Harman AVR 525 7.1 Channels Receiver
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- Surround Sound: Dolby Digital® DTS ES® Dolby Pro Logic II
- THX Certification: No
- Number of Channels: 7.1 Channels
- Type: Receiver
- Surround Mode Power: 70 Watt @ 8 ohm, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, THD: 0.07%
- Stereo Mode Power: 85 Watt @ 8 ohm, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, THD: 0.07%
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User ReviewRead All Reviews »
A good thing in a big package
Pros
Wonderful sound quality with punch and detail, exhaustive feature list, well thought out machine
Cons
Odd tuner design, reliability?
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
For the price that remanufactured units can be had, this is a great buy. Puts some older separate amps and preamps to shame for sound quality.
SOUND: The 525 has a beautiful sound, with tight detailed bass, a neutral and detailed midrange, and perhaps a slightly laid back top end. imaging and openness are excellent - much better than my previous Technics receiver or even my Hill Audio separate amp. The 525 makes a great match with my new Focal.JMlabs Chorus 707S main speakers which have a crisp and highly detailed treble. Distortion is extremely low throughout the frequency range and up to live sound volume levels. the receiver can attain stunning sound levels, but the 707S have an efficiency rating of 92 dB. With my old Energy 2.1e speakers, 86 dB, the receiver can still rock out fine. Signal to noise ratio is very good, but could be better as hiss is audible at the speakers. Certainly not at the listening position.
VIDEO: No noticeable degradation of any video signal I have passed through it, analog or digital.
HEAT: The receiver is surprisingly warm at idle, but doesn't seem to heat up much more even during loud sessions. I have never heard the fan running even when driving 5 channels hard - but I assume it does come on as the receiver should be burning hot otherwise.
REMOTE: Excellent functionality, some of the buttons are a bit tiny, however. Small buttons do mean a smaller remote which fits in the hand comfortably. Learned all of my equipment and the all important volume punch through with ease. Illumination works well.
EASE OF USE: Quite easy to use. Easy to set-up with the onscreen display, but not using the receiver display. The receiver display is great for regular use, but not for setup. Looks great - not boring, but does not attract attention for the wrong reasons.
FEATURES: I'm not sure what else could be included: it has assignable digital inputs and outputs, multiple surround formats, full pre-amp outs, assignable rear channels. It also has outstanding bass management with many cross-over points allowing the most seamless transitions possible between main speakers and sub. Nice, and useful touches include adjustable display brightness that switches automatically when using sleep mode, turn on volume setting, OSD duration setting. I'm still waiting to try out the MP3 decoding ability. This receiver is loaded.
TUNER: Sound quality is good, presets work well. For some reason the receiver mutes if it is set to stereo and signal strength allows only mono reception. This can be very annoying with weak signals - you either have to listen in mono, or endure the sound turning on and off as signal strength changes. Every tuner I have ever used switches automatically between stereo and mono as necessary once tuned, so I'm not sure why this one doesn't.
RELIABILITY: This seems to be the only potential problem area. I first ordered an AVR 325Z (more on this below) - it did not function on arrival. The 525Z seems fine, although the computer running it does not seem particularly stable. Once the receiver increased volume on its own and the display garbled, but returned to normal when I decreased the volume myself. This has only occurred once, and like any computer system, I suppose rare glitches are unavoidable. Otherwise, the build quality appears to be very good with heavy gauge heatsinks and solid all around heft...it certainly doesn't feel or look unreliable.
CUSTOMER SERVICE: I purchased a remanufactured model from the factory store online. What could have been a nightmare with the lemon 325, turned out to be an excellent experience. The original 325 had numerous problems and should never have been shipped, the frame was bent, it was dirty, but most importantly - it did not output sound. Still, as soon as I told them of the problems, the folks at Harman gave me outstanding service. They issued a return # immediately, and since I was on a tight schedule they shipped the replacement unit by air at no charge. Since they were out of stock, they upgraded me to a 525 also at no charge. As it turns out, I am very glad that they did as the 325 does not have an illuminated remote, an important if simple feature that I thought it had. The extra power of the 525 also adds a few dB of always useful headroom. While I cannot vouch for the reliability of the AVR line computer processors, the customer service if you do have a problem is fantastic.
VIDEO: No noticeable degradation of any video signal I have passed through it, analog or digital.
HEAT: The receiver is surprisingly warm at idle, but doesn't seem to heat up much more even during loud sessions. I have never heard the fan running even when driving 5 channels hard - but I assume it does come on as the receiver should be burning hot otherwise.
REMOTE: Excellent functionality, some of the buttons are a bit tiny, however. Small buttons do mean a smaller remote which fits in the hand comfortably. Learned all of my equipment and the all important volume punch through with ease. Illumination works well.
EASE OF USE: Quite easy to use. Easy to set-up with the onscreen display, but not using the receiver display. The receiver display is great for regular use, but not for setup. Looks great - not boring, but does not attract attention for the wrong reasons.
FEATURES: I'm not sure what else could be included: it has assignable digital inputs and outputs, multiple surround formats, full pre-amp outs, assignable rear channels. It also has outstanding bass management with many cross-over points allowing the most seamless transitions possible between main speakers and sub. Nice, and useful touches include adjustable display brightness that switches automatically when using sleep mode, turn on volume setting, OSD duration setting. I'm still waiting to try out the MP3 decoding ability. This receiver is loaded.
TUNER: Sound quality is good, presets work well. For some reason the receiver mutes if it is set to stereo and signal strength allows only mono reception. This can be very annoying with weak signals - you either have to listen in mono, or endure the sound turning on and off as signal strength changes. Every tuner I have ever used switches automatically between stereo and mono as necessary once tuned, so I'm not sure why this one doesn't.
RELIABILITY: This seems to be the only potential problem area. I first ordered an AVR 325Z (more on this below) - it did not function on arrival. The 525Z seems fine, although the computer running it does not seem particularly stable. Once the receiver increased volume on its own and the display garbled, but returned to normal when I decreased the volume myself. This has only occurred once, and like any computer system, I suppose rare glitches are unavoidable. Otherwise, the build quality appears to be very good with heavy gauge heatsinks and solid all around heft...it certainly doesn't feel or look unreliable.
CUSTOMER SERVICE: I purchased a remanufactured model from the factory store online. What could have been a nightmare with the lemon 325, turned out to be an excellent experience. The original 325 had numerous problems and should never have been shipped, the frame was bent, it was dirty, but most importantly - it did not output sound. Still, as soon as I told them of the problems, the folks at Harman gave me outstanding service. They issued a return # immediately, and since I was on a tight schedule they shipped the replacement unit by air at no charge. Since they were out of stock, they upgraded me to a 525 also at no charge. As it turns out, I am very glad that they did as the 325 does not have an illuminated remote, an important if simple feature that I thought it had. The extra power of the 525 also adds a few dB of always useful headroom. While I cannot vouch for the reliability of the AVR line computer processors, the customer service if you do have a problem is fantastic.
