difference between HK 310 and 320 (1 Viewer)

[Josh.L]

I was looking at buying a used 310 or 320. I just did a search to find out what the differences were. One thing is the 310 does not have component video switching. Can somebody tell me what this means. Also one person said the 310 had reliabilty problems. Can anybody second this issue?

thanks,
josh

 

[James Zubb]

The 320 is being replaced by the 325 soon, so you should be able to get some good deals on it new, shop around.

The 320 can switch between 2 component video sources. So you can take a DVD and Xbox for example and switch between them to a single component input on the TV.

I can't speak for the 310 but my 320 has shutdown about 3 times in the 6 months I have owned it. Nothing bad happens other than being annoying, it just turned itself off. Also there is a glitch in digital CDaudio playback which will mute the first second of a song if it meets some set of criteria I don't know offhand. I have only encountered this on 2 or 3 of my CDs, there are some past threads that speak of the 320 and 520 which you could read to get more info, they both have these two quirks.

All that said I would definately buy my 320 again if I had to do it over. The sound is superb.

 

[Chris Purvis]

Another difference is the 310 is a 5.1 receiver, the 320 has outputs for up to 7.1 channels. The most important thing here is that it can decode dts-es.

 

[Jose G]

Here's the deal: The 320 is a better machine. If you can get it at a good price- go for it. It has 65 watts per channel x 2 or 55 watts X 5. That's 5 watts more than the 310 (no big deal), but it can decode DTS-ES, has 7.1 Preamp Outputs for the use of external amplifiers, and 8-Channel Direct Inputs. This makes this unit more upgradable than the 310. The 320 also has Multiroom/Multisource Audio Allowing users in separate rooms to listen to different sources at the same time. I would also be careful to get the 310 from just anyone.
www.harmanaudio.com has pretty good deals on these units and I would get a refurb from them anytime- it's guarenteed. Also, Jandr.com has great deals now on the 320- $399.99 (see the NYTimes 10/10/02, Circuits section. Good Luck!

 

[peter_anderson]

James Zubb: that "mute" problem you speak of is not a mute, but rather the DAC is taking a while to "click" into the correct mode (in this case, two-channel). It prevents the first .5 seconds of a track to be heard depending on how your CD transport treats the digital signal. If it starts up a new signal soon enough after the last signal was dropped, the 320 won't drop its mode. If you stop a CD, any CD transport will stop sending a digital signal long enough for the 320 to go back into "auto-detect" mode.

Also, I have the 320 (obvious by now?) and it also shut down on me a few times, once at exactly the same time I turned on the TV! It has NEVER shut down on me while under any kind of load, only whilst idle. If you *have* to fix this super-sensitivity, get an APC Line-R.

 

[DonJ]

DPLII the 320 has it the 310 does not.

Hey James I would change my plug outlet the H/K is very sensitive to electrical imput when i had mine connected to and out let close to my light switch it would turn off when I turn it off or on. Since then I moved it to a more stable outlet and it hasn't happen again. Even better yet invest in a Monster Cable (or the like) power center.