Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Harman Kardon AVR525

Has anyone had the chance to check out the Harman Kardon AVR525? I am curious, 6ave.com has it for $650, well below what everyone else is asking but I am concerned about quality issues with H&K that I have read is some posts.

I haven't used the HK AVR525, but there's a bunch of users out here that use HK's. The only issue I've ever heard of is they tend to run hot.

Rick

I haven't used it either, but I'm sure it's quite a nice unit. You should really try to demo all the receivers out there to see what your preference is. for around 650-700 check out the Pioneer Elite vsx43tx, it's 700 delivered and with full warranty. In my opinion, the 43/45 Elites and the 525's are the two most highly regarded units in this price range. The sound differences between these receivers could be minor so it could come down to features, but try to audition them to make sure.

-Brian

I don't own one......but I can relay to you what I have read on other forums. The H/K 525 uses a cooling fan. Some don't like the idea of a receiver that runs hot enough that it requires a fan. Many believe a truly well designed amp should be cooled only by the heat sink(s). Also, the H/Ks are known to occastionally shutdown from running to hot....usually in the summer when the indoor temp might already be a little elevated. Those are the things I have read that have been repeated many times on the forums. Hope this helps!

Hi reddish,

If you are patient for a bit, I just had a loaner 525 delivered, so I'll be able to tell you after a week or so. I also have a slumping A/V stand that's semi-collapsed, so I've got to install the new stand (Axiom) and connect the 525.

And yes, it has a cooling fan so we'll see if it does its job. The 525 is an interim loaner until a new model, the 7200, is in production. The 7200, due later this Spring, is a real behemoth: no fan, and almost as heavy as the AVR 8000, about 50+ pounds. It appears to be very impressive. . .

Now I've got to go to the gym to get in shape to move all that heavy, clumsy A/V gear.

Regards,

I think H/K has resolved their quality issues, I believe it was mostly during their plant move. It has been sometime since then and I haven't heard anything with their latest products.

Most certainly, I would love to hear what you think of the unit as well as the 7200 when it hits the shelves.

Ouch! It hurts to see what those sell for in the United States. I think it would be cheaper for our shop to buy those at the US retail prices than the Canadian wholesale prices
Good receiver though; one of my favourites simply based on the sound quality.

I have had a HK525 for just a few days now, along with my M60's, the receiver is one of the best. It drives M60 perfectly, I use the system mostly for stereo.
I can give more comments on a HT setup because I only have two main speakers for now, but I really love the HK525 and M60 combo.

Alan, Have you completed your review of the 525? I'm seriously considering it for my HT setup.

for my Candian cousins, www.etronics.com now delivers electronics to Canadian customers with the prices converted into Canadian dollars, duties, taxes and shipping costs included and there prices are very attractive when compared to what the same item would be here.

Hope this helps expand your shopping horizon.

Alan, I wasn't able to locate your findings on the Harman Kardon AVR525 and am interested in your opinion.
I am interested in purchasing one, but being i'm somewhat of an amateur at this, an experienced ear is much appreciated.

Thanks

Hi AllaninOshawa,

I've been using the Harman Kardon AVR525 for a few weeks now, and I love it. Its sound quality is as good as anything I've heard and the versatility of the processing modes, which include adjustable versions of Logic 7 (originally developed for the Lexicon processors) seems to be unmatched. I don't really care that it will decode MP3, but that might be a factor for some. I'm still astonished at how well Dolby Pro Logic II decodes some stereo and older surround material. You'd almost believe it was a discrete 5-channel mix, depending on the source material. Logic 7 is, sometimes, an advantage over DPL II and dts Neo:6, but I wouldn't base a buying decision on that factor.

The backlit learning remote is quite versatile and picks up the codes of your other remotes with a very neat system that doesn't require you to mate the two remotes, although you can use that technique if you want.

It does run rather warm but if the fan cycles on, I don't hear it. I've only got 1 inch clearance above the 525, which isn't really enough, but that's the height of the stand, alas. I haven't yet tried driving the 4-ohm M80s with it to see what happens. I'll report on that when I get a chance to wire up the switcher.

Regards,

Hi Alan,

I am thinking of using either the HK AVR325 or AVR525 as a pre-amp/pro. Do you know (or anyone else on the board) much about the HK AVR 325 and how it sounds compared vs the 525? The 325 seems very similar to the AVR525, excepts its down a bit on power. As I have external amps, thats not a consideration. The only real difference I can find is that the 525 dies HDCD decoding. Just wondering I am safe to assume the sound would be the same, as the 325 can be had for $150-200 less than the 525.

Hi amer,

Since the 325 uses identical DSP chips to the 525, I should think its sound quality would be identical. Yes, I forgot about HDCD, which when it was introduced was cloaked in a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo that was never fully explained by its original developer (Pacific Microsonics). I wouldn't base a buying decision on the presence of an HDCD decoder.

Regards,

Amer, as Alan indicated, the "sound" as played through either the 325 or 525 should be identical; neither one would audibly change it. The HDCD is meaningless in my opinion, but one difference that may or may not be meaningful to you is that the 525 has bass management for DVD-A or SACD, if you might be thinking of getting into that. Note that you can find the 525 for as low as $650 shipped.

The 525 uses digital bass management, which means the signal goes through an extra set of AD/DA conversions. I don't know if that makes an audible difference, but it kind of defeats the purpose of the ultra-high resolution provided by DVD-A and SACD.

I'm not aware of any affordable receivers that do analog bass management on the multichannel inputs, but Outlaw's ICBM is a reasonably-priced add-on.

Of course, if you have full-range speakers all around then you might not care about bass management.

Onecall has the refurb 525 in stock for $499. I just got mine last week. Full factory warranty. $399 for the refurb 325. Plus they're an authorized dealer.

Frank

Alan, thanks for your opinion on the AVR525. The more and more I read about it, and see it (I have seen it in several Toronto area stereo stores. Great looking unit, sad price when compared to American), I can't wait to place my order.

Regards,

AllanInOshawa

You nailed my major concern about the 525. I do want to buy a universal DVD-A/SACD player and according to everything I've heard, when the receiver does a digital bass management conversion, you lose whatever higher resolution the formats may offer. I called H/K and asked a technical rep if this conversion process could be bypassed. He indicated no. However, when I posed this question at the hometheaterspot H/K forum, I got the following response from, presumably, an AVR-525 owner:

The AVR 525 bass manager has 4 Modes:
1. 6 Channel Direct No Bass Manager
2. 6 Channel Direct w/Bass Manager
3. 8 Channel Direct No Bass Manager
4. 8 Channel Direct w/Bass Manager

When the Bass Manager is activated, 3 different X-over settings are possible like Front L/R, Center and Surrounds L/R side Surrounds L/R back. And each speaker setting has 6 different frequencies available (40Hz, 60Hz, 80Hz, 100Hz, 120Hz, 200Hz).

Does this statement contradict what the H/K rep told me, or are two different things being discussed?

I'd be really surprised if modes 1 and 3 weren't "through" modes with no digital processing.

Well went ahead and purchased the 325 (got a great price for one in Canada), thanks for all the info. Looking forward to hooking it up this weekend, and will post my thoughts.

Found this:

"In the AVR 7200 and AVR 525, the Triple Crossover system is extended to also function with the analog 8-channel direct inputs provided for connection to a DVD-Audio or SACD player. Both units offer the option of passing signals from a DVD-Audio or SACD player through a "bypass" mode or digitizing them so that the Triple Crossover system may be used. This is critical for achieving optimal sonic performance when the units are used in conjunction with a player that does not have internal bass management and redirection. The new Harman Kardon receivers are among the very few that offer this level of complete bass management."

So it sounds like the Bass management can indeed be bypassed in the 525. I went with the 325, since its cheaper, and I am using full range speakers anyways so the DVD-A/SACD bass management not that big of an issue with me.