Update, on your terms. Not mid-movie-night, not on unstable power, and not because a notification nagged you.
What updates bring: HDMI handshake fixes, streaming-service compatibility (the services change their ends constantly, and the AVR has to keep up), occasionally a new feature or format support. What they rarely bring: any sound-quality change worth chasing on day one. If a release note claims your amplifier will sound warmer, I would read it as marketing and check what actually changed.
So the practice I recommend: update when a release note names a bug you have. Otherwise, every few months, on a quiet afternoon. There is no prize for being first onto a new build, and there is occasionally a small penalty when a first release introduces something the second one fixes.
Can an update go wrong? Yes, in one specific way. A firmware write interrupted by a power cut can leave the unit unable to boot. That is the risk, and it is entirely avoidable: never update during storm-season load-shedding hours, and if your supply is unreliable, put the AVR on a UPS for the ten minutes it takes. Wired network if at all possible, because a Wi-Fi drop mid-download is the second commonest way an update stalls.
After a major update, glance over your settings. Occasionally configurations reset: speaker sizes back to Large, crossovers to default, the sub level to zero. Nothing is broken; the AVR just forgot. Ten minutes with the settings screen (or a photo of it taken before the update, which is the habit worth building) puts it back.
Update went wrong and it will not boot? Stop. Do not keep power-cycling it, do not try a firmware file from a forum. Recovery exists through authorised service, and unofficial attempts are the reliable way to turn a fixable state into a dead one. Send us the model and what the display shows and we will tell you the next step.
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