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Thread: Harman Kardon poor quality sounding amps/rece? |
    
Bronze Member Username: Shane24
Post Number: 88
Registered: Mar-07
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| Posted on Monday, April 09, 2007 - 08:47 am: |
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I have heard h/k on a number of occasions, whether stereo receivers,a/v receivers i didn't find their amps any good at all, like what it was 10-6yrs ago, driven by klipsch/infinity/energy/jbl and a couple of others as well... and sound was just flat,had no clarity/punch somewhat like a sony amp in general.. why is this so and most of their amps are assemble in china, parts from U.S coz of the labour, would that be probably one of reasons for poor quality sound, apart from the speaker contribution... what do ya'll guys think..
comments much appreciated |
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Silver Member Username: Stefanom
Vienna,
VA
United States
Post Number: 473
Registered: Apr-06
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| Posted on Monday, April 09, 2007 - 10:11 am: |
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I think most people on this board tend to like HK, as tend to use superior quality parts, and rate their receivers honestly as compared to the likes of Sony. Whether you like their sonic signature, well thats up to you. I'm happy with them personally, although I certainly wouldn't mind if Mark Levinson donated a few items to me. |
Silver Member Username: Alright_boy
Post Number: 112
Registered: Jan-07
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| Posted on Monday, April 09, 2007 - 10:58 am: |
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Nice response, Stephen. First class all the way. |
Gold Member Username: Stu_pitt
Irvington,
New York
USA
Post Number: 1722
Registered: May-05
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| Posted on Monday, April 09, 2007 - 05:00 pm: |
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Shane,
In fairness to H/K and a lot of other big box brands, its hard to give them a meaningful audition without taking them home. Best Buy and Circuit City don't have the proper rooms or equipment to do them any justice.
Circuit City is biulding some rooms again which can help a little, but they don't demo their gear with any quality stand alone CD players to fully appreciate their musical ability. Their's also no easy way to switch speakers to figure out whats doing what.
Thats one of many differences between a HiFi shop and a big box store. |
Silver Member Username: Gamerdude
Ontario
Canada
Post Number: 484
Registered: Apr-06
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| Posted on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 09:11 pm: |
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I find my H/K very nice, Allthought I do find minor cut backs ,but still over all one of the better quality makes.The sound, I use homemade speakers which sound pretty good well to me anyways, the sound of the amp is pretty nice they warm sounding amps , and the bass isnt too bad I find the punchy bass to be really good |
Silver Member Username: Chicomoralessxm
Dutch isles
Caribbean
Post Number: 104
Registered: Feb-07
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| Posted on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 11:26 pm: |
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Well personally......since all this does boil to out ears and opinions. I've owned my first piece of hk equipment and no complients thus far. Sonically it is what i paid for, and what I expected. Of course if i had spent 3 or 4 times the amount I would be getting a rotel or nad and the pleasure that goes with it. But compared with lets saw yammie denon pioneer sony and the likes it hold its own no doubt |
Silver Member Username: Gamerdude
Ontario
Canada
Post Number: 485
Registered: Apr-06
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| Posted on Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - 07:42 pm: |
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I've got two yamaha MX-M70 monoblocks and I think they sound pretty good.(50/60 8/6ohms)117s/a-noise 0.004THD
THe avr-245 is my fist H/K , I"m pretty sure it was Kano that said the AVR-135/140/145/240/245 sound complety different to the 340/445/665/745 all of the upper modles sound better |
Silver Member Username: Tc_skier
Post Number: 152
Registered: Oct-06
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| Posted on Thursday, April 12, 2007 - 04:08 am: |
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sry im prob readin that wrong otherwise i wouldnt be confused....but your saying the 340s and up sound better in the upper middles, not the 245s right? |
Silver Member Username: Gamerdude
Ontario
Canada
Post Number: 486
Registered: Apr-06
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| Posted on Thursday, April 12, 2007 - 08:05 pm: |
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I own the 245 too me it sounds good read this
"The 300 and 400 series have an upgraded chipset over the budget 100 and 200 models. This will give you better sound overall and worthy of mentioning." That what Kano said , you should realy be talking to him he knows more then me |
Bronze Member Username: Shawnharman
Post Number: 71
Registered: Dec-05
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| Posted on Friday, April 13, 2007 - 10:41 pm: |
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I love the sound of my H/K, Ive been useing my 645 for awhile now and I have yet to complain about it, and I know I never will. |
Gold Member Username: Nuck
Post Number: 6797
Registered: Dec-04
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| Posted on Saturday, April 14, 2007 - 12:07 am: |
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Ever since I had the avr65 receiver, I have never doubted the amp sction of the unit.
That reveiver went head to head with the Rotel rb985 amp and aquitted itself quite well, thank you.
That was with the difficult to drive mains, a funky center, and rat runs for rears.
Good solid power output.
Dude, that was 10 yrs ago, the unit is still running great.
My son runs it at his house. |
Silver Member Username: Eramsey
South carolina
United States
Post Number: 526
Registered: Feb-05
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| Posted on Saturday, April 14, 2007 - 04:10 am: |
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I think I understand what you are saying Shane. I experienced sort of the same thing when I went from a Kenwood(junk,even Sovereign line) that would cough and gasp at a slightly difficult speaker and sounded what members here would classify as "very bright" with almost any speaker to my first HK receiver which at first did not seem "flat" but the higher frequencies seemed a little more "rolled off". In time I became quite fond of the HK sound that sound's more tube like-"warm". Judging from the sound of the better quality receiver type gear(HK,NAD,Rotel,B&K) this is what their design teams have sought to accomplish a "softer" solid state amplifier. With more and more listening and experience Shane you will come to appreciate this "smoother" solid state than the lesser big name brands that overemphasize the treble region and amp sections that just can't deliver. Sorry I don't mean to call you on this one and don't take offense but most people with some experience know that HK,although not quite in the same league as Rotel and B&K, is quite a cut above Sony in terms of amplifier build quality. Sony, although well known as an outstanding television maker, is not famous for it's home audio products. Except for a few and I do mean a few, ES line components(good but hardly exceptional-perhaps one of these is the amplifier you are talking about) over the past decade, Sony makes no audio component I care to even look at yet alone listen to. To their credit their proprietary DSP circuits are good but that's about it for their home audio quality. It's hard to imagine any receiver sounding flat with JBLs,particularly their speakers with hard metal tweeters. Lastly to Kenwood's credit their 70's stereo gear is good,at least I've heard because of it's very heavy duty construction. |
Gold Member Username: Nuck
Post Number: 6813
Registered: Dec-04
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| Posted on Saturday, April 14, 2007 - 04:22 pm: |
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yep. |
