HK AVR645 / 745 available sometime in June, mine is on order... official thread? - Page 3

Oh yeah...I definately would advise buying from an authorized dealer since Scranky and myself experience image size and centering problems on component out with Faroudja engaged.

Power, just to show my lack of knowledge , when you say "AVS sells HK", who do you mean? This forum? THX.

Oh well...so much for all that. The vertical lines I was seeing in my CRT went away when I switched back to my Sunfire TGIII.

Ran Component out with faroudja to my CRT rear projection TV from the 745 and it displayed the same problems with shift of the inmage as previously mentioned but a little worse. On ESPS HD when they have the gray bar on the left and right, the gray bar on the left was not visible at all.

This baby's going back. Maybe down the road ,if they fix the component video issue, I'll give it another try.

Umm, it doesn't sound like there is $2,000 worth of difference between the 635 and 745.

Is AVS an authorized HK dealer? Couldn't find as either an online or "local" (zip 14564 ?) dealer on HK's site.

Has anyone heard any updates yet on when the AVR 645 will be released?

Also, I've reviewed the 645's specs and I'm familiar with its added features over the 635, but I'm wondering if anyone has spoken with a "customer service" rep from HK to see if they've "corrected" any of the problems inherent with the 635 in the 645.

Last word I heard the 645 was about 30 days behind the 745..

Well, we're a week in, and the results are about the same as hh's: Sounds terrific, image is gorgeous, except when it's not :P

The TC30 has lost a bit of its shine, as it is in fact less than ideal in many situations where quick adjustments are desired. It's integration is really nice when it's needed, but gets in the way when it's not.

Just heartbroken about the Faroudja bug. I am component-out for the foreseeable future and this is a major factor in the justification of cost for this unit. The image shift occurs on any format of input going to the component out under either HD signal quality (720p or 1080i), and irrespective of any of the other video out/monitor settings.

We haven't returned ours yet, but the response from HK is telling..

Ran half of the EzEq this weekend, but the heatwave in NY resulted in the wife forcing me to run the noisy a/c, which killed the config for now. Still love the unit's audio, although the default config is clearly a little sloppy on the low end out of the box with our Studio/40s and inherited sub settings from the old AVR. So, more on that this weekend- assuming the weather is nice

I spoke with someone from Harman Audio today who said that he couldn't confirm any particular date, but that it was possible that the AVR 645 might be available as early as late June/early July, though he did say that it could be as late as (gasp!) September.

On the other hand, I received an email response from Harman that said it was due out in mid-July, and that authorized dealers should have them in-stock by later that month.

I guess the truth is that it's anyone's guess...

If you're just using the component output, what about the HK 7300? You can get it at Onecall for >1k. It has DCDi also. Only one su out, though.

I haven't heard any complaints on this yet so I'm guessing it's fixed. But to the two or so people that have 745s, does the default sound mode change when the source audio changes? This was well documented but I can describe in more detail if necessary.

This was a problem on the 635 but was fixed with the upgrade. I'm just trying to confirm that it is fixed on the new units.

It's a bummer to hear about the component out video issue. My 745 is on order and I'm confined to use component out for a while as well

My understanding is that HK has not released the 745 yet, eventhough several people have said they received their unit ...

Could the bugs you're seeing be related to this? Do you have a pre-production unit?

From what I've been told, the 745 is to be released on July 28th. Of course I'm sure that date can chage, but I would doubt that it is going to move any earlier and would expect if they are having this component problem it might move later.

Does anyone have any different information?

I have a really hard time believing that the two that have received their 745s didn;t just get some pre production units. I used to work for Harman, and when I ordered my then AVR 740 in DECEMBER (and paid for it), it was supposed to come out in Feb. I was actually working for Harman at the time, so I got a ridiculous deal.

I would just assume ordering the unit so long ago and from Harman, I would be at the top of the list for receiving it. I would recommend sending those units back as they're obviously beta versions or something.

According to the HK employee store ... the ship date is supposed to be July 28th.

Actually I believe that is the back order date. I think that if you place an order now, that's when you will receive it. But you have to imagine that there are MANY that have been ordered. A friend of mine ordered theirs in November. So you have to figure that's 7.5 months of possible orders to fulfill.

Have you other guys with the component out issue reported it to HK?

It would be nice if it was fixed by the time of the real release (it's very strange that some have received them if they're not out yet).

Thanks

My 745 is also on order thru employee order and I got an email from HK that it will be shipped on 06/20, but never heard anything so far.....

I've been thinking... if the HDMI doesn't really work all that well on the AVR 745 (based on the experiences of two people who've posted here), then I can assume the same problems will likely plague the AVR 645 when it becomes available soon.

I wonder if the AVR 645 will be worth the extra $500 more than the AVR 635. If the HDMI doesn't function optimally, then I don't know how much else is really that significantly different between the two. Otherwise, they're both 75W/ch.

Does anyone here think that the FAR LESS expensive AVR 635 might just be more value for the price than the future AVR 645?

The only saving grace to the AVR 645, I think, might be that all the "bugs" might hopefully have been worked out of the AVR 635.

Which two people said that the HDMI outputs don't work well?

Sanjay

Oops, went back and realized I must've read it elsewhere. I've been obsessively reading as many online forums as possible to find out whatever I can about the AVR 645/745 lately. I just called J&R again this morning to follow up on my AVR 645 order and the rep said it might be released to them next Wednesday. No confirmation though. Meanwhile, I've been noticing the discontinued AVR 635 at absurdly low prices online. Gosh, I hope the 645 is worth it!

Yes, the problem seems to be the Component out if using the upconvertion on the 745 ... at least that's my take on what the two who have this unit have posted.

My issue would be, I find it hard to believe that any company would not have tested the Component out first. I just can't believe that these two units are not either pre-production units or that there is a setting somewhere that is not set correctly. This is not a subtle problem from their description and doesn't sound to be unique to only a certain setup. I would think that during development it would have been very noticeable. Of course I've read some bad things about HK's quality control .... so who knows.

It was asked if those two had contacted HK yet on this issue ... I've not seen any response back to that yet. Can you guys give us an update on that?

You can check your account online with them and they will have updated expected ship dates or they will have the tracking numbers if it's been shipped.

I've contacted HK and, after a week got a response they couldn't duplicate the problem with a panny plasma and they asked a few questions I responded to. That was about 3 days ago. I'm not communicating directly with the techs so I'm not sure what their understanding of the issue was on their original hookup of the panny. If they weren't using a test pattern or something that has definate geometric references to confirm they might have just seen a great looking picture.

The only glitch I've experienced with HDMI is that occasionally the output of my Tivo HD DVR will switch from 720p to 1081i when an HDMI input is activated on 745. Then the 745 won't output the signal until you change the Tivo ouitput back to 720p or change the 745's output to 1080i.

I wonder how they get that extra pixel in there

Please keep us updated if you hear anything else. I'm waiting on my 745 right now and my main hookkup for the next two years will be component.

Ok, I posted an official request to the HK website, seeking remedy for the upconverter/component out problem. They replied at 'Level 4 web support' soliciting for more information, as hessel experienced.

I provided them this basic information, in direct response to the range of questions I received:


The tech replied with the news that all of this information has been forwarded to the engineers, as they are asking for configurations to test against. This sounds good to me.

He also interestingly asked if I was in discussions about the problem on the AVS Forum- that he was trying to help another guy who'd mentioned that 'someone else on the forum was reporting the same behavior.' I conceded that I was probably the 'someone else' and directed them here for more details.

So if you guys have any other experiences, please post em.

I am optimistic that they'll at least come back with a root cause soon...

It's interesting that they didn't also ask you how you got a receiver that's not out yet

Did you ask whoever you got it from if it's a production model?

Both J&R and 1Call show it as "In Stock". Do you really think they are selling pre-production units?

"Do you really think they are selling pre-production units?"

Beats me, but it doesn't seem likely.

I didn't ask them how I might have received a pre-production unit. However, both Hessel and I freely described on this forum having received the units from J&R.

My purchase sequence went like this:

In April I registered to be notified by J&R when the 745 was 'in stock'.
On June 8, I actually got an email (about 730p) informing me that J&R had inventory 'or was expecting it':


That night, I decided to go ahead and buy it- I clicked the link and ordered the unit.

Jun 11 I received a phone call from J&R, they were having some trouble with the credit card.
Jun 13 I received a shipment notice from J&R- the unit arrived that afternoon.

I will pull the serial number off of the unit later (after this ARG-MEX OT)!