Are you ready to rock? Well, you probably want Dolby Volume technology. While it has popped up in a few TVs, Harman Kardon just announced they will be the first to put it into a 7.2-channel receiver.

The AVR 7550HD has the technology, which levels audio from any source or program material, keeping the sound crisp and clear.

“In designing our new AVR 7550HD receiver, we considered Dolby Volume to be an essential element of its feature set,” says Mike Griffin, H/K’s senior VP. “It provides an important new benefit to consumers, and perfectly complements our design philosophy of making the most advanced audio and video technologies easy for people to use and enjoy.”

If Mike’s word isn’t enough to entice you, the AVR 7550HD is also the first component to get Texas Instruments’ newest DA710 audio digital signal processor in a dual-DSP implementation. That translates to 32-bit processing and monster multichannel audio performance.

Other features include Dolby TrueHD support, 1080p upscaling, HDMI V1.3a functionality, and 7 x 110 watts of power output (into 8 ohms).

Expect to see Harman Kardon’s AVR 7550HD pop up in January 2009 for $2,799.

Rachel Cericola - Contributing Writer

Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.