harman kardon avr 230 ; 330 ; 3550

[akropolis]

hello, can anybody please comment on the harman kardon 230; 330; 3550 ? Is there any significant difference, which is best for home cinema?
Would you opt for harman kardon or sony str db 790?
thanks.

 

[Rolo Tomasi]

Check HK's website for comparative features etc.

I used to own a Sony receiver and whilst it was excellent with movie soundtracks, it was a let-down with music. My HK is alot better, but cost more money to start with.

The best answer is always listen to the receivers on your shortlist if at all possible; sound quality is so subjective that reviews etc should be taken with caution to prepare the shortlist not choose from it.

 

[Dfour]

I have heard the 3550 but only in stereo as the shop demoing it didnt get it set up properly!! It is very articulate and has very good control in stereo compared to other av amps. It isnt up to the standards of a decent stereo amp (as was well demonstrated in the shop) by a brand new fresh out of the box arcam stereo amp that was the same price as the 3550.

 

[Coaxial]

330 much better than 3550 (it;'s a 4550 replacement).
230 prob. better than a 3550, it's based on 5550 dacs (as is the 330, 130), as I see it, the main difference between te new moodels is power / current, and multiroom on the 330.
Saying that, getting a 3550 cheap enough will be worth it, if not, get a 230 for 5, 6.1, a 330 for 7.1 or 5.1 / stereo multiroom..

 

[akropolis]

thanks a lot for all your useful comments

 

[bluesfan]

I would by the new one if it wasn't for the looks - yuk! The 3550 doesn't have preouts or component so is quite limited but certainly looks a lot better.

 

[metal82]

I think the new design on the Harman Kardon looks really good!

I will get my new H/K AVR430 on wednesday.

 

[bluesfan]

What did you pay. Best price I saw was 699.

 

[metal82]

I live in Sweden, I dont know if the prices are higher here than in the UK, but I got the AVR430 for 9000 swedish kronor... which is about ~ 655 £ .

 

[bluesfan]

Sounds good considering the price of bread there.
Look - for an apartment perhaps...
With H/K I can't stand the toggle through inputs if you don't use the remote. With Marantz you can go straight to the source you want. But the tone controls are certainly great for stereo and is a much better machine than the 3550 it replaced. They've even cut the power consumption.

 

[KingCole]

Is there any reason not to order an HK avr230 from germany. Should save a fair bit of money. Will i have problems converting the power.

 

[bluesfan]

What's your best price?

 

[KingCole]

I think it worked out about £350 including delivery

 

[bluesfan]

Not worth it. rgbdirect are at 399/hifibitz at 499 - and I don't even charge commission! Let me know how you get on.

 

[Dfour]

no power conversion necessary as they use the same power only different plugs.

 

[r_gissing]

I have just ordered an AVR430 and a DVD22 from www.technikdirekt.de at a significant saving over the cheapest prices I could find in the UK (£561 and £147 respectively plus £14 total for delivery) - and they take credit cards.

Their price for the AVR230 is £318 plus delivery.

I will post again later to let you know what the delivery was like.

 

[bluesfan]

Any news?

 

[r_gissing]

There was a bit of a delay because I had to send them a faxed copy of my credit card and proof of address (driving licence), due to the size of the order. I sent that to them late last Thursday, and today I received an e-mail saying that my goods had been dispatched so hopefully they will arrive later this week. I will post again when they arrive.

 

[KingCole]

I have checked out their site. Looks pretty promising. Let me know what happends.
I'm not sure if i should just get a Marantz 5400 from RS, im a bit worried about returns.

 

[r_gissing]

The AVR430 & DVD22 arrived today. Unfortunately I have only just got in, so haven't been able to try them out yet, but they are certainly well packaged. Essentially it has taken 1 week from me placing the order to receiving the goods - pretty good service I reckon, and I've saved about £300! Definitely two thumbs up for Techik Direkt.

 

[Dfour]

Yeah stuff from Germany puts many shops in hte uk's service to shame

 

[KingCole]

stupid question i expect. but what about power? do you use a plug adapter, or is the power cable replaceable. It doesn't look like it is on many of the pictures ive seen.

 

[bluesfan]

Lucky!

May copy you so any feedback useful. Specifically,

1.How hot does it get.
2.Can you hear the fan when there is no sound or absolute quiet.
3.Any differences for german market.
4.Sound?
5.Warranty 1 year?

One person thought the 3805 sounded better than the 630. What's your view on the 430 for music?

 

[alon]

Originally posted by KingCole
do you use a plug adapter, or is the power cable replaceable. It doesn't look like it is on many of the pictures ive seen.

I've been investigating this. Looks like on the AVR 430 / 630 the power cord is a standard IEC detachable cable. All you need is a replacement cable that can cope with the same power consumption.

For AVR 330 / 230 / 130 you could either use an adaptor plug or just (carefully) shove a screwdriver in the earth pin of the socket so you can plug the amp in.

I love UK sockets ;-)

Alon

 

[alon]

I've been in the process of buying a HK AVR 430 for quite a while. Was trying to decide which store to go with.

In the end, I decided to go with diehifibox - not because of their renowned reliability, but because they let me pay on delivery.

It's been 3 weeks and I'm in regular contact with them. Last week, when I asked whether they've sent it yet I got a one word reply in capital letters:

YES.

I then went on to ask about shipment details and got this hilarious reply:

yes shipping is gone - but plese be a littl bit patient with the parcel number cause in our case we use the UPS account of a friend of us who has much lower UPS costs as we have - we are still waiting on the number - when we know it we send you the info by mail at once.

If anything else develops, I'll let you know.
Main thing for me is that I haven't paid a penny and won't if they don't deliver

Alon