communicating with the other components through the remote, I kept changin the AVR's source. A quibble at best.

I can't recommend this receiver enough. It has power, sound, ease of use, and the Harman Kardon name behind it. Now that it is on sale at many locations in order to make room for the 7300 it is an absolute steal. My tastes lean more heavily to music, which is why I chose the 7200 over other brands. However, it was spectacular decoding Matrix Reloaded and Pirates of the Caribbean. Many of the new formats are not included, but there aren't too much material available - yet.

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Sony HTIB from Wal-Mart, McIntosh

Fidelity, Rich, warm Harman Kardon signature sound.

Remote---but better than most.

If you read my TEASER back on the 28 of December 2003 you’ll see that I am quite pleased with this unit. The Logic 7 is great. It’s right up there with Pro Logic and may be even a bit better. NICE JOB HARMAN KARDON!!. I owned a HK AVR85 for 4 years so the move to the 7200 was not as big a jump for me as it is for others. There was NOTHING wrong with the AVR85. It had power, speed, and great fidelity. It just DIDN’T have dts. I love DTS. It’s better than Dolby Digital and I had to have it. Certainly, though, the AVR7200 has a bit better fidelity and the transients are a bit quicker. I can actually hear the differences. In fact last night wile watching the Pirates of the Caribbean my wife and I noticed lots more little items that we didn’t even hear in the theater. Sounds that you know the director/producer wanted you to hear. I have listened to the DTS with a couple of DV Audio discs. GREAT!!! This will cause me to run out and get more and to finally get my SACD player. After trying to do it on my own, I finally gave in and read the manual about the remote. It’s a pretty nifty remote. Still not the end all of end all, but pretty good. Especially good for programming your other components. But I’m still going to get a Kamelon so I can reduce the coffee table clutter. As I stated in my previous review, this is it for me. The next time I venture into this arena it will be for separates. And I won’t be half-stepping either. So go get it, enjoy it and see ya!

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HK AVR85 Kenwood, Pioneer, Technics I've gone to the top. I know you could buy a more expensive Denon, but why? No, to get better you'll have to go seperate. And you'd beter have the whole deal.

Looks, power, interfaces, surround modes, 7.1 channels, flexible inputs, sound quality.

Complete lack of accessories advertised by Harman Kardon - wall switches, IR repeaters, etc. No RDS support.

I purchased this receiver to replace my Sony STR-AV555ES which I have casually used in my den for a few years without being very particular or excited about. Unlike the Sony, the HK7200 made itself immediately felt in my B&W den setup. it is very powerful (B&W speakers love power) and it processes sound extremely well. The device is also very good looking - too bad I hide it inside my A/V rack (more on that later down). Setup was easy with the instructions. I had to saw off the back of my A/V center to accommodate a depth of 21 inches (incredibly deep) and open some ventilation paths since this beast uses no fans. The EzSet microphone thing did not work well for me as it repeatedly set one side of the room quite higher than the other. I decided to manually setup and bring an ISF tech later on to tweak the whole room. I hooked the HK7200 to an HK25 DVD player that I purchased with it, a Sony SCD-C333ES SACD player, a Dish network PVR510 and the B&W surround setup I already had (602 S3, LCR 60 S2, Signature 7Se in the rear). The receiver has a very easy setup and a wonderfully easy interface to assign specific setting to devices, calibrate the speakers, tweak everything - all through the TV screen interface (OMD). The remote is awesome to hold and easy to work with. The different surround modes work quite well - especially the Logic7 which does add real depth to 2 channel material. Dolby works great with the satellite digital feed and contributes a lot to enhance the experience. There is a lot of cusomization available, such as startup volume level for both zone 1 and 2, device naming, etc. I have not given bass management enough time yet to form an opinion and currently run just a line feed to the Sub-Woofer. I also did not extend the setup to 6.1 or 7.1 (speakers on order) to test what I get there. Just having so many options is already quite gratifying. Negatives One thing that annoys me greatly is the lack of accessories from Harman Kardon, despite being advertised on their web site. One of the reason I chose this receiver was the iBus capability to drive a second zone using their amplified wall controller (AB1) which has not been available anywhere despite being in their web site for months. I also wanted to conceal the receiver in my A/V furniture, out of sight. To achieve this Harman supposedly offer a special infra-red extender module on their web site that is also not available anywhere despite being publically advertised for months. In this day and age an integrated device that also functions as a tuner should support PTY/RDS. It is so prevalent my car has it and it's quite useful when a mindful station broadcasts the band and the song name.

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Krell AV Reference, Sony STR-DE333ES, Sony STR-Ve555ES

Effortless

Does not serve a cold one.

This is just a teaser. I will write a more substantial review in a short bit. POW! I have/had an AVR85. I was actually happy with it. Even though it was nice, it didn’t have DTS, so I had to being to consider other options. I listened to and checked out many, Many, MANY, different receivers, integrated amps and amp/pre/pros. I was lucky enough to talk my wife into buying the 7200 for me for Christmas. And I’m done. Done looking, done testing and am now able to finally give attention to our children and feed the family dog. No, just kidding. But I am finished with all the looking and testing. As Emeril would say.: “Happy, happy.” Just check back here. I’ll tell you what I tried, listened to, and didn’t even waste my time on. So just check back. I’ll give you justification to go and get the AVR7200. You’ll be HAPPY, HAPPY.

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More on that in next.

Built like a tank, sound is very warm, awesome bass, nice remote

Too many front panel lights

I've been looking for the past year to upgrade to a DTS reveiver to replace my old HK AVR-75. After testing a handful of receivers, the HK AVR 7200 was by far the test bang for the buck. Built -- solid and h-e-a-v-y. Uses heat sinks so very quiet, but does get pretty warm. I attached a small fan to help with aeration. Set-Up -- Manual is very complete and set-up is quite easy. The OSD menu is very helpful. Instead of being grouped together, the speaker connectors are split to left and right side respectively - nice touch so as not to clutter all the speaker wires to one side. Features -- Only feature it doesn't have is THX. Personnally, not a big deal for me -- couldn't tell a difference with THX when I was testing the Denon 4802. I like with component switching, multi-room (extra remote for multi-room), and the RS-232 port. Also, the EzSet feature is a cool convenience if you don't want to manually customize the speaker settings. Sound -- excellent bass and very warm. This was the main reason I chose this receiver over the Denon 4802. While the Denon sounded great with movies, it was rather dry with music. The Marantz' sound is also warm, but its bass is rather weak when compared to the Denon and HK.

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Harman Kardon AVR75, Marantz SR-18, Denon 4802

Awesome sound quality for music Smooth, smooth sound Bohemoth size! Flexibility Great remote

Only 2 component video inputs (although it is standard) Hard to think of any others!

I just purchased the AVR-7200 yesterday after hearing of a 50% off sale for the item at Frys. I did some preliminary research, and ended up getting it. I was surprised to see afterwards that the 50% off price was very similar to the regular price of several other sites! I was replacing a Sony STR-DE845, which I considered to be a competent receiver, but I had outgrown it. I was very impressed with the bulk of the H/K. I had a rather expensive stereo rack that it would fit in...if I didn't want to hook up any cables to the back. As for the sound - I'm blown away at the difference in clarity. My Klipsch front speakers sound better than they ever have, and I JBL 12" subwoofer sounds more meshed than before. It's very smooth sound, indeed. I have a Toshiba HD-400 Tivo/DVD with the Home Media option, and over 5,000 MP3's on my network, and the music is fantastic quality. My Sony sounded great for movies, but awful for music. This one punches the sound out using the Logic 7 with ease. My one issue is that I really wish it would have had 3 component video inputs. I have the Tivo, HDTV cable and an X-box, and may end up with another device in the future. Before I was down one available connection, now I'm still maxed out (using the 2nd one on my tv and 2 on the receiver). My house is in the process of having whole-house audio/video/networking/phones put in, and am interested to see how it goes with the A-BUS and two amplified channels. I'm still very confused about how it will work, but saw the other review speaking of Niles...and am starting there! If you are a true audio enthusiast, I highly recommend the Pronto universal remote with comlex systems. I keep the configuration on my laptop, and design the interfaces as I go. I had this remote programmed in and macroed out in about an hour. It seamlessly integrates it into the rest of the equipment for one-button control, including lighting! I feel I'm now a H/K official convert.

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Sony STR-DE845

HUGE SIZE, toroidal power supply, great remote, awesome sound, huge dynamics, warm sound, tons of bass

HUGE SIZE, gets really warm

I have had this reciever for about 5 months now, and I think enough has past to write a proper review. This reciever has amazing sound. The bass is very full, the sound is extremely warm, and this machine has incredible dynamics. I have tried out a lot of other competitors products such as the yamaha RXV-3330, denon avr 4802R and others, but this product exceeds all of them. I believe for the money, there is no better reciever. This has everything but THX certification. I owned the HK AVR8000 before this, and had it replaced via warranty for this newer model, and all I can say is THX is very overrated. I highly recommend this product, you will not be disappointed in anyway.

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DENON AVR5803, 4802, 3803, Yamaha RXZ1, RXV3300, numerous onkyo's pioneer elites, marantz's

Warm and powerful -- truly effortless sound from high current design. Feature laden -- all current DSP modes and HK Logic 7 for 7-channel sound. Heavy weight -- big transformer inside and lots of heatsinks. Runs warm but not hot. Nice remote control -- large but thin and buttons well laid out.

Made in china -- what isn't? But still... Slightly gaudy display -- too many lit-up items. Cheesey surround modes that are nothing more than fillers. Pass on the fluff. Made in china ;^<.

I bought this some months back from JandR.com. They had it on sale for $950 delivered and I went for it -- MSRP is $2000. I had purchased a Yamaha RX-V3300 before this from Good Guys for $725 ($931 after tax and extended warranty). I ran it 24/7 for the first week to burn it in. I returned it after two weeks cuz I could not stand the sound -- thin and cold and harsh. Surely it had lots of balls, but very thin, cold, and harsh balls. It's a solid state amp in every way. The DSP settings were great though -- Yamaha always has great DSP. I would keep it as a pre-pro but not as a receiver. It was not a good match with my Klipsch RF-3II mains, RC-25 center, SP-1 rears/subs. The AVR7200 has been mostly great. It excels where it matters most: Sound. It has a fat bottom, full midrange, and smooth treble. The sound is warm and engaging. It really smoothed out my Klipschies, which are forward in your face but still smooth. It probably would not be a good match for speakers that are too smooth, too mellow, too polite (Energy comes to mind, but I can't think of anything with which Energy would sound good -- maybe my old Yamaha -- YUCK!) The DSP is mostly good. DD, DTS, DPL II are great. Hall and Theater leave lots to be desired -- hollow, tinny, and murky. I don't use those at all. HK could ask Yamaha for help here. Stereo is excellent though. I get better imaging in stereo mode than DPL II or DD. And the sound is gutsy and warm and smooth. Klipschies need mellow receivers or else they'll slap you in the face. ROTEL and NAD would probably sound good with Klipsch as well. There are inputs and outputs galore and the front inputs can be configured to be outputs -- tres cool. The receiver does not always sense what is playing. It doesn't bother me that much since I'm used to switching sources manually anyhow, but it should do it all the time since it's a feature. I need to check on that some more. The front panel is simple with the buttons but a little busy with the DSP indicators. They all are lit and an LED lights up next to the current setting. It would be better if only the current setting were lit and the rest were dark. Lose the bass, treble, and balance controls as well. They stick out like a sore thumb. This unit is one heavy mofo though, and I really like that. I had a devil of a time putting it on my rack -- that shows quality. It's a very deep receiver, deeper than any other receiver that I have seen (about 21"). The heatsink array inside the amp goes all the way around the interior since the receiver doesn't have fans. It gets fairly warm but not excessively warm -- the same as most other receivers. My setup: HK AVR7200 Klipsch RF-3II mains Klipsch RC-25 center Klipsch SP-1 surrounds/subs Panasonic RP-62 DVD player Mitsubishi WS-65818 65" HD RPTV Panamax 5100 power conditioner Monster Video 2 interconnects (digital cable quality) Time Warner HD Digital cable via Pioneer set-top box

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HK AVR5 -- first real receiver. Rated power is only 40 watts or so, but typical gutsy warm HK sound. It doesn't have DD or DTS, only DPL. I still have. HK AVR-225 -- bought to replace AVR5 cuz it has DD and DTS and DPL II. It was on sale at Fry's for $250. I didn't think it was much of an improvement over AVR5. Yamaha RX-V3300 -- I wanted this for a long time. I really wanted to like this after I bought it. Great fit and finish and workmanship. It has the best front door that hides the controls -- much better than Denon, Pioneer, Sony. Just open and close it -- you'll see. Heavy too (49 lbs). Alas I didn't like the harsh, thin, shrill, tinny, sharp, biting, cold, 100 percent solid-state sound. Uggh......

POWER and Definition,Very detailed amp design,easy to use,great looking and HEAVY

The auto speaker(EZ)level sucks. Use a sound meter and do yourself a favor. Other than that...NONE

Never,and I mean NEVER did I think FULL bass management could make such a difference!My god,I have finally found the best reciever at an incredable price. I have to give it to harmonkardon,this is the first reciever I have had from their company and boy do they know amp design. This baby dances around even my sony str777es with perfect balance (thanks to the bass management) in sound and spatal feeling during both HT and music. Easy to use and configure, simplistic yet effective. High current is where its at and at 100 TRUE watts per 7 channels this out-performs everything I have tested. Better grab one before its replaced with a lesser quality model!

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Sony777es,Sony50000es,Pioneer,JVC,Technics

Sound quailty, power, construction, easy of use, number of inputs outputs. Power, sound quailty and power and sound quality.

Depth is longer that most amps. This is because they don't use cooling fans, they use heat sinks for cooling which requires more space. This is because cooling fans can be noisy.

I've always been an Onkyo man. I thought for the money there was no better audio receiver. I've bought Onyo equipment for over 20 yars. I own the 525 surround amp and in June bought the Onkyo SR600 amp. The first thing I noticed was the weight of the SR600. It felt lighter that my 5 year old lower powered 525. The sound was horrible, low output and very thin sounding. I could actually turn the volume all the up and not have anyone complain. Listening to the SR800 I wasn't impressed with that anm either. I researhed and decided to try Harmon Kardon. The SR600 was rated at 100watts per channel X six, so I decided to buy the Harmon Kardon AVR525. Although the AVR was rated 30 watts per channel less it blew the SR600 away. It wasn't even close. This is a current driven amp and the sound was clean strong perfect. Now to get to the point, I loved this amp so much I decided to exchange it for the AVR7200. If the AVR525 sounds this good at 70 watts per channel the big brother has to be better. What you get is more power a much better remote and the best amp you can purchase for under $3000.00 There is nothing this amp can't do. Have you ever turned on your receiver and the volume was left at a high level and you quickly turned it down. This amp allows you to set the default level where you want so when the amp is first turned on, the volume automatically goes to that level. When playing a DTS encoded movie the audio is superb. I don't usually listen to music with Home Theather amps because the quailty is not the same as with a conventional stereo amp. This amp is the best I've heard at playing music. All my speakers are Klipsch's. If you're wondering if you should purchase this amp don't even hesitate, buy it. P.S. this is by no means a light weight amp and the weight has been put to good use.

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Onkyo SR600