- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 17 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"A pain in the neck with superb sound"
Pros: Sound quality is fantastic, the on screen display is intuitive and easy to use
Cons: Too many glitches!
Summary: I am on my second 254. The first one quit working after the firmware upgrade (which went smoothly). No sound at all, not even test tones. I returned it and brought home a Pioneer 1019, which got an excellent review from cnet. But the Pioneer's sound, while fairly good, isn't in the same league as the 254. So, I returned the Pioneer for another 254. I am in love with the sound, so I will put up with the (widely documented and well known) glitches. I don't even want to bother running the upgrade on the new unit - at least not until the next upgrade is posted on the web site (any day now, according to the online buzz). It really isn't a big deal if I can't hear the clicks when I navigate the PS3 menu. For other sources, I am not giving up anything by using optical for audio (cable boxes don't have truehd or dts master audio!), and that should resolve any hdmi-related audio issues from those sources. Video has been perfect - no problems at all.
The bottom line is that this receiver isn't perfect due to firmware issues (thus 4 rather than 5 stars). But for the money, the sound quality is so outstanding that I can live with minor annoyances. Once you experience the HK sound, it would be difficult to go to Pioneer, Yamaha, Onkyo, etc. without going to their very expensive models. I can't justifiy doing that when I can get such good sound quality out of the HK, which compares in price to other brand's midrange products.
- 1 reply to this review
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thanks for your posting, i love my avr 254 also but i am having issues when i connect my laptop Bluray to the avr ( i gives an error ) when can we expect the next firm ware update ,and have you had any issues from your bluray player ,
thanks
