harman kardon?

Oli

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Does anyone here have any experience with these recievers?

I have seen the 325 on Ebay for <$400, as many inputs as you could want, Logic 7, 7.1 channel amp, it states it is only 50wpc, seems a little underpowered...

I know they are from the US, but you can get a step-down transformer, but I guess the warranty is not much good...
 
Don't be mislead by the wattage rating. Harman/Kardon is conservative with their power ratings, much like NAD or Arcam. They generally have high current capabilities, too. Stuart M Robinson has a review of the AVR3000 where he wrote

“It's rated as 40W per channel (all five driven, 20Hz-20kHz into an 8ohms load), but don't let that put you off. H/K's high current and low distortion amplification is far preferable to the highly-rated but poor standards you'll find elsewhere - often outperforming published specifications - a premise affirmed by the unit's design and construction.

I have the 5500, and think that the receiver is a class act. Logic 7 is much better than PL2 and, and though stereo performance isn’t that good, it is certainly better than a Sony 555 amp.

Russell.
 
Ok, I've done some research

If i was to get from the US, I can do the following:

Buy a 325 off Ebay for under $400...
shipping is gonna be very expensive ($87 surface or $130 air, taking into account it weighs about 40lbs)
That comes to about $530 for delivery in about 2 weeks.
Thats £360. And my guess is this amp would outperform anything in that price range over here? :)

The only thing is.. I could get taxed :( Still, that would bring it up to £420, still a bargain in my eyes!!!
 
This is all assuming you can actually obtain an AVR325 (at least a new one) for $400.

And don't forget to budget for a substantial transformer - they won't be £20, more like in the region of £100.


You'll probably be looking at more like £650 by the time you've finished and are listening to it - and you'll have no warranty and probably little chance of a repair in the UK if you need one (fair enough, you may not, and I suppose it does depend what goes wrong, but parts for a US receiver won't be readily available in the UK)
 
Yeah, ur rite, things aint goin as planned, lol! I guess I must have seen the 320 at under $400 :(

U sure step down transformers are that much? It's only a few loops of wire... hell i could even make one myself... on second thoughts! lol


WHY DONT THEY SELL THEM HERE!?!?!!?

And why do the US have things cheaper? UK is always ripped off :(
 
Well, you could shop around for a suitable step-down transformer and see if you can get one any cheaper.
The problem is that you are powering a receiver, which can pull a fair amount of power, relatively speaking.
If it were a CD player, you'd probably be looking at more like £20, but not for an AV receiver such as this.
As a guide, HK say that the max power consumtion is 890W, which would indicate that a 1kVA or higher transformer would be needed.
You may "get away" with a smaller one, if you never turn the volume up full tilt etc, but I wouldn't recommend it (potential saftey issue).


As for things costing more in the UK, you are correct IMO.
As IanJ said recently, the phrase "rip-off Britain" didn't come into common usage by accident.
However, I'm not sure it's as simple as just greedy manufacturers/distributors (although I'm sure that plays a part)
High taxes, rates, property prices, transport costs etc, all play their part - IMO this is the result of living in a high taxation economy. (this isn't a politically motivated view - it's pretty much like that whoever is in power).
We just have to console ourselves with the knowledge that some countries have it even worse than us!!!
 
I saw a HK 3500 in Sevenoaks HiFi in Tunbridge Wells for £360....looked gorgeous and was very tempted to send back my recently purchassed Yamaha 360 and buy this instead...

Would that hae been a good thing in anyones opinion? I know nothing about HK's but the salesman did a good job and had me very tempted.
 
Personally, I would rather have the HK than the Yamaha 630. To my ears, the HK is a more powerful and smooth sounding amp. I think the 3500 also has the EZsetup feature. This uses a microphone in the remote to calibrate speaker levels automatically. Additionally, the HK has Logic 7 which is much better than PL2 or NEO6.

Russell
 
I demoed the HK yesterday for the first time and I must admit that I was VERY impressed by the performance. So much so that I am not thinking of adding a bit extra to my budget for a receiver and buying one tomorrow.
 
I've been boring everyone by going on about HK receivers for ages now. I'm pleased that people are actually demoing them now.

I'm always surprised when i turn mine up to as loud as i can stand it and it still sounds smooth.
 
I don't think I'd call it boring Brox. I'd say you are trying to educate people as to how good HK actually are. I have only had the privilage once, but it was enough to make me want it right then. Hopefully tomorrow. :D
 
Well, I've opted for a s/h 3802... should be good fun :)

HK do look the business though, why they are not more popular defeats me!
 
I'm not sure either but certain brands are in vogue at certain times, right now it's Denon, Yamaha and Marantz - with so many people buying these brands the 'talk' becomes restricted to them so new buyers are encouraged to buy them also. I've always wondered why brands like Onkyo, Nad, Nakamiche and of course HK rairly get mentioned. I expect now with the experieces on this thread people will now look a little wider for their next receiver, which has got to be a good thing, and what sites like this should be encouraging.
 
Part of the reason HK never get mentioned is because they are US based, and I think I am rite in thinking this is largely a UK forum?

there are a few models available, at a few stores. HK have always been there though, just never had the selection in the UK :(
 
Yes they are US based but used to have a big following over here with the AVR100 but then they had some problems with reliability and they fell out of favour. However since then they have taken over the distribution of products themselves (used to handled by Gamepath) and I think they are trying very hard to re-establish themselves in the UK.

I recently saw an ad saying that Sevenoaks are now stocking HK kit, so hopefully we can read about some more demoes which is really what it's about because HK may or not be 'the best' but if you don't hear them you will never know!
 
H/K is US based and used to be made in the US,but now are made in China even the flagship AVR-8000! Does made in China mean anything bad?I mean does made in China mean poor reliability or poor quality control or should'nt we worry about were a piece is made?Peace to all..
 
It doesn't matter where something is made. Yamaha are made in Malaysia.

Nothing is even made by the people who put their name on it anymore. Most things are out-sourced to EMS firms. Ericsson, Nokia, Yamaha, HK, Levi.... the list goes on. It's all in the design and technology used. The big players (HK, Yamaha, Sony...) put a lot of money into the design and save on the build costs by out-sourcing the manufacturing to EMS firms and those firms decide (mostly) where they are made. I work for a company in Scotland who makes very good quality products for major companies all over the world and it's all being moved to countries where it costs less to make the goods, but the same techniques are being used in the build process and the same stringent processes are being stuck to. The main time when problems occurr is when the products are moved from one location to another for manufacturing, but these things are soon ironed out as time goes by.
 

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