Harman Kardon AVR-230 vs Onkyo TX-SR601 vs Yamaha HTR-5660 (1 Viewer)

[Kage]

Over the passed couple of days I tried out the Harman Kardon AVR-230, Onkyo TX-SR601, and Yamaha HTR-5660.

Sound Quality
Yamaha HTR-5660: Very edgy sometimes in movies, very good in DVD-Audio, SACD, and CD playblack, 96kHz/24 bit DAC
Harmon Kardon AVR-230: Soft and muffled in all areas. 96kHz/24 bit DAC
Onkyo TX-SR601: Spectacular in movies, excellent for DVD-Audio, SACD, and CD playback. 192kHz/24 bit DACS

Build Quality
Yamaha: Very good
Harman Kardon: Average, some of the inputs and outputs connectors were very loose and some of them fell off
Onkyo: Top notch

Ease of Setup
Yamaha: Very easy, no on screen display (OSD)
Harman Kardon: Very difficult, OSD
Onkyo: Very easy, OSD

Nice Features (Not all listed)
Yamaha: A bunch of DSP modes
Harman Kardon: Automatic speaker level volume contol
Onkyo: Selectable crossover frequency

Price Paid
Yamaha: $450
Harman Kardon: $500
Onkyo: $450

Ranking
1. Onkyo TX-SR601
2. Yamaha HTR-5660
3. H/K AVR-230

 

[Wayne Ernst]

Kage,

What speakers & sub did you use to perform these tests?

 

[Robert Hoffman]

Are you in Canada? $500 for the avr-230 is a ripoff. I paid $335 at J&R. And the input/output connectors fell off? Sounds like a defective unit. I've had no such problems.

 

[John S]

Thanks for your impressions on the three units....

Nice post.

 

[Kage]

I am using the a pair of Polk Audio RTi38 for the main front and left speakers, the Polk Audio CSi30 for the Center channel, and a pair Polk Audio FXi30 for the rear channels. As for the sub, I'm using the Yamaha YST-SW305.

 

[Rogozhin]

I'm using the HK225 and I've not had quality problems at all (it was $230 as a refurb), I just had to get rid of my crappy dual dvd player (coaxial in was casuing shut down).

Sounds nearly as good as my NAD 2200 and I love logic 7

rogo