Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater HK vs Yamaha RX-V640? Should I bring it back?

Im having second thoughts about my purchase of the HK AVR 225 - I dont know if Im looking for reassurance here or what, but I just noticed the place where I bought my receiver from has the Yammy RX-V640 there now too, in the used section, for the same price I bought my HK for, plus it does 6.1 decoding (which I wont use) but has the option for dual zones (which it does power), and has more power output in RMS than my HK.(75Wx6 for Yammy vs 55wX5 for HK) On top of that it has component inputs and outputs, which my HK does not have. Should I bring it back and trade it in?
If anyone is interested here is the Yammy manual link:
http://www.yamaha.com/yec/customer/manuals/PDFs/RXV640_E.PDF
And the HK AVR225 link:
http://manuals.harman.com/HK/Owner%27s%20Manual/AVR%20225%20OM%20FINAL%20REV%203-28-03.pdf

Any thoughts or experiences?
I just want the best bang for my buck here, and I want to get the longest period of time out of it, hence the worrying about the component inputs (My tv does not do components, but my next one will...)

Oh yeah this is the yammy
http://www.targethifi.com/images/YamahaRXV640.JPG
vs the HK
http://www.targethifi.com/images/HKavr225.jpg
I also just noticed the yammy does not have an OSD. Just those mini setups on the display...Am I just being a paranoid ass?

Adam, the power ratings of both receivers are accurate(or even slightly conservative)as the law requires them to be, but note that the numbers you mention refer to different standards. The 55 watt HK rating is with 5 channels simultaneously driven; the more common(and more realistic for real-world use)2 channels driven rating is 65 watts and is probably somewhat conservative, as is HK's common practice. The Yamaha 75 watt rating is the usual one with 2 channels driven. The bottom line is that there's no significant difference in the power ratings of the two receivers, so don't worry about it.

It's your decision, of course, as to the component connections vs the OSD(or any other features), but unless one of them is really important to you stay with the fine 225 that you have.

Thanks John, I was thinking about it yesterday before I went to sleep (can you believe that actually kept me up) and I was trying to imagine how much of a pain in the ass it would be to configure the setup without an OSD; I imagine if I get a new tv sometime soon with Component Video inputs, it would probably have more than one, and since the less distance to the path is better, I would probably make out just fine wiring the video cables straight to the television. Thanks again John, much appreciated.

I recently had a HK AVR 230 and a Yamaha 5640 in my house at the same time. In terms of power/volume the 50 WPC HK could take the 85 WPC Yamaha hands down. At volumes that sounded very good on the HK, the Yamaha sounded very strained, for lack of a better word.

With that being said, having component input/output from your AVR is nice but not mandatory depending on how many component inputs you have. I currently have my DVD and PS2 going through my AVR and my HD Cable box going directly to my TV and I have reached the limit of component inputs available - my AVR (DVD and PS2) will take 2 and my TV (AVR and Cable) will take 2. It is a minor nuisance when I use the HK remote to get the inputs right when I change devices, but since I hooked it up it always made sense to me. To keep my wife happy, I had to get a universal remote so we could do anything with the touch of 1 button.

Other useful info I found out along the way:

Some of the higher end AVRs (Denon 3805, I think and some of the HKs, I think - all >$1000 new) have 3 component inputs and will also "upconvert" the picture (from a VCR for example) to component so you need only one output connected to the TV. The quality of the picture isn't any better than the original source, but the connection/control issue is simplified (pretty much negating the need for a universal remote - see below).

Also, the good universal remotes (Harmony, Home Theatre Master) have all the codes for the individual inputs on the TVs even when the manufacturer's remote doesn't. For example, my Sony Grand WEGA TV remote will not allow me to simply hit a "Video 6" button to get to the Video 6 input. I have to hit the "Input" button repeatedly and scroll all the inputs to get to Video 6 (this is what really irritated my wife). The Sony universal remote apparently functions the same as my TV remote. But now that I have the Harmony universal remote I just hit "Watch TV" or "DVD" and all the components and inputs turn on and go to the right settings.

So - the bottom line is that I would keep the HK AVR and just make sure whatever TV I get has enough component inputs to directly hook the video portion of the component sources directly to the TV and then depending on your tolerance for button pushing, consider a universal remote.

Thanks foggy, much appreciated