I auditioned The HK AVR75, Onkyo 656, Denon 2700, and the Yamaha 793. After comparing the features and construction of all these models, it was pretty close. A was able to compare the Onkyo and the Harmon head to head and the Yamaha and the Denon head to head. In the end it was between the Yamaha and the Harmon Kardon. What sold me in the end was the price. I got it for $562 from Onecall. An incredible deal for a Dolby Digital receiver the retails for $1200. Plenty of power, and tons of Audio and Video inputs. The only drawbacks are the remote and the manual, but these are minor complaints. Five stars.

sound

reliabilty

I to bought this baby on UBID for $430 in April '99. It was an awesome receiver up until 2 weeks ago when the rear channel speakers decided to stop working. They all of sudden stoped producing sound!

I see this was a problem that someone else experienced with the AVR75. I brought it into a local HK service center and the guy said he's been seeing a lot of AVR55 and AVR75's lately. Great!

Fortunately, it is still covered by the 1 yr warranty. Once I get it fixed I think I'm going to try and sell it. Also, the remote sucks. I had to buy an All for one AV producer 8 which I would highly recommend for anyone with this receiver.

Good value, but had to hammer it overall because I'm sitting here watching a movie in stereo while my AVR is in the shop!

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Onkyo 575

performance, style

reliability, customer service

no argument the best sound my ears can appreciate. Reliability problems have reared their ugly head though. My unit was made in Japan and still it developed some logic problems: I suddenly lost all sound out of the rear channels. Sent it back to the factory, it came back three months later with ground problems. now all speakers make a horrible popping sound when i turn it on. lots of disappointment. therefore 4.

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denon 2700

Style, Power, musicality, and features

Could be percievd as difficult to opperate, but it isn't

I own it and I love it. It is VERY reliable and my mother (who isn't technicly inclined can operate it. I don't have anything but praise for my unit.

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Everything Circuit City has carried for 3 years

amazing sound, input flexibility

only one optical input, can't complain too hard about that though...

This amp is an amazing work of art, granted the remote isn't "ergonomically" designed, but it controls EVERYTHING with ease. Sorry, but you've got to be a moran to not understand this, even my parents got it down. I've also done extensive listening with McIntosh/ Polk systems as well as Krell/ Wilson audio systems. While, granted, my H/K amp doesn't sound quite as great as these systems, I've never heard another av reciever that could reproduce sound like this for under 5k. Well, all and all I've been extreemly happy with this amp, never had the surround speakers go out, and I drive mine hard. To all that have had that problem, I don't stress my system by overloading the sockets out of the wall where the amp's plugged in and I don't plug other equipment into the back of my H/K. Current signals from the wall strain to keep up with the systems needs after a certain point, watch your power meter start to spin...

Similar Products Used:

denon, carver, marantz, McIntosh, Krell

Versatility

Not enough digital optical inputs

This is a great product at a great cost, Just like all H/K stuff. I picked this up form a Harman Audio Outlet, luckily I live by one as well as a Kenwood one. I've read alot of the reviews below and am surprised at people giving bad reviews, but some people can never be satisfied. The Remote seems to be being given a bad rap. The remote is a learning remote and is pretty cool. The newer H/K's remotes are supposed to be even better. The remote is not for the mentally/dexterously challenged though. Otherwise great product, would have been cool to have another optical digital input, only has one.

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Sony, Kenwood, Pioneer

Just purchased unit from ubid for $410. The first thing I did was read the manual, and in about 15 minutes, I had bass (selected large speakers), had the remote programmed to replace 4 remotes, and had found the 'att' (attenuate - cuts signal from analog devices to reduce distortion. Turn it off and receiver is much louder) switch and turned it off. Great receiver!! Dolby Pro Logic is lame, but it always is. H/K matrix sounds better in the surrounds. Haven't tried Dolby Digital yet, but will soon with DVD. Deductions for no phono input, and remote is not intuitive to use (but very flexible and easy to program). I'd give it four and a half stars, if I could.

Sorry,my mistake!The movie I use should be "Deep Impact",not"Double Impact".

Sound quality, construction quality

Only one optical input, cannot mix S-video and composite video signals, lame remote, no DTS support

I have been quite happy with this receiver, as it has served me well for the last two and a half years. It plays clean and loud. The only limitation it has compared to newer receivers is the number of optical inputs (just one). However, with the purchase of a new DVD player which has coaxial digital input, my problems have been solved, as I can now use the optical input for one source, and the coaxial digital for the other. Unfortunately, this receiver does not support DTS, as it has neither a DTS decoder built-in, nor does it have inputs to accept a decoded signal.

The remote is very unremarkable, as all the buttons (except the volume) look the same, making it difficult to use in the dark. It would also be nice if it had some buttons that could nicely map to DVD features.

I'm still 100% satisfied with this receiver. The unit is solidly built and has exceptional sound quality. It is not rated at high power, but it delivers much better sound than many higher rated receivers due to it's high current design. You can tell the difference by just picking this unit up, as it weighs 30 pounds, unlike many cheaper units which claim a higher power rating.

Here's my system:

Harman Kardon AVR75 receiver
JVC Dish satellite receiver
Pioneer DV-C503 DVD player (replaced my broken JVC XV-501BK)
Acoustic Research AR-1 main speakers
Acoustic Research AR-2C center channel
Acoustic Research 308HO surround speakers

My value rating is based on price paid, not the rediculous MSRP.

Everything

None

Have been real pleased with the performance of this unit.Does music and movies equally well.I have a tendancy
to drive this unit pretty hard on movies and music and it does it with ease.Drives my Paradigm speaker system to very satisfying levels....

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Pioneer,Adcom