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

Gentlement, i just recently purchased an HK335 (discrete 55W per channel) and looking at getting the M80Ti. Will this be a good fit or should I get the M60ti with lower power requirements? Your advise will be appreciated.Thanks.

Here's the link to the specs.

http://harmankardon.com/specifications.aspx?Region=USA&Country=US&Language=ENG&cat=REC&ser=&prod=AVR%20330&sType=C

That's a nice receiver! I'm not versed in the HK products so I may not be any help.
One thing you should research is if the AVR 330 can handle a 4 Ohm load if you want the M80's. Most HK's do, I just didn't see any specs on if it can handle it or not. With the AVR 330 you can always install an external amp as it does have pre-amp out connections. This receiver will drive the M60's beautifully.
Hopefully someone can shed some more light on the 4 ohm question. I don’t like discussing external amp solutions around here.

My guess is that you can run them, but it wouldn't be able to tap in to the 80's potential without more power. That and your amp would run hot. So overall I wouldn't match them. Looking at the pics of this receiver online it does not appear to have pre-outs. Meaning you won't have the ability to run an external amp.

Otherwise the 60s are a great speaker and would be much more fitting for that receiver.

I believe the HK would do a fine job with running the M80s.A better question would be can your room handle the M80s.What is the size of your room.

Thanks to all who are giving the response.

Rick, My room is 15 x 22 x 8 in the basement.

I am now more worried on the 4ohm. Can anyone let me know of that. From futureshop.com it says it has 4ohm capability... but i am wondering why it is not on the spec....

The M80 actually has slightly lower power requirements than the M60, ie it will play a bit louder than the M60 with the same power going into it.

The big differences with the M80 are :

- it can HANDLE more power, ie if you want to feed it lots of power and play really loud it can handle that better than M60.

- M80 is 4 ohm impedence rather than 8 ohm; it will draw more power from your amp at the same volume control setting if your amp can handle it (HKs handle it fine)

- M80s are also said to have slightly deeper low bass and are slighly more "forward" in the midrange.

M80s should be fine with your receiver.

Your room is about the same size as mine (15x20x7.5) and the 80s are a great match for that size of room in my opinion.

Just noticed the link is to HK330 (335 is not up on the HK site yet) but the 330 definitely has pre-outs for 7.1.

The 4 ohm question is a funny one; I don't know the answer. The big reason seems to be a general "dumbing down" of product specs over the last few years, going from a few pages with graphs to 1/2 page of useless information like the fact the FM tuner goes from 88 to 108 MHz.

My understanding is that some (most ?) amps do run hotter when driving into 4 ohms -- what I don't know is whether they would be equally hot putting the same *power* into 8 ohms, ie playing at a higher volume setting. My guess is that the amp runs a bit hotter even at the same power levels because the current is a bit higher and therefore losses in the output drivers are a bit higher, but I don't know for sure.

Pardon this newbie question. What is the Preout that I see on the back? I've always wondered what those are for. I have them in my Yamaha 1400 & HK235. If some some can explain to me what those are for? Is it for external preamp??

The pre-outs are so that you can bypass the power amp section of your receiver and use an external power amp instead. I just did this myself and am happy with the results.

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.