HK AVR-635 or a Panny Digital? (1 Viewer)

[mikeyGA]

I can get the HK for $740 Vs the Panny SA-XR70S for $350. I will be running 4 Swan 2.1s and a Swan C3 (W/ SVS PC Ultra). Looks like the Panny can do it all for a lot less and I like the fact that it has HDMI in/out. Comments/suggestions?

 

[David Judah]

If it's just about saving money, then obviously the Panny will be the way to go. It'll have a very clean, direct sound which alot of people like, although it can be picky about the speakers that are run through it. The HDMI capability only looks to be advantageous if you have Panasonic's S97 DVD player.

The HK, on the other hand, has the new EQ/auto set-up system that looks like a leap ahead from previous EQ offerings from Yamaha, Pioneer, and Denon. There is much more system configurabilty with it over the Panasonic, which is relatively spartan in its setup offerings, and there have been some positive reviews around the various HT forums.

It's a tough call. They're going to have a different overall sound, so I guess it depends which presentation you prefer and how much price is a factor. I'm a Panny owner, but if I had the extra cash, I'd opt for the HK for the EQ feature alone.

Let us know what you decide and how it works out for you.

DJ

 

[DorianBryant]

The Panny's are great receivers but this one is not even close. Power, functions, set-up, EZ-Set up EQ, the 635 is an excellent receiver.

If it came down to money-the Panny is a steal. I have an Onkyo 502 and an HK-235. It is a tie between the Onky and the Panny. I just really like the HK's...

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Over the last 3 years I've used 4 different receivers with auto setup.

The first was the Pioneer VSX-45TX elite, with MCACC comparable to the current very popular 1014. The auto setup made my system sound very much better than I'd been able to do manually, and I'm really good at setting levels and such with AVIA and Ratshack meter. The difference was the auto eq feature of the auto setup. Made my speakers sound like a whole new upgrade.

After that experience I will never again buy a receiver that won't do auto-eq.

I've since used the Yamaha RXV-1400 and Denon 2805, both of which have a more sophisticated parametric eq vs the Pioneers graphic eq. Results from them were good, though only a little better than what the Pioneer did.

I now have the HK AVR-635. It's auto setup and eq is a whole 'nother ballgame, very much better than that of the other auto-eq receivers I've tried. This one will eq the sub, none of the others will. It uses frequency sweeps as test tones on all channels including the sub instead of the pink noise the others used.

If $350 is your firm price point, get the Panny. If you can squeeze out another hundred, get the Pioneer 1014 with auto eq. If you can swing the HK AVR-635, it would be the receiver of choice imho, over not only the Panny but also recievers like the Denon 3805.

In addition to the killer auto eq, this thing has Logic 7, something I've always sorta scoffed at when others here enthused over it, now I'm a convert.

 

[Christian M]

My vote is for the H/K. Totally different league than the Panny. Some friends of mine have H/K products and they sound fantastic. To me, the panny seems more like a HTIB setup when compared to the 635.

Also, not to get off-track... MikeyGA, how do you like your swans? Same with the svs? I'm looking into a similar set up and I just want to gather people's opinions. Thanks

 

[Thomas Tur]

Hi mikeyGA,
I throw my vote in for the HK. It is in a totally different league, but hey its a comparison.

One thing to be a little cautious of with the HK is the audio dropout problems when playing 5.1 sources in 7.1 mode. The HK, if I have read correctly will, during commercials switch back to 5.1, making it necessary to manually switch back to 7.1 each time a commercials comes on. This could be iritating. Check out the avsforum.com for more details and fact checking.



Member

 

[Steve Schaffer]

It will drop out of 7.1 only if the local broadcast station drops out of 5.1 when showing locally originated commercials. I have 2 local HD channels doing 5.1 and they do not drop out of 5.1 for local commercials so this isn't a problem. HK has indicated a software fix for this should appear around the middle of April.

This dropout only occurs when a different audio format is newly detected on the digital bitstream. So if, for example, you're playing a dvd and pause it or reverse/ff the dropout will not occur. If on the other hand you stop and go to the dvd menu then return to the movie itself, or change audio tracks on the fly, you will have to reset the desired 7.1 mode.

 

[Thomas Tur]

OIC, Thank Steve.
It would still be a pain to me, however. I suppose their are a great many other problems the unit could have that it does not.

 

[Gary Thomas]

Mike: If the GA in your name stands for Georgia, and you live near Cumming, I'd be happy to have you over to hear the HK 635 in action. I just hooked it up last week & I'm enjoying running it through it's paces. The HK replaces a Denon 3802.

 

[Kevin G.]

What about us that can't afford the 635?
Would a moderate HK choice still be the receiver of choice ??