Price Paid:  $1500.00 from future shop halifax

Summary:
This amp is the best and it accomadates my needs pefect.
I have bose 901s and bose AM-5 mk 3 for my fronts using a audio switcher and for the rears I have Bose AM-5 mk 2 and for the center I have two bose centers and to fill the bottom octave I have a b&w asw 2500 sub and it ROCKS!
And the amp pushes the 901 very good and clean at extream levels that rattles the candles of the fire place.
You will find no better system like this bose plus H/K
makes this the best audio system ever period.
And for thoes bose bashers this will blow you away.

Strengths:
The power of the product clarty,and bass depth

Weaknesses:
no D.T.S

Similar Products Used:
h/k 65,7000,510

Price Paid:  $700.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
I've owned this receiver for 2 1/2 years now and I've loved it since the day I bought it. Digital reproduction is awesome, and cd playback rocks. If you are just starting out and don't have a lot of money, this is the receiver of choice. Sure it would be nice to have a newer and bigger toy, but my AVR 55 will be sitting on top of my big screen for years to come.

Strengths:
Quality and clarity of sound and not a lot of useless dsp modes

Weaknesses:
needs a couple more digital inputs

Similar Products Used:
my first HK, had an old Kenwood 2 channel

Price Paid:  $248.00 from outlet

Summary:
I just bought it for $248 @ the HK outlet, so far so good. All of you out there who paid +400, no worries, the unit is STILL worth it!

Strengths:
Power enough for HLS820's

Weaknesses:
remote, need i say more?

Price Paid:  $230.00 from Ubid

Summary:
Very clean sound for the price paid. This unit is factory refurbished, and didn't come with one dent or scratch. It is in perfect condition. I use this reciever for both music and movies, and it handles them both with ease. I'm still amazed at what 55 watts of CLEAN power can do. This is an absolute steal if you plan on using this receiver as a small component system in the bed room, or for a computer. I'm not to thrilled about the remote, but it gets the job done.

Strengths:
Stero Sound (music listening!!!!!) , Build Quality

Weaknesses:
Remote is very clunky

Similar Products Used:
none

Price Paid:  $800.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
I have had the AVR55 for 3 years now and I have never had a problem with it. The amplifier section is very strong and clean although I only use the center and surround channel amps. However, I did hook up a pair of JBL L112s to it one time and ran it at lease breaking volumes for a few hours and was surprized that the 55 watts that the H/K puts out was clean and that the amp never got too hot. I now use the JBLs wired into a mono 4 ohm load to the center channel. This makes one heck of a killer center channel with 110 watts now instead of the 55 watts at 8 ohms.

With DVDs, the AVR55 has one of the best sounding 5.1 digital decoders at this price range. With my system, I have precise localization of sounds all around me.

My favorite part of this reciever, though, is the preamp section. I use a McIntosh MC250 amplifier to power a pair of Klipsch Cornwalls which I have also reviewed. The preamp in the AVR55 is very quiet, clean, and detailed. I listen to music more than watching movies so my main concern is how the H/K presents the music to the rest of my components downstream from it. All I have to say is that it does a great job. Of course, you can buy other recievers that might sound a little better then the AVR55, but you will have to pay at least three times as much for it if not more.

As far as having any kinds of problems with the AVR55, I have not had a single one. I read that one reviewer was having trouble trying to get the reciever to "detect" his powered sub and that when he would select "yes" to activate the sub output of the H/K, it would go back to "no". Well, if he was to actually read the owners manual, he would find out that this reciever does not "detect" anything connected to it. Plus, if he read a little further, he would notice that once you choose "yes" to activate the sub output, you have to depress the memo button while "yes" is still flashing on the screen or else it will go back to the factory default which is "no".

Everybody else that has had problems with their AVR55s, those are real problem with the unit but the guy I was talking about here, that's just plain stupid on his part. He is the problem, not his reciever.

Strengths:
Sound, digital decoding, great preamp stage

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
Carver, Rotel, Pioneer Elite