HK AVR630 vs. Yamaha RX-V1500???

[Cumminspuller]

Well here is my dilema.....I ordered an HK AVR630 the other day. It was a remanufactured from HK's website for $714 shipped. I hadn't been able to find a local A/V store, but today someone told me the local music shop is an authorized Yamaha dealer. Went by there and the salesman told me he could sell me a RX-V1500 for $649.99 + 8.75% tax. So roughly the same price as the HK. Well the HK has not arrived yet. Should be here November 1st. The salesman told me that HK does not use high current amps in their receivers like Yamaha does. Is this true?

In you guys opinions would you have choosen the 1500 over the 630?

Jason

[kpzbee]

Unless the HK has features the Yammie don't, I'd go for the Yammie. I'm on my second Yamaha as the first one is still going strong, with no repairs, after 10 years. Dollar for dollar, reman vs new, I'd go new. The dealer that I bought my Yamaha from, doubles the factory warrenty for free.

[PAT.P]

Well here is my dilema.....I ordered an HK AVR630 the other day. It was a remanufactured from HK's website for $714 shipped. I hadn't been able to find a local A/V store, but today someone told me the local music shop is an authorized Yamaha dealer. Went by there and the salesman told me he could sell me a RX-V1500 for $649.99 + 8.75% tax. So roughly the same price as the HK. Well the HK has not arrived yet. Should be here November 1st. The salesman told me that HK does not use high current amps in their receivers like Yamaha does. Is this true?

In you guys opinions would you have choosen the 1500 over the 630?

Jason

THE YAMAHA CANT BE BEAT FOR THE PRICE !MORE FEATURE ,MICROPHONE

[woodman]

A genuine, bona fide no brainer ... make the switch if you can. You'll be far better off with the Yamaha, believe me (I have more than 50 years of hands-on experience actually working on the insides of these things).

P.S. By the way, what the salesman told you was not correct ... the HK does use "high-current" amplifiers - but that doesn't change anything. The Yamaha is very likely to be far more reliable than the HK for openers, plus the fact that it includes what I consider the MOST important feature to appear in consumer electronics in the last 20-30 years ... the YPAO automatic equalization of the entire set of speakers to more closely match the acoustics of the room and give you a far better surround sound presentation than what has been possible to achieve in any other way.

Good luck

[NickWH]

I vote for the Harmon Kardon. Better amplification. You'll never use the extra bells and whistles. At the end of the day, the HK will still sound better.

[poneal]

I've not used the new yamaha models but had one about 10 years ago and it worked but I didn't like the sound it put out. Can't really explain it but it just kinda sounded clinical I guess maybe to shrill. I own a HK320 and have fell in love with the warm sound that it delivers to the speakers. Plenty of ooomph in the lower end, drives 4ohm speakers, has preouts and all the goodies you will probably need. The only thing I purchased extra was RS SPL meter and the sound and vision setup disk to set the levels of the speakers and video on the TV. So my vote goes for HK. And yes, woodman is right, the salesman told you a lie because HK amps are high current amps. That alone would turn me off from him. Either way, it's your choice but my opinon is HK offers better sound quality and is on the up and up about wattage.

[PAT.P]

Never had a yamaha but talk to dealer thats sells HK , Marantz ,Yamaha and told me to be honest the Yamaha is the best receiver out there for the money (I like the extra bells and whistle ) and yamaha is the one Im saving for ! A bit backward in CANADA the new Yamaha are not out yet! I have three Home theater receiver Technics SA-GX303 /Sherwood HTR-250/ Sony STR-DE595! I also have three more plain receiver Pioneer SX-820 /Sansui 771 / Marantz 1530 (wife told me some of these have to go ) BUT MY NEXT ONE WILL BE THE YAMAHA !!!!! Pat.P

[PAT.P]

I vote for the Harmon Kardon. Better amplification. You'll never use the extra bells and whistles. At the end of the day, the HK will still sound better.

ANOTHER BELL AND WHISTLE FOR THE YAMAHA ! YPAO (YAMAHA PROFESSIONAL ROOM ACOUSTIC OPTIMIZER ) !!!!!! PAT.P

[kexodusc]

I imagine the H/K might have a bit more power, but in the end, it probably won't sound any better....factor in Yamaha's legendary build quality record, the YPAO feature, all the bells and whistles which you probably SHOULD use to enjoy the unit, and the H/K is a bad value competitively.

That salesman bold faced lied to you, if I were you, I'd march back in their and tell him to prove the high current theory he spit at you...the H/K has a far larger power supply...also, ask him to explain "high current" to you and watch him squirm. If nothing else, you might get an extra $20 out of him...
Get they Yammie, it's a super unit.

[Cumminspuller]

Descisions, descisions......Thanks to all who have replied. I am at a loss. I guess I will audition them both. The HK should be here tomorrow. One think I am trying to keep in perspective is the fact that it seems like a quite alot of you are pretty hard core A/V HT enthusiasts. This is my first purchase and most of the bells and whistles that these two receivers have are beyond the scope of my knowledge at this point. I do like, from past experiences, crisp clean sound/music. Baut I am willing to give the yamaha a try. So maybe after listening to the HK for a few days, I will go get the 1500 and listen to it.

Jason

[PAT.P]

Descisions, descisions......Thanks to all who have replied. I am at a loss. I guess I will audition them both. The HK should be here tomorrow. One think I am trying to keep in perspective is the fact that it seems like a quite alot of you are pretty hard core A/V HT enthusiasts. This is my first purchase and most of the bells and whistles that these two receivers have are beyond the scope of my knowledge at this point. I do like, from past experiences, crisp clean sound/music. Baut I am willing to give the yamaha a try. So maybe after listening to the HK for a few days, I will go get the 1500 and listen to it.

Jason

FINALY!!! Dont forget to bring your favorite music at both best way to solve your opinion and speaker as close of yours for both system .Your ears will tell and so is the price $$$$$ ! Pat.P

[kpzbee]

Descisions, descisions......Thanks to all who have replied. I am at a loss. I guess I will audition them both. The HK should be here tomorrow. One think I am trying to keep in perspective is the fact that it seems like a quite alot of you are pretty hard core A/V HT enthusiasts. This is my first purchase and most of the bells and whistles that these two receivers have are beyond the scope of my knowledge at this point. I do like, from past experiences, crisp clean sound/music. Baut I am willing to give the yamaha a try. So maybe after listening to the HK for a few days, I will go get the 1500 and listen to it.

Jason

Just a thought. I looked at a 1500 also but for my needs, I felt I could do with a 750. It has almost the same amount of features as the 1500 for a lot less money. The 1500 has THX certification & the 750 don't but from what I've read one here, it's no big deal. I'm very pleased with my 750 & it does anything I want from it. I use mine mostly for H/T.

[kexodusc]

kpzbee brings up a good point on this one...when I bought my receiver (RX-V1400) and was comparing the Denon, H/K, and NAD units with it, the NAD was the only one that had enough real power to satisfy my room size, but was just too much money. I had to use external power amps anyway so I went with the receiver that sounded the best to me and had the most features.
For the price of the 1500, you can use the 650 or 750 as a pre/pro and add some pretty decent external amplification that would smoke the RX-V1500.
The THX stuff is a waste of time IMO, but the parametric eq feature can make quite a bit of difference, this is one advantage to the RX-V1500 over the RX-V750.
However, if space saving and simplicity are important, the RX-V1500 is probably more than enough power for most people, and is a decent unit.

[kpzbee]

I know a lot of you guys are really into this stuff, where I'm just want a good sounding system. My 750 does an awesome job in a 20'X20' living room running a 6.1 set up. It never sees half of what it can deliver, so the rest seems overkill to me. It still has 100 watts per channel. That's why I suggested it. Oh, it also has the YPAO feature that the 1500 has(new to this model this year).

[kexodusc]

There's a few extra stages in the 1400 and 1500's YPAO. The 1XXX series have full parametric equalization (which basically smoothes out the frequency response in your room), a feature that can have as big an impact on sound quality as anything. But I wouldn't buy the receiver for this feature alone (actually I did)...in my old house, it didn't make a difference at all...in my new house it does make a slight difference, but not worth the extra $300 IMO...I believe in some rooms it could be a huge factor.
Anyway, the RX-V750, RX-V650, and HTR-5760 get my votes as best value receiver on the market right now. If you've got the cash, or want a bit more you get more options. Don't put yourself in the poorhouse doing it though.