Harman Kardon AVR 255

Excellent – Best value in my search for a low end Dolby True HD & DTS HD MA 7.1 capable AV receiver compared to available Yamaha, Sony & Onkyo locally. Superb decoding of vocals encoded in BluRay True HD & DTD HD MA audio from my PS3 via HDMI into B&W V201 bookshelf front L&R speakers & Infinity Beta centre, surrounds & Sub. Warm sound overall & low THD.… Read more

Plenty of overhead if you want to crank up the Vol & introduce the neigbours to your media collection. Flexible & simple source setup & calibration. Superb DVD upscaling onto Philips 32" LCD. Firmware AFW v0.96.1.1 upgrade noticeably sped up video switching. None really at this pricepoint but could have done with 1 more HDMI port (up from 3), USB input & wireless PC network link, perhaps even a phono input.

Good but not Great – I use this in my second HT set-up, originally bought for my first, but swapped it for the Denon AVR 3809 I have been using for several years as the HK 255 was not as full sounding or punchy. Firstly it could use another HDMI input and a second HDMI output, as one is insufficient if you use a projector as well as a monitor. There is plenty enough… Read more

sound produced from the 50 watts a channel for 5 channels driven, which are true watts per channel, unlike some companies that say they deliver 100 watts per channel but in reality only can put out 20-30 watts with 5 channels driven.

The HK 255 is quite easy to set up, following the instructions in the manual.

The sound quality is good, it is fairly neutral in flavour and is reasonably good at reproduction of both videos and music.

A good low/mid level receiver definitely worth a look. Easy to set up, good sound quality , good value for money Could use an extra HDMI input and output