B&K AVR507? Who has it? Whatcha think? Got the whine?

2 1/2 weeks of flawless beauty....had a 307 for @ 2 years, loved it too...

non-current-limiting design means that it can put out the same amount of amps "peak-to-peak" as seperates.....no comprimise...you WILL NOT BE SORRY!

Have had a 507 for about three months now and love it. I feel somewhat ripped off however, becuase I do not have the "whine" described by some ;-)


The distinctive warm sound, killer remote and overall power of this receiver make it a great choice as a centerpiece in a home theater set-up. With the programmable presets, eq, notch filter and the powerful MX-700, it can be easily tailored to meet your sepcific environment. I do not think there is a better all-in-one unit available anywhere.

Thanks for the replied, you two. Here is the $64,000 question though... is the treble control powerful enough to brighten the sound of the receiver, or is it mired in "warmth". I personally can not stand "warm". I like my cymbals to sound like cymbals. I want the shell casings in the lobby scene of the Matrix to go "plink plink" not "thunk thunk". I want the window shattering in The Haunting to sound like actual glass breaking... not safety glass under a blanket. I am one of those guys who LIKES the "Stoner Smiley Face" EQ curve. Overly heavy mids ANNOY me. This system will be where I go to enjoy my multichannel heavy metal music as well as watch the latest greatest bang bang shoot'em up DVD's with my family.


So what's the verdict? There isn't a single dealer around who will let me take one home to audition for myself with my speakers, and no dealers that sell B&K also carry Paradigm, so I am sorta screwed in terms of listening before buying.


Thanks,

Jeff

The word "warmth" as I am using it has nothing to do with frequency as opposed to depth and sound character. The B&K will reproduce those higher freqencies fine, so this is not a unit with a lack of high definition. Any limitation on sound would be imposed more by the speaker choice, which you will not have a problem with. You will not be disappointed with the ability to handle home theater audio with this unit.


There is also ample opportunity to modify the reproduction through EQ and boosts, all programmable to the frequency level.

Quote:
Gotcha! Thanks for the clarification. Describing sound is always such a difficult thing to do... and using the crazy terms that we do tends to make things worse sometimes. Sorry about the misunderstanding.


Thanks again,

Jeff

Ice, the treble is VERY adjustable in both freq. and amplitude, and if you can afford to buy one, just go to a dealer that has a 30 day return policy...

if it doesn't work for you then you can return it!

Iceblade,


I'm on my second 507, the first had the whine, plus a lot of snap, crackle and pop! I purchased a demo unit for $2900 and having it home for a days noticed the problem. I returned the unit and purchased a new from tweeter at the same price. Thus far, I have not noticed the whine until the volumne level reaches + 6db on an open source, according to BK it's amplifed CPU noise. I can live with that, so I generally don't listen to open sources. I'm using Vienna Mozart speakers and the sound is clear, detailed, and warm. I don't know if I can get the same sound and features from a less expensive reciever, and according to this forum, you either love or hate BK. So, shop arround !!

Ice:


If you are interested in another opinion, go to the Polk Audio forum where a poster, Mantis and others, swears by B & K and there are several in-depth posts regarding this receiver.

Good Luck.

Rick

Thanks for the info. I'll head over there and see what people have to say.


Later,

Jeff

Hey dude... headed over to the Polk Forum... bad move. Not only do they require you to register to look at anything in the forum, they also require you to input a friggin valid serial number from a Polk product!!! What a crock!


Oh well... guess I just need to keep on searching for people with this sucker. Can't believe the actual dedicated AVR507 forum isn't more active than it is. It goes for days and weeks at a time with no posts. Ugh.


Later,

Jeff

I have the 507 and don't have the humm and whine problem. Thus far, I don't have major complaints, but I'm just getting the sucker broken-in. I read tons of reviews and listened to Rotel, NAD, Arcam, and Denon before making a decision on the 507. I purcahsed it from a local Tweeter, so I've 30 days to determine it's worth the $2900 I spent on it. I plan doing side-by-side comparisons with Rotel and Arcam for sound quality. The 507 is rich in features that the other may not have, but great sounds beats out a second zone that will probably be never used. I'm been searching for "professional reviews" on the 507, but havent been able to locate any, so I've based my decision to purchase on 307 reviews. The big difference is additional sound formats. The amps and sound are the same for two-channel, this comes from B&K Customer Support.


I've been searching for a forum dedicated to 507 users, but have found one. Maybe, I'm not looking hard enough. At any rate, good luck in your search!

There is one dediated forum (not very busy however) at:

http://pub106.ezboard.com/faussiedvdandhtforumfrm40