HK made a deal with Future Shop that they would come out with lower end models to sell to the masses. Unfortunately , IMO, this hurt their name more than it helped. I used to think highly of HK. I refuse to buy one now.
On the other hand. Other manufacturers also sell cheaper models. I learned today that Yamaha has some other manufacturer make receivers for them under the Yamaha name. But in essence it's not even close in performance to even thier lowest RXV receiver. It's built to compete with the Sony's, Panasonic's, etc.
I was looking at Denon the other day. On their web page they list models AVR1x06, and so on. Then I go to Circuit City's web page and I find AVRx86s. According to denon's web page those don't exist. It must be the same idea. A cheaper part with their name. People hear Denon, Yamaha, Hk and think it must be good.
I refuse to purchase HT components from electronis stores such as Future Shop, Circuit City, etc. I go to the HT specialty stores. Places that only deal in that area. They sell better components. And I think that most sales people there know what they are talking about. For not much more you can get an awsome system that will out perform anything from the other stores.
And that's all I have to say about that.
