Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Need advice on HK-AVR335

The pre-outs on the back are so you can hook an external power amp (usually a more powerful one) up and still use the pre-amp inside the receiver...hence pre(amp)-out(put)s.

Your receiver probably has 8 of them, corresponding to 7.1 audio (2 main, 2 surround, 2 rear, 1 center).(1 sub). The subwoofer is normally powered these days (has its own power amplifier built in) so it hooks up to the subwoofer pre-out just like any other power amp would.

The most common use of pre-outs is to add a big honkin' power amp for the mains (front left/right) and let the receiver's built in amplifier drive the center, surrounds and rear. In this case you would :

- run a stereo cable from front l/r pre-outs to the line inputs of a stereo power amp

- move your front l/r speaker cables from the speaker out of the receiver to the speaker out of the new power amp

- everything else would work exactly as it does today except you might need to play with the level settings to make sure all the speakers still play at the correct relative volume

You can also obviously use an external power amp for all 5/7 channels but this is less common because good 5/7 channel power amps are expensive and you get almost as much benefit by using a stereo amp on the mains.

Awesome.. Thanks for the detailed explanation.

Again. Hate to be the bearer of bad news. But the H/K AVR-335 does NOT appear to have pre-outs. All I see is hookups for 6/8 channel music inputs. Otherwise it's regular video and audio hookups and of course speaker terminals.

http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/538261568

Hi dbbx0,

Generally, you will not find H/K or Denon stating outright that their receivers will drive 4-ohm loads like the M80s. This is to avoid consumer liability issues, because more current always flows into a lower impedance, so the output section runs hotter.

Our experience at Axiom is that Denon and H/K receivers will drive the 4-ohm M80ti's with no current limiting or thermal shutdown so long as you don't try and fill a huge room and expect a moderate-powered Denon or H/K receiver to recreate extremely high-decibel playback--the kind you would get from using a separate power amp of 150 or 200 watts per channel to drive the M80s. We are talking loudness that some of my Axiom colleagues prefer (I call it "deafening").

Your H/K, like other H/Ks, I'm sure will drive the M80ti's, but you don't have much power there to really take advantage of the peak capabilities of the M80ti's. If you don't require that, then the 8-ohm M60ti's are an "easier" load and are virtually identical in tonal balance to the M80s. By the way, the M80s are not "more forward" than the M60s (several generations ago, they were slightly more forward than the M60ti's). The M80ti's do, however, have greater bass extension and output in the deep bass than the M60s, although the latter are no slouches in the bass department, as M60ti' owners will attest.

Regards,

Thats odd, why would they have preouts on the 235 and not on the 335? The 330 have preouts. I wonder if that pic is accurate. Harman Kardon Website still dont have the 335 specs.

>>By the way, the M80s are not "more forward" than the M60s (several generations ago, they were slightly more forward than the M60ti's).

That's good to know. I'll stop parroting that particular urban legend

Thanks, Alan !

I just realized that the link he provided was for the AVR 330 and not the AVR 335 . I need more coffee

The AVR330 have the preouts thou. Check out HK website. I think Vans got the wrong pic.

I stand corrected, or at least I assume so. I searched on the H/K home site and they don't have the 335, but they do have the model down, and it's rear panel graph is showing pre-outs. So I assume it's safe to say that there is preouts on the 335.
Vanns should get with the program. The back of the 335 is actually more impressive looking than the picture they provide.

So on that note, if you wanted, you can fully utilize an external amplifier.

Sorry for adding to the confusion.