Home > Consumer Reviews > Harman Kardon AVR45 Dolby Digital Audio/Video Receiver

I finally bought a receiver that has true power. You can tell that this receiver is in the "high current" class. I have mine powering Polk Audio speakers and the results are astounding. I just wish that this receiver had an s-video input, otherwise it would have 5 stars for price/value.

I had this receiver for 28 days, about the 20th day the volume spiked to maximum on its own and almost blew my speakers. On the 28th day, the sound degraded to that of an old AM radio just before it stopped sending sound to the speakers completely. It came back to life on and off a couple of times before I pulled out every cable and boxed it up. While it was working it sounded very warm. powerful, and the imaging was great. This unit gets hot, much hotter than it should. I've since read the reviews at audioreview and wish I had before purchasing this receiver. I think H/K dropped the ball on the avr45, avr65, and avr85. I went to Circuit City after XMAS and saw 6 returned AVR's on the shelves, 45's , 65's and 85's. That told me something. I was willimg to live with only one optical input, no DTS and no A/B speakers, but not after the gremlins took hold of it. Sounds like a processor problem throughout the line. Maybe the new 300, 500 series will be like the H/K of old.

HK makes good products...except this one. Look over the web and you will find many complaints about this reciever. I know, I own one. The amp overheats then the surround modes go away. For a while, only the bypass mode worked. Now, I have an expensive paper weight. Save you money and buy a different model. I have had good luck with other HK's, just not hte AVR45.

HK makes some of the best high-current amps available to the mass-consumer market. If one owns better speakers from this range such as Pinnacle, DCM, Yamaha, JBL, Bose, etc. then HK amps make a much better choice for clarity and definition of sound. (Sorry Kenwood does not compare).

I got the amp, it was awesome. Then less then a month later it crapped out on me. The center channel, the rear and the sub-out none of then worked. I took it back to where I bought it, they charged me the shipping to get it repaired, they are crap too. A couple of weeks later I get it back, I was told there was nothing wrong with it, it must be your equipment. So I hooked my EQUIPMENT up to my Yahamma amp from 1990 and it all worked perfect. I also hooked up to another friends amp and it was fine on that. So I took it back again and of course they said there was nothing wrong. I left it for a couple of years, the getting married thing and stuff, then I called Harmon Kardon repairs in British Columbia, they told me they could repair it, at my cost. So now I have a this harmon kardon amp that has just my front channels, wonderful waste of money.... I looked at the other review of this item and it says basically the same thing... whatever you do, don't buy this product