HK-AVR320 or HK-AVR225

 

Howard Smith
Since the newer AVR325 has come out I've seen a lot of new AVR320's for sale at about the same price as the AVR225 model. They both have the same power rating. The 225 has a) Analog stereo bypass mode b) Digital stereo mode with programmable bass management. The 320 has a) Adjustable Bass crossover for for all speakers (rather than 100Hz only ) b) Higher current rating (35 vs 28). c) Some extra features that I might care about someday.

So, am I better off in any way going for newer model technology (AVR225) if I was strictly looking at a 5.1 system? Have they upgraded the DPLII circuitry or anything like that? The lack of adjustable sub/bass crossover is the main thing that I don't like about the 225. Ideally I'd like to set my center to a 60Hz crossover (AR AR2C speaker) and the rear surrounds to 80 or 100Hz.

Regarding the SBL/SBR pre-amp outs on the 320, does anyone know if these are variable? If I were to hook them up to a stereo receiver would it be a pain to properly adjust the volume to match the other speakers?

Thanks,
Howard
 

GT
Howard, it's easy to adjust the SBL/SBR preouts on the 320. Hook them up to your stereo receiver. Turn the volume on your stereo to a certain level and leave it there. Then tell the HK you have 7.1 in the setup menu. When you run the EZ-set feature on your HK it'll adjust the volumes on all 5 channels PLUS the SBL/SBR to reference levels.

On my HK, it tells you turn the volume up to -15 when setting the levels. Run the EZset and it adjust each channel according. If your stereo receiver has the volume turned up properly, it'll adjust the rear channel outputs to match the HK amps. It works better than I probably explained it.

As far as the adjusted sub/bass crossover, I don't think it's as tweakable as you'd like on the 320. You can set the main L&R to large or small. If it's large, you can adjust crossover at 40 or 60hz. If small, it's 80 or 100hz. The center and rear can be set to large or small but the crossovers don't have separate adjustments like the main speakers. I'm not exactly sure what he cutoff point is for center and rears, when set to small or large. Maybe 100hz for small and 60 for large? I think the 325 and 525 lets you set seperate crossovers for each speaker, but not the 320. It has much better management than the 225 but not quite as tweakable as the 325/525.

If you set your main speakers to small then everything else automatically goes to small too.
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