HK problems...How many of you have had (legitimate) issues?

I've had no problems on my 635 until I did the software upgrade (at least I never noticed this quirk until I did the upgrade). Now, if I am cycling through Dolby modes either via the OSD or remote the receiver will lock up once I get to either of the Dolby Virtual Surround modes. No sound, no response to button pushes on either the remote or receiver, and won't go into standby mode. I have to toggle the power switch under the door and everything is fine. Doesn't really bug me because I only make changes to the surround settings when I do an initial setup and I know it will lock up. So I just power toggle it, turn it back on, turn on EZset again, and everything is fine.

No problems with my unit. I have owned it for over a year.

Have my avr-435 now for 8 months and still absolute happy with it. remote had a tiny quirk but HK service send me a new one right away. I knew at the time when I bought it there were some complains but with the firmware upgrade, excellent customer service and the 2 year warranty it was a no brainer. Ez/Eq made a huge difference and was why I got the receiver in the first place.

my HK AVR335 has a sub hum when on standby, mute, paused or stopped.
they're replacing my unit.

why can't they be more like Yamaha?

btw, I am both an HK and Yamaha owner.

for the people not having problems, how much is the unit on?

Keep in mind that most people that own a unit and have no issues don't post how good it is. They seem to really only post when they have an issue.

The % of people that actually have an issue might not be as high as the forums leed you to believe. Although, with your personal experiece of two bad units ... i would be little turned off.

In the end, any manufacturer will have defective units. What makes a company good is how they deal with you when you have a problem. If HK has always taken care of your issues, I'd not worry about buying from them again.

my audio drops out when I change channels on cable or if I change source inputs. All I get is a popping through the speakers. I have to turn the HK635 off and then back on to get it to work. I have been tryign to talk to someone in customer support since last Wednesday to get a replacement but all I got was one email on Thursday asking me to email them the problem, which I did. So far, no reply. It is arefurb, and it was pretty beat up if you ask me. I was not happey with the look but if it worked OK, I would keep it.

My AVR635 is on for about 8 hours a day....either for TV/DVD viewing or music listening.

I got a DPR 2005 from one call. I was very happy until I pluged the unit and hear a buzz from the right front channel. I sent it to the authorized repair and after a week they toll me that I had to call HK and ask them for a firmware update because they are not allowed to do so. At this point I am very fustrated, having to do a firmware upgrade on a brand new unit. I will let you know once I get the software.

in my book, a good company will engineer and produce a high quality products and follow up with good costomer service. So far, H/K seems to have failed on the design and engineering part of it.


We will wait to see how true that "if" turns out to be.

I may be crazy, but the sound quality of the AVR635 seems to fluctuate from time to time.

I'm eventually going to replace it for peace of mind.

My avr 130 just shuts off and goes into standby mode, Even with all of the speaker wires unpluged. Also when this happens all of my surround settings change. Mines on 8-12hrs per day.

Let me see. My 1st 7200 had a hum that I could not get rid of, the 2nd they sent would turn off randomly. They replaced it with a 7300 and the only problem I had with it was my own fault. I broke one of the doors off of one of the optical sockets when trying to remove a cable and they replaced the socket no questions asked under warranty.

My AVR430 shuts off randomly. I will be bringing it to the service center soon.

Had a 630 for a few years,never a problem.Have a 635 for about a year,never a problem.

I have an HK AVR235 receiver with no problems

Just ressurecting an old thread for any potential buyers out there.

I've had the 7300 for a year now and have had ZERO problems. It gets heavy usage, i.e. it's always on, at least the multi-room is always on. It is an absolutely amazing receiver. With the exception of a few very minor gripes (I have a lot more on most receivers), it's a steal right now at under 1k new.

That being said, I've only owned this one piece of HK equip. Maybe I'm just lucky...........hope I haven't just jinxed myself.

I have owned 3 HK receivers and 1 HK auto amp , none of them ever had a single issue . The HK auto amp even got soaked once and after I let it dry out for a few days it performed as good as new . I have since moved on from HK products but I found them to be very reliable .

---------- Jason

I didn't even bother with doing the firmware upgrade for my 635. I've had it now for 16 months and it is just mmmmarvelous! I didn't see it necessary to upgrade since I didn't have any issues with it from beginning. There ya go...

I have a 635. It's my second and I finally just got it back from repairs.....again. I thought I was buying quality and all I've had is headaches and bugs. Hums, buzzes, amp problems, front door problems, binding post losening and memory problems. What kind of company builds a machine that blocks out the first second of every CD you try and play? Are they serious?? Hugely dissappointed and wanting out. Is there any such thing as quality anymore?? I had a Yamaha reciever worth about $200 that has never had a problem and is still going strong in another room. I should have stuck with them. For a suggested retail well over $1000, this thing should be amazing. It's amazing they got away with it.

Man.....that's a bummer,you need to take that unit down and get it exercised.

I have a 635 it has memory problems but i love h/k amps.

HK 335

Got it brand new from the store.
Pluged power cord in to AC outlet. Pressed the power button. Nothing happened.
Tilted the receiver 45 degrees, and while pressing the power button.
The receiver would turn on.
Letting the receiver flat again. Receiver was off immediately.

So, took it back to the store and exchanged for another one.
This time the receiver worked fine.

However, still couldn't figure out how to use the "two audio sources" feature. (e.g., 5 speakers play audio from DVD; 2 speakers play audio from a radio station)
Don't know if it is user problem (i.e., me), or problem with the receiver.
Other than this, very happy with the receiver.


Will highly recommend HK if you buy it from a B&M store.

Originally, I bought a HK AVR635 from Circuit City while I had the Pioneer 1014 in home for comparison purposes. The reason I brought in the 635 was because, although the performance of the Pioneer seemed good, I just felt it was too sterile sounding for music. The 635 worked perfectly and i had none of the problems you hear about, but I ended up returning both and getting a AVR235 to use as a pre/pro because I got a great deal locally on a Rotel 1075 5-ch power amp, which solved my musicality problem.

I used the AVR235 as a pre/pro and to drive the surround back channels. Worked perfectly until I hooked up S-video sources and then I discovered that it would slowly fade to black and white and back. Support thought it might be a bad capacitor and exchanged for a AVR240. Only cost me $15 for shipping and I got a brand new (not refurb AFAICT) unit of the then-current model after having used my 235 for over a year. I ended up selling the 240 because I got in on a great deal for the 635 between the time I received the 240 and had time to get it installed.

My sister and I both bought 635's at the same time and I did the installation for both of them. She is using the receiver with its internal amps on an all B&W setup and it sounds really really great. No problems on hers. Door stays closed, memory ok, etc. I upgraded the firmware and it still works great. I installed my 635 as pro/pro + surround-back amp using the Rotel power amp and it also works great with no problems. I have not upgraded the firmware on it yet. It sounds awesome on my paradigm + velodyne setup.

So I have experience with one 235 and three 635's and only had the little problem with the video on the 235 which HK resolved quickly, easily, and cheaply.

I'd suspect the power cord was loose and when you lifted it up, the cord was pressed against the contacts and worked.

The power cord on my 635 seems a bit loose but it stays in and makes contact so it works for me.

235 with no problems.

I bought a 335 from HK's ebay store. After a while it stopped coming out of stand-by. I sent it in (paid shipping).

They sent me a refurb 335. didn't work. They sent me a shipping label and then shipped me a brand new 340.

Works perfectly!

Update on my earlier post (#8). I returned my HK635 and they replaced it with another. I got them to send me the replacement and chage my card first. Then when it arrived, i returned the old one and they gave me a credit on my card, so I was not completely down for a week. They paid for all of the shipping charges. Communications were less than ideal, as they were hard to reach on the phone and basically never responded to my email (although they told me on the phone that email was the preferred and quickest method to reach them. Yeah, right). New one seems to work fine and looks 100% better (refurb). I see a small scratch on the side, but not visible in my set up. Glass is clean, no scratches or cracks, and the door is tight. Both were awful in my first one. I love the performance and it makes my system sound great. I will keep my fingers crossed that either it works great or I get a AVR735 as a replacement!

BTW, I have the old firmware, even though they told me in writing prior to my purchase that the refurbs came with updated firmware. I do not need the firmware upgrades and I don't have a serial enabled computer at this time anyway.

Glad to hear the second one is working out Tarheel. I wanted to put a nice, friendly post in now. Come NCAA basketball season though all bets are off.

Now as to the OP's question:

Have owned various HKs since the late 90's. Have had zero issues during warranty periods. Have experienced problem Caps introducing hum after many years of use with 2 units...both of which problems were undoubtedly aided and abetted by yours truly housing them in too confining a cabinet space. My bad. Bought a DPR2005Z from Harman Ebay last year. Had slight cosmetic issues so sent it back for full refund. Waited for the 635 to be near closeout before purchasing so problem issues would be a non-factor.

Nothing negatively significant to report in over 10 years and in my experience CS has always been fairly quick and efficient with any communications I have thrown their way. Even sent me a free remote when I didn't really need one. Just lucky I guess.