Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Is an HK AVR330 sufficient?

So, based on users experience with entry level AVR receivers, will my 4 year old Harmon Kardon AVR330 drive the Epic 60 - 500 system to levels loud enough to enjoy a movie, but not wake the neighbors? It's 55W per channel (7.1 receiver). It's a considerably heavy AVR (20-30lbs, that seems to mean something to some posters)

Jason

How big is your room? How loud do you like it (decibels would be nice, if you know)?

Most likely, yes. I have an H/K 525 (75wpc) that I ran with M50s and now M80s, and it is quite sufficient for my needs. My room is relatively small, though, and I don't listen very loud. Probably 80dB-85dB on peaks in movies/TV.

HK has very good amp section, and can handle low impedance speakers without difficulty.

I would suggest you stick with it for now, plug in your new speakers and see how you feel about it after a week or two. Remember, too, that Axiom speakers are some of the most efficient on the market, and require less power to play loudly than most.

My gut feeling is that unless you want to play it real loud, or have a very large room, your HK will be plenty sufficient.

Thanks for the advice. My room is a little over 2,000 cubic feet, but it is open on one side to a 2 story high, cathedral ceiling area that is the foyer, formal living and dining. However, I'm not trying to fill that area with sound, in fact I'd like to kill the echo.

I don't know the decibal level that I usually listen too, but the HK reads -25dB (and it maxs out at +10). I have no idea how that relates to actual sound levels in the room. We wouldn't even turn it up that loud if we could hear the dialog. It seems like we have to crank it up to get clear, understandable dialog (in certain scenes) from my Polks (low-end, low cost, Outpost.com special Polks).

Jason

Have you calibrated the receiver? Are you currently using 5.1 or 7.1, or just stereo?

I would imagine that the 330 would have enough juice but it all depends on your preferences and the only way to know for sure it to pair it with the Axioms and see for yourself. I have the AVR135 and M60, VP150 and some nondescript surrounds. The 135 does just fine and I've never had to turn it up past -15 for movies / -20 for music (although I am in a 1500 sq ft room).

I second the suggestion that you calibrate your system.

Let us know how it works out for you.

Cheers,

Jordan

I wouldn't worry about it. H/K is notorious for under rating their amps. I have heard an AVR 130 with M60's and it played plenty loud.

How do you have your center channel set? Most around here bump the center setting up a few db to help with the dialogue.

My remote has the auto calibration mic built in, and I've used that, but I wasn't pleased with the results. I think my center channel is bumped up a few decibals, but I can't go to far or all the sound feels like it's coming out of the TV.

Obviously, I haven't purchased Axiom's yet, and I'm still in the fledgling stages of my purchase decision. Without an audition, it's difficult to ascertain whether there will be a $2,500 difference between my Polk system with my cheap ($100) BIC sub, and the Axioms. I had DCM's in the past, which had a much fuller sound (via a built-in 12" woofer), and I miss that.

Jason

I originally ran my system with a H/K AVR110 and it did great. I could easily go louder than needed without clipping or distortion.

One day I went through the Star Wars Pod Racing scene around 90db's with peaks up to 110 db in a basement 11' x 20' x 8'. It was louder than I would normally watch anything but the house was empty and I took advantage of testing the H/K's capabilities.

Your receiver will play nicely with the Axioms.

Another vote for "yes". I'm running a 630 because it happened to be on sale when I had money, but even a 130 has a fair amount of oomph.

It would be really nice if everyone used the same criteria for rating their amplifiers.

I am not real impressed with the auto-setup on the x30 receivers; you would probably be better off manually adjusting the speakers to the same level by ear.

EDIT -- how the ^*%$%^$ did I get to 4000+ posts ?