Harmon Kardon Reliability? (1 Viewer)

[Craig KN]

My first post. I've been reading several post and find this forum very informative and interesting. Back in the seventies Harmon Kardon had an excellent name and reputation as a high end company. I was always impressed with their products. I am very interested in their current model AVR 235 Receiver. My question is, has their quality slipped over the years and are they not as reputable as in years past? I ask because I'd read several negative comments about reliability. One in particular stands out as someone posted that they had worked at CC and they returned (Not exact words but close) a ton of HK Receivers back. This got me a little worried. Anyone actually had bad experiences or is most of this hear-say? I'd heard they run hot and wondered if the problems were heat related. I want something reliable and not something setting in the shop, even if warrant does cover it.
Thanks in advance.

 

[John S]

H/K Has had their periods / products with QC / issues.

But not so much more than any other company really. Their products in general are of decent enough quality. The important part is that defects are taken care of which H/K has been pretty darn good and consistant on, not so much that they happen in the first place. I'd buy, even refurbished with a pretty high level of confidence myself. And I'm a Denon head.

 

[Craig KN]

I currently own a Denon. An AVR 3600 which was one time one of their flag ship models. I can't believe how much I paid for it ($1700) and to now see recievers a third the price doing much more. Like computers I guess. New today, out dated tomorrow. I have spent way too much money on equipment over the years.
I was just curious if the HK issues were fact or fiction. I worked at Motorola for over 20 years and had to deal with facts and data everyday. So I'm a little leary of comments like "A lot". Define "a lot". I like hard data and facts to back the statement up as "a lot" to one is minor to another. Hopefully whoever made that comment was exaggerating a little.
Over the years of all my equipment I have owned, I've only had one go bad. An old Sansui Amplifier and that was about 20 years ago.
I just want to keep the dependable trend going.

 

[John S]

Hard data is difficult to find on such things.

I can say if your used to a flagship product, you should bite the bullet and stick with them even with the higher cost.

I recently ran a Pioneer 1014 head to head against my Denon 4802 and it was no contest, winner handily going to the Denon 4802. Not a fair test I know, a $2K unit against a $400 unit. But I can say, now that the bar has been raised to that point for me, I could never be happy with anything less.

Just my $.02 on it anyways.

 

[RaphaelZ]

Hi,

I've had the avr 310 for 3years now and am absolutely thrilled about it. My friend (neighbor) has the 520 and he's also very pleased. The sound is clean and solid, customer service has been great if I've had any questions, and the options and flexibility of these amps is unreal. Regarding the QC, I don't like the flimsy banana terminals but otherwise no issues. Highly reccomended. I think there were some issues a few years back, especially with their CD players but I haven't had any problems at all. If you're worried, just pay a bit extra for a good extended, no hassle warranty. They do run warm so just follow the manufacturer's reccomendations regarding spacing and ventillation. When I put mine right below a shelf it would occasionaly go into standby mode. I then made sure it had 4" of free space above it and no more problems. High current amps usually run pretty warm.

Good luck

 

[Philip Hamm]

Never say never......

I went from separates to a 1997 DD only reciever and can honestly say I'm happier than when I had the seperates. There's a lot going on in our heads.

Back on topic - I've got an HK3270 stereo reciever in my office and it's been perfect for years. I'd buy HK again.

 

[James Sarno]

Two weeks ago I upgraded my aging but trusty HK avr110 which I used 4-6 hours on a daily basis...no problems
I just purchased a HK avr 335 (the bug bit me) and so far so good... I had recomended to my uncle at the time I brought my 110 to get one also...and he did (Jan '01) and so far no problems with his unit either. Some friends & family inquired about the 110 but it will be used to start my bedroom surround system

I can say that I have no quality issues with Harmon/Kardon and would not hesitate to purchase another avr...when the bug bites again.......

 

[ChrisYK]

I've had my AVR525 bought used off of ebay for about a year now without any problems. I love the H/K sound.

 

[Jerome Grate]

5 years for HK 500 and it still rocks. Great sound remote's pretty good with other units.

 

[Carl Johnson]

My first 5.1 receiver was an HK avr 75 that died on me after a couple of years of moderate use. It sounded great while it lasted but I've had better luck with other brands so they won't likely be getting any more of my business.

 

[Chris_C]

I have had a couple of their receivers, and i dont have any complaints

 

[Daniel Johnson]

My first receiver was a refurbished H/K probably about 5 years ago and it's in my father's posession right now. Still going strong.

 

[Charlie Phogg]

I just returned a brand new AVR-635 for a cooling fan issue. The fan would run all the time when the unit was in 2 channel mode, pulsate rapidly making a clicking noise when in any surround mode except Neo 6. In Neo 6, the fan would turn off and be motionless like is should be.

This seems to be a spike as I haven't seen any other complaints about this but it left a rather bad taste in my mouth regarding HK. I just got my money back and went a different direction.

 

[amatala]

I have been using a HarmAn Kardon AVR430 receiver for over 1 year without any problem. About 10 days ago I've purchasesd two H/K PA2000 power amps. So far, so good ...

 

[Jose G]

All of these companies have trouble with their receivers from time to time, which is what John S was saying. The one that goes bad on you is the one that leaves you with bad taste, but if a company stands by their product and takes care of you- that makes a big difference. I wouldn't hesitate on the majority of these fine machines we often discuss here on the board, unless you know of a current q/c issue that is being discussed for a particular model.

 

[Kenneth Harden]

I will say that I have had a lot of trouble with my JBL products. Pro bass bin had defective woofer - fixed quickly and with apologies. HLS Center from eBay with a blown tweeter (not their fault, bought it used from eBay, JBL was able to get me a replacement tweeter quickly and cheaply), E250P subwoofer had a defective amp - fixed quickly and perfectly.

Hey, sh!t happens, and as long as the company (Harman International) stands behind their products, I will keep giving them my business!

I would rather have a product with a high chance of breaking - but being fixed quickly and correctly, than a more reliable product where the company would give me the run around if there was an issue.

Unlike a car (Mercedes break a lot, and usually have great service, BUT where you NEED it to be reliable, I can live with a broken product here and there. If I can get good support, all the better.

 

[Steven T S]

I just returned a AVR 530 I had for two years (gotta love Costco's return policy)because the audio went out on it. Turned it on and heard a pop then no more sound. Prior to this it had a problem where I would turn the volume up with the remote and it would just keep going up until I turned it down manually at the unit. This problem self resolved after about a day or two, but it happened twice. I e-mailed HK and they didn't have a clue as to what could cause that to happen. I'm now waiting for a Yamaha RX-V2500 to arrive and replace the HK. My Brother-in-law has had his Yamaha for 6 years without a problem.