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poneal
11-16-2005, 08:31 AM
Well, I've had the HK AVR320 unit for just a few weeks over 3 years and guess what? The dang thing started acting up right after the warranty expired. I tried the reset thing, the unplug thing, everything in the manual and the HK support told me to do but nothing fixed the problem The problem is that the 5CH, 7CH, and Surr. OFF lights flicker rapidly. This is indicitative of a processor failure. I've been told that the whole unit will go into shut down within a matter of months. I am really disappointed because I have owned many units over the years and all have lasted well over a decade except this one. I have a 30+ year old Pioneer that still runs for crying out loud. So I would say that HK still has Quality Control Issues and would not recommend buying any products from this company. What do they think? That we throw these things away like disposable BIC butane lighters? If I wanted a disposable AVR I would have bought a $200 Sony not a $600+ HK. As you can tell from my post I am a little upset but I feel better letting everyone know what my experience has been.

Jim Clark
11-16-2005, 08:53 AM
Let me be the first to congratulate you! Looks like you get to go shopping which is an enviable position. What are you looking at now?

Lot's of cool gadgets and gizmos available. How about a nice Arcam if you're going to stay with a receiver? There seem to be some compelling pre\pros if you go sepearates. I can tell you where not to go if your thinking of buying an Anthem on the cheap. The world is now your oyster.

jc

poneal
11-16-2005, 09:03 AM
I'm really frustrated with the AVR thing. I really liked the DTS concerts on DVD and watching movies in 5.1 but if all AVRs have this many problems then I don't care to invest in the HT anymore. Stereo has served me well in the years past. If I go HT then I will probably go separates. Which are proven brands that make preprocessors for the HT market? I have plenty of stereo receivers that I can use the main-in jack for the amps portion. I'm not rich so say around $1000 give or take a few dollars. I'm old school so I want something that lasts at least a decade. Thanks, Paul.

Jim Clark
11-16-2005, 04:29 PM
I had what I felt was an appropriate and witty reply all written up. Then the board started getting all goofy and it's gone for good. *sigh*

Short version: I"m ruluctant to recomend anything in the pre/pro world due basically to the fact that I'm not comfortable guessing the longevity of them. Don't want your next disappointment to have anything to do with my posts. In general I've seen used pre's in the sub 1000 category from Anthem (avm 2 currently available), sunfire, sherwood newcastle, rotel and several others. What these have in common is the ability to do DD and DTS. The cheaper price is a reflection of the fact that they don't have all the most current formats and bells and whistles. These are all good brands but I don't wanna wager on the decade thing but this would be my non professional choice. Audiogon is one L of a place.

That leaves another avr. FWIW, HK still has some pretty problematic issues regarding QC based on the posts I've seen at places like AVS. I still have an older prologic yamaha in service that's 13 years old. Yamaha seems to me to be the leader in build quality but I'd think that Onkyo, Marantz, wouldn't be too far behind and probably even Denon.

Then there's the extreme budget route. There is tons of hype surrounding the Panasonic digital receivers. At 240 a pop, these are disposable though and I'd bet against any of them lasting 10 years.

good luck and I hope things work out the best that they can.

jc