Harman/Kardon AVR-255 or Yamaha RX-V565???

avaneesh

New Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
14
Points
0
Location
Punjab
Hi friends,
from your valuable suggestions i have decided not to go for Onkyo HT-S5100 and decided to go for separate AV receiver and speakers.
After a lot of research i have decided to go for either Yahama RX-V565( Costing 39K at Yamaha Music Square, Bangalore) or Harman/Kardon AVR-255 ( Costing 33.5k at Sumaria, Mumbai).Will decide speakers later on.
1. So may I please request your opinion and experience on both these receivers as there isn't too much of difference between these two as far as features are concerned, but a difference of almost 5.5 grands in the price.
2. Secondly, can you please clarify if H/K AVR-255 will upscale all analogue signals to HD as in the case of Yahama, to include component and composite as i am planning to connect my Tata Sky with the AVR.
Thanks in anticipation.
 
I guess it would, check out the harman site. However, I am not a fan of upconversion, specially when the source is of very low quality, and trying to upconvert to very high quality.
Audition both of them. See if you like it. Go for one with less bugs and higher sound quality.

regards
 
Hi friends,
from your valuable suggestions i have decided not to go for Onkyo HT-S5100 and decided to go for separate AV receiver and speakers.
After a lot of research i have decided to go for either Yahama RX-V565( Costing 39K at Yamaha Music Square, Bangalore) or Harman/Kardon AVR-255 ( Costing 33.5k at Sumaria, Mumbai).Will decide speakers later on.
1. So may I please request your opinion and experience on both these receivers as there isn't too much of difference between these two as far as features are concerned, but a difference of almost 5.5 grands in the price.
2. Secondly, can you please clarify if H/K AVR-255 will upscale all analogue signals to HD as in the case of Yahama, to include component and composite as i am planning to connect my Tata Sky with the AVR.
Thanks in anticipation.

Hi,
Do you listen to music more or watch movies more? What would be the budget breakup for avr and speakers?

Thanks,
Prakash.
 
Hi friends,
from your valuable suggestions i have decided not to go for Onkyo HT-S5100 and decided to go for separate AV receiver and speakers.
After a lot of research i have decided to go for either Yahama RX-V565( Costing 39K at Yamaha Music Square, Bangalore) or Harman/Kardon AVR-255 ( Costing 33.5k at Sumaria, Mumbai).Will decide speakers later on.
1. So may I please request your opinion and experience on both these receivers as there isn't too much of difference between these two as far as features are concerned, but a difference of almost 5.5 grands in the price.
2. Secondly, can you please clarify if H/K AVR-255 will upscale all analogue signals to HD as in the case of Yahama, to include component and composite as i am planning to connect my Tata Sky with the AVR.
Thanks in anticipation.

There is not a big difference between the AVR specs. Either one should serve you fine. FYI, HK had some issues with the initial firmware on these devices and has since fixed it. These were mostly around the HDMI handshaking. Note, both are HDMI pass through receivers and wont process the high resolution audio streams.

Also, there is not that big a difference in quality when you upscale from analogue for Yamaha. I have tried this with RX-V 863 and 663 and did not see anythign specific that looked much crisper.

No experience with the 255 though.
 
@Marsilians , i think anm is right, the 255 has on board HD audio processing. i think you were pointing at video processing...right?but it is also there.
@prakasse, i will be using my setup mostly for for movies, rarely for music.my budget is 60k, which i want to divide 50-50 between the receiver and speakers.and i don't want to go for very high quality speakers. As i m in Govt service and will be living in standard govt accommodation, i will not be using it in large rooms for sure. so i don't see any point spending too much on powerful speakers.
thanks guys.
 
if you meant hk 255 doesn't have on board hd audio processing, that is NOT correct. It has on board dolby true hd and dts hd master onboard.

See here for more info harman/kardon

I have auditioned its little brother the 355 and know the sound signature. Though the website says it processes HD audio, I read the manual a few times and did not find anything specific to the same. So I am concluding that it does not process the streams. Can someone confirm this correctly?
 
what is the quote you are getting for 255/ 355? Is that with bill and warranty?
Both 255/ 355 have pre outs - so even if you want to use them in larger room, you can later add a stereo power amp to power the fronts.
regards

@Marsilians , i think anm is right, the 255 has on board HD audio processing. i think you were pointing at video processing...right?but it is also there.
@prakasse, i will be using my setup mostly for for movies, rarely for music.my budget is 60k, which i want to divide 50-50 between the receiver and speakers.and i don't want to go for very high quality speakers. As i m in Govt service and will be living in standard govt accommodation, i will not be using it in large rooms for sure. so i don't see any point spending too much on powerful speakers.
thanks guys.
 
Price for 255 is 33.5 k with bill and warranty quoted by sumaria,mumbai.U can check out their website Sumaria - Home page.
I think price for 355 is 40k.
@marsilians i think 355 is the big bro of 255.And in their user manual,its clearly written that both of them decodes dolby truHD and dtsHD.
 
@prakasse, i will be using my setup mostly for for movies, rarely for music.my budget is 60k, which i want to divide 50-50 between the receiver and speakers.and i don't want to go for very high quality speakers.
thanks guys.

Hi,

Then i would surely say Yamaha 663 would be a good choice. I have been using it and am happy with its performance. Looks like you can get it for around 32 to 33k now.

Since you say the room won't be large you can go for bookshelf or sub/sat combination.
Energy take classic 5.1 is good for movies and it goes well with Yamaha and it would be around 30k, last time i saw this for 28k in reliance digital some 2 months back. Also These can be wall mounted unlike book shelf speakers that requires a stand to perform to the fullest.

Thanks,
Prakash.
 
Thanks prakasse,but i guess 663 is costing 38k and thats the lowest cost i am talking of,as discussed in another thread.Else,the company price is above 45k! Are you sure it costs 30-32k and where?
 
I would suggest you stay away from Haraman Kardon Given the number of problems the units have had. You can refer to the AVR 254 and AVR 354 problem threads on Avsforum.com

There are major HDMI and audio lock on issues with these AVR models and the quality control is really bad with units failing suddenly for no reason for many people. I wanted to pick up one unit but i was not happy with the way the support and service would be taken care of.

I was hinted that if i had a major problem in any card or any other major part i would have to junk the AVR unit and buy a new one over again:lol: The sound quality of harman is very good and on par with the best models in other brands but the service aspect made me stay off from Harman completely.
 
Last edited:
Ridiculous!

Hi guys,
got a mail from yamaha india today saying:-
"Dear Mr. Rawat,
Thank you for your interest in Yamaha AV. RX-V565 is now available all over
the country. The price is Rs.44,600/-. Kindly send us your contact details
to refer your enquiry to our nearest Authorised Dealer.

Kind regards,

J. S. Bhatty."
now isnt that too much for a receive which cost 400 US$.I mean thats more than double!!!
Now that leaves me with only one option,Harman Kardon AVR-255.does anyone in this forum owns this receiver?Your kind views are requested on its performance as well as aftersale service of HK.
Thanks.
 
@prakasse-i was thinking of buyin onkyo 606,but they have hiked the price and its costing 40 grands now,which i feel is out of my budget :-(
 
Comments on Harman/Kardon AVR-255

I would like to comment on the Harman Kardon AVR 255;
I have a Harman Kardon AVR 255 and very pleased with it. I should say that the sound of AVR 255 is warm and even if you listen to it for few hours, you're not gonna fill ear-tired. It is quite heavy compared to others because it uses robust power supply and the AVR 255 put out continuous power of 50 watts per channel.
I do not have any Blu Ray Player or PS3, what I have is Pioneer DVD Players (standard and upconverting). If you feed a DVD output to the AVR 255 via composite, your pictures is too dark in whatever adjustment you made.
But if you use the component output of the DVD player or via HDMI, you will be very please. The AVR 255 upconvert standard definition to Full HD/1080p. It uses the Faroudja DCDI Cinema (Torino Processor). They say Reon HQV or the Anchor Bay Technologies are better but they are installed mostly on higher end model of AVR's. Though it does not have any passthrough circuitry.
The GUI of the AVR 255 is way better IMO to other brand.
What about the firmware update, Europe and Asia version have the latest firmware update. The major issue corrected is the HDMI handshaking issue with PS3.
In comparison with the U.S. version of AVR 254/354, the AVR 255 does not exhibit that much of a problem. There are audible pops that you can hear when you switch between sources and there are change in sound format.
If you want more information on the AVR 255, you can check the forum on the link Harman Kardon 255 out now part 2. Merged with Firmware issues - AVForums.com

Do I recommend this AVR, yes I fully recommend this AVR.
 
Join WhatsApp group to get HiFiMART.com Offers & Deals delivered to your smartphone!
Back
Top