Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Receiver questions

I am puting together my first HT. I am set on M22's, VP150 or M22 for the center, and eventually QS8's. I will have an SVS or HSU for the sub. I am having a lot of trouble deciding on the receiver. I like the sound and set up of teh HK line, and am considering the 525 refurb. I can find it around $500 on ebay. But I am also looking at the Denon 2803 and the Outlaw 1050. I have read many mixed reviews on the outalw, some very good, and some not so good. Also, they have discontinued the 1050, so I would have to wait for the new model to come out. Comments from any of these owners on how they mate with the Axioms would be great.

Micah, all the receivers you mention are fine and there's no reason that they wouldn't work well with the Axioms, but I'd suggest that you add the Yamaha 1400 to your list, primarily because of its YPAO automatic room and speaker equalization.

I bought an outlaw 1050 about a year ago and have been very happy with it. The only issue I am aware of is that when using it as a 5.1 processor there are some new dolby digital EX soundtracks that have a 6.1 flag encoded in them that causes sound cutouts when the receiver is used in 5.1 mode. These cutouts stop by turning on the rear surround speaker even if one is not hooked up. This causes some loss of sound material to the rear channels because the sixth channel is matrixed from the two rears. The whole issue goes away by adding a rear surround speaker. The reason for this was that the EX encoding was not invented when outlaw designed the 1050 processor. I have had this happen on 2 dvd's to date. All this is likely moot for you since a 1050 replacement won't be out until at least this summer.

Having bought a lot things over ebay I would consider paying a little extra and buying the b stock direct from Harmon for $598. A receiver is a complex device and I think I'd rather have the 30 day return option and certainty about the warranty coverage. Many companies will not honor warrantees on products purchased through unauthorized dealers. Harmon's warranty states sales by authorized dealers only. I had a problem with a b stock Denon I bought on ebay thus learning the hard way.

they all seem like good choices, but if you are looking to get yourself a christmas present, the ebay HK's take 10 days to be processed, and might not be shipped for a couple days after that. But i bought mine for 471 which is a pretty good price

md55,

Those 525's on eBay ARE from HK. They also auction them off on eBay, and sell on their website. eBay can save you a houndred bucks. It also only took 3 days to ship for me. I got mine for $500 shipped, and have loved it since I got it.

I have looked at the Yamaha, but I like the HK better and have read many glowing reviews, especially about their customer service. Plus, I have only found the Yamaha for about $650, $150 more than I can get the HK. I understand that HK only warranties to authorized dealers, and will only bid on the ones from Hardon Audio. I just came across the info on the Outlaw, and was wondering if anyone had experience with these units. I read on their website about the problems with the digital dropouts,those are the "not so good" reviews that I referred to. I don't think that I wil be buying for a month or so, so shipping by Christamas is not an issue. I was just wondering if I can go ahead and pull the t rigger on the 525 or if I should wait to see the new Outlaw receiver. Thank you guys for all of your help.

Has anyone that has bought a refurb from Harmon Audio had any problems? I know that HK has good customer service, but I don't want someone else's lemon.

The 1050 replacement is not due out until at least mid year 2004.

My 525 refurb (through onecall.com) has been great. I don't use the surround stuff yet, but so far, so good. My only issue is the remote. (see my rant in a thread a few months ago).

Remote kinda sucks. After using it for a bit, I have gotten used to it, though

i've been looking for that thread
do you remember what its called
i just bought my 525 on tuesday

Here it is!

Boy, that took a bit of digging.

did you end up buying a new remote?

Not yet. I'm broke.

You know, any of these will be fine but I just wanted to let you know that 4 months ago I was also in the market for my first HT setup and while I think the HK line was the most pleasing to look at, to my ears it colored the music in a sort of "Muzak" sort of way if you know what I mean. I also looked at the Onkyo TX-SR700 and the Denon 2803. Both were very comparable but the Denon won out because it is 7.1 (even though I use the 6th & 7Th cnannels as a second zone) which the Onkyo would not do. On the Denon 2803 (which I got for $560 at E-tronics.com) I run M60Ti's, VP-150,QS8's and an Hsu Vtf-2 sub. The sound is spectacular!
Good luck in your decision.

Hey! What's wrong with Muzak?

Actually, I haven't a clue what you're talking about. My H/K sounds fine, and I can't really define a muzak-like sound quality in my mind. Do you mean diminished bass and compressed treble? I's confused.

I have read alot about the HK remote and all the poor reviews. That is really the only knock that I have seen on this line, except for the muzack review (not sure that I understand that one). I am already planning on a remote upgrade, looking at the MX500 from Home theater master. I do have one question. I will only have 5.1 in the HT, but wil need to run a set of speakers on the back porch. Does the HK do an A/B setup like the Yamaha, or does it use the other channels to power another source, or is this even possible at all? I played with this reciever at the local CC, but the guy working there didn't know what I meant, and wouldn't let me play long enough to find out. I don't want to get everyone fired up, but I really hate researching at CC and BB. It is not important to be able to use the outside speakers at the same time as the HT, with different sources. I just need some music for BBQ's and such.Thanks again to everyone for their help.

There are several options with the 525. The back 2 channels are amplified and can be used as B speakers instead of backs (it's in the setup menus). It is also multizone capable, with line level outs. And, to top it off, it also has A/BUS, which no one here seems to know anything about.

If I remember, the ABus is the feature that allows you to set up the second zone with an IR module so that you can control the reciever from the second zone. I don't see that I will ever use this feature, but it is nice to have the option. So, does the HK do the A/B switching, or do I have to use the other two channels? This will not be a problem initailly, but if I do ever decide to go 6.1, then I will lose the amplification to the porch. Who knows, maybe by that time I'll be into seperates.

Yes, you have to use the other two channels. But you could always put in a cheapo 2 channel receiver in and hook up to the multizone stuff when you go 6.1. ABus is cool because it doesn't just provide IR control of the reciever, it also provides amplification and volume control for a set of speakers. They all seem to be in wall units (like light switches) such as the H/K AB1.