Harman Kardon: low-end? high-end? (1 Viewer)

[Jonathan Larson]

I could use some opinions on the Harman Kardon receivers, anybody that owns one, do you like it? There home theater and stereo receivers, are they good?

 

[John Garcia]

What's your budget? I'd consider H/K to be a good all around mid-fi brand, better than the average, and would buy them before most of the other mass market brands.

 

[larry mac]

There were a number of posts awhile back about Harmon Kardon receivers (mine included). You should be able to read them by doing a search on Harmon Kardon.

 

[gene c]

I own an H/K 520 (with matching DVD,CD and CD-R) and love it. Bought it to replace my normal lower end equipment. Very nice sound, good bass management, lots more power than advertised and "european" good looks. A great addition to my HT family. I'd call H/K receivers upper mid-range and DVD-CD's lower mid-range (but I'm a pauper). Wish they would make higher end stuff (especially DVD's) just to see how good they would be. Gene

 

[Daryn D]

I bought an HK avr320 (65 watts) a year ago refurbished from buy.com. I absolutely love it. I was upgrading from a low end receiver and still have not updated my speakers. I am using the Pioneer 563-A Cd/dvd/sacd. These two upgrades made a huge difference. Music is clean and crisp, even on my Blose bookshelf speakers.

The on-screen setup is nice. The remote has a mic in it, which sets up speaker levels automatically (you can do manual if you want). The universal remote is awesome and easy to program. If I decide to upgrade I will stay with HK. IMO, go with a decent receiver and put more into your speakers. I don't have large speakers but am planning to buy Paradigm Signature 2's for fronts and cc470 center. I can't wait to hear them!

And remember, 85 HK watts are comparable to a much higher wattage on some other mass market receivers. My paradigm dealer said my 320 would drive the S'2 just fine, but I'll let you know...

 

[Drew_W]

I think you'll find fans of nearly anything and everything on this forum (except Bose perhaps, but some people use Bose in their systems, so all is a true statement...)

Anyways, the Search feature is your friend. You can pull up tons of info on H/K and read till your eyes go red.

 

[Wayne Ernst]

I have the H/K AVR-7200 at the moment. I like it a lot. Prior to the H/K, I had the Sony STR-DA4ES receiver - which was also a great receiver.

Upgrading from the Sony ES wasn't as dramatic as I expected because it has strong ponts on its own behalf. However, since the H/K is on my shelf, I'm making the best of it. I never need all of the power that the 7200 can supply. I really love it for music listening, though.

 

[MichaelOD]

harman kardon is definitely in the upper mid market of receivers. they make a great product. they are known in the industry for their accurate power output numbers, as well as their high current amps. other names to look out for are denon, marantz, and yamaha.

the search feature is definitely your friend in getting a multitude of differing opinions on multiple brands.