Well, I had to find out about this HK stuff, so I took a 15 minute trip to a dealer who has HK. I was able to listen to an HK avr 330. After that audition I went to another hi-fi shop to listen to a Denon 2805, a Pioneer Elite 55tx and the Yammie 1400. These are my impressions. The HK was cheap looking and I was afraid I was going to break the volume knob. The sound was tinny and lackluster probably due to that shops inadequate set up. I was not impressed with the HK or the Paradigm bookshelves I was listening to.
At the second shop, I found the sound of the Elite to be somewhat average, while the Yamaha and the Denon were impressive. If I was going to buy a new receiver today, I would buy the Denon.
After this short trip I returned home and listened to my old Yammie with my Axiom speaker system. I said to myself, "self, this sounds darn good." I wasn't impressed with the HK I listened to. I either don't get it or this shop has no idea or desire to set up a system properly. I'm hoping that the later is true. Furthermore, I would like to state publicly that sometimes I forget how nice my Axiom speakers really are until I go listen to something else in a shop setting. AXIOM ROCKS!
