AVR600 user reviews
Arcam AVR600
In this month's mag
July 2013
SUPERTEST: Soundbar solutions £250-£450
GROUP TEST: 46-47in smart TVs
GROUP TEST: Standmount speakers £350-£450
© 2013 Haymarket Publishing
Comments
Ugh! I wish I read these comments before I purchased mine. Very, very buggy! Out of the box, brand new A stock, and it cannot switch HDMI sources witout problem, pops my speakers with transiet spikes regularly when changing inputs and even when turning the thing off. I would give this 3 out of 5 stars. The sound is in fact amaizing but the darn thing is too unreliable.
I have to say, I am very disappointed with what hifi for this review - I bought an AV888 on the back of this (888 is and AVR600 without the internal amps) and have had nothing but trouble!
How can a product be so unreliable and still score 5 stars? Even the jan 2011 what hifi living with article says they got rid for something else?
Am I to take it that other 5* products may not work also?
As a result of our January 2011 feature, we did indeed take the AVR600 down to 4 stars because of the very reliability issues we identiified.
Hi Andy
It's great to hear that you maintain past reviews with current experience, I wouldn't have been as lenient though : ) Although when the amp worked it sounded good for the price I'd knock 2 stars off for the consitant lockups (especially with later models which were unusable) etc... but that's why I'm not a reviewer : )
Just a thought and a suggestion (and in no means meant as a dig) - Although I presume like me you all thought that Arcam would fix the quirks relativley quickly after release I wonder if you have anyway of testing products for slightly longer periods of time before reviewing? That way you would've seen it's quirks before giving 5 stars.
Thanks for the update and keep up the great work!
M
ajharris - Arcam dealer directory here:
http://www.arcam.co.uk/dealers.htm
To Unison - yes of course
Firmware bugs aside, the AVR600 gives too much away on surround sound performance to rivals at half it's price. It may be supreme with 2 channel music, but it can't be one box nirvana when it's surround performance doesn't come close to cheaper rivals.
Does anyone know where I can listen to one of these?
I recently upgraded from an older Arcam AVR200 to this device; the multi channel is breath taking , particularly when playing PS3, Stereo very strong most of all I am stunned by the quality of sky HD when viewed through the amp.
Excellent
can it be configured as a 5.1 amp to bi-amp front speakers?
Excellent sounding amp, all it has been said to be. However, still has way too many problems at the moment, worst of which is serious speaker transient spikes, glitches and buzzes when switching audio modes sources. Hopefully Arcam can get this sorted with a firmware fix soon but currently it a bit too early for anything but the die-hards.
Excellent sound both in stereo and Sourround modes in my opinion, but not as powerfull at 120 W/ch as many of its competitors.
I just purchased the unit on Sunday, and having the same type of problem as others posted here. Expecially with the serious transient spikes from the speakers. When I eject my blueray discs. Also having a lot of problem with the HDMI and my projector. Certainly do not expect ot have this kind of problem at this price.