H/k 7200 (1 Viewer)

[Ben McGuire]

Am I the only one completely dissapointed with the 7200? I can't believe that it isn't capable of overlaying Logic 7 on 5.1 encoded material. The 8000 is a much better bargain; the 7200 really doesn't have much of an advantage much over the 525, except a much higher price (about 2x).

 

[Charles M Berry]

Do you own one? How can you be dissappointed if you haven't seen/heard one? Since Onecall seems to be the only place in the world that has this unit, I doubt you have auditioned it yet.

You may be 100% correct, but it seems to me that you are making a critique of the new HK receiver simply based on its stats.

I don't have enough $$ to buy this unit right now, else I would have and I could give you a full blown review. I am hoping that someone here will buy this puppy and supply a great review, so we all can know/see what the deal with the 7200 is. No one as of yet has answered the several posts inquiring about this unit, so I assume no one has bought one yet. It looks like we are all waiting for some sucker to let us know, lol.

If you do in fact know that the 7200 sucks, please elaborate for all of us. Thanks.

 

[Charles M Berry]

Here are some of the differences between the 7200 and 525, other than power:


(1) 7200 has 75 amps vs. 45 amps for the 525.
(2) 7200 has a "Toroidal" power supply, vs the older HK EI Core.
(3) 7200 has 24-bit, twin-core Cirrus DSP engine vs. Crystal® DSP engine.


So, you may be right to say that these changes are NOT worth like twice the $$. What we need is a review of this 53 pound beast, so we can find out.

FYI: Through HTF and onecall, the Harman Kardon AVR 7200 7.1 surround receiver is $1347.82 with free 3-day FedEx. Check out the deals page. This trims like another $150.00 off since the last onecall deal on the 7200.00. This price is narrowig the gap between the 525 and 7200.

I found this over at AVS...

"Regarding the AVR 7200 the best way to understand the AVR 7200 is that it is joint product using certain common circuits from both the AVR 525 and AVR 8000 to meet a middle price point. 7200 has 7 x 100W and hits hard and sounds greats driving my 4 ohms Infinity speakers, its amplifiers are almost the same as the AVR 8000 but has 40% more power as it now had 7 channels as compared the 5 of the AVR 8000. The AVR 7200 uses a single dual core DSP whereas the AVR 8000 used dual/dual core DSPs as it needed more DSP power mainly for THX postprocessing."

 

[Ben McGuire]

All I meant to say is that for $1400 this should be able to apply Logic 7 to 5.1 sources. That is the main distinguishing feature (in my mind) between the top of the line HK's and the rest. This is supposedly going to be the top-of-the-line HK (replacing the 8000), but it can't really do anything special. I just expected a little more after this long of a wait, and for that price.

 

[eskendir]

FIY Guys, Etronics.com also has the HK 7200 for $1350.00 , though not an authorized dealer.

 

[Dale Ridgeway]

Ben,
Dont get too worried about overlaying L7 over 5.1 sources. In almost every case on my 8000, i run straight DTS or Dolby digital. I think where L7 shines best is still on 2.0 material....but IMO DTS Neo does it just as well. While it is true that the 8000 is a better deal now, it is a much older model.
Overall I couldnt be any happier with my 8000. Yet despite all of its features, its clean and massive amount of power is the best thing about it.
While it's nice to have stuff like THX proccessing, I only use it on the brightest of movies. IMO it makes everything sound flat and undynamic, kind of like DD night mode. While I can see your point that a newer model year isnt taking advantage of the prior year's features, I just cant imagine that the 7200 isnt a winner too.