Home > Consumer Reviews > Harman Kardon FL8370 5-CD Changer

The Harmon Kardon FL8370 5-CD changer that I received from Amazon.com did not work, right out the box. The power light indicated that it was getting power, but the unit would not turn on. I checked my line voltages at that time, there was no brownout problem here. Amazon's customer service people were very nice, they sent me another machine immediately and accepted the first machine with a full refund. The replacement unit worked fine for a while, it produces fantastic sound, as one would expect from HK. But after a few uses, the same power failure occurred: power light on, but the machine did not power up. By pure luck I had not left any CD's in the machine, I would not have been able to retrieve them. Amazon's electronics department contacted Harmon Kardon and were told that I would be contacted by HK directly and that I would be sent a replacement unit (by HK) from a different serial number range. After not hearing from HK for a few days, I contacted them at their 800 number. After waiting a VERY long time on hold, I spoke with a customer service agent who denied that there were any reports of problems with that model (although I was telling him at that very moment that I have personally experienced two identical failures). He found a paper discussing my problem in a stack of papers on another service-person's desk and told me I would be contacted no later than the next day. It never happenned. After waiting another week I repeatedly tried to contact Harmon Kardon and gave up after interminable waits. After waiting to hear from Harmon Kardon for two weeks, I got back with Amazon. They are issuing me a full refund. Bottom line: Amazon is great, but I don't think I will ever buy another product from Harmon Kardon.

Okay, H/K may make a product that is capable of reproducing the best sound, but if something ever goes wrong with it you are up a creek. I had an FL 8550 that went on the fritz. It sat in the shop for a month untouched due to the fact that they could not get parts for it. Finaly H/K agreed to get me a new one. Unfortuntely this took over a month as well. After working with Scott Snyder, and Marry Beth Chronan, of Harman Kardon, I am convinced that the entire customer service lacks all knowledge of how to serve their customers. One would think a company that makes such a high status product would be capable of serving their customers. Unfortunately I will never again purchase a Harman product again. This includes all Infinity and JBL products as well.

I am so impressed with my new Harmon Kardon FL-8370 CD Changer. This newest additon to my Harmon Kardon system delivers clear, crisp yet warm, sound quality. The basses are rich and the mid-range true, the highs clean. I cannot believe the improvement in the sound of my system. The HDCD decoding provides excellent reproduction of standard CDs, better than any CD player I have ever owned. I can't wait to try it with a HDCD encoded CD. Programming is flexible and easy to understand. Within half an hour of installation I had already programmed multiple CD playback. The remote control is uncluttered and simple to use. The unit's styling is sleek and smart. It is clearly a product whose design, engineering and construction have been well thought out. Certainly a product that lives up to the Harmon Kardon standard.

But again, buy it for its sound quality. You will gain a whole new appreciation for your CD collection.

this is one real annoying piece of electronics. The carousel takes forever. Each time you turn it on it flips through all 5 CDs. So forget about just turning it on and listening to music. Who would want to do that? Instead it is turn it on, wait and listen to whirring noises.

The player gets stuck on lots of new CDs including CDs I just listened to in my car. Some I've tested on a boom box immediately and found them to be fine. It will get stuck on one of the five CDs in the carousel more or less every time.

Don't buy it.

The sound (via the analog outputs and/or headphones) is terrific -- open, sparkling, clean. But, ergonomics and general operation is below par. For example, the front panel buttons are very small, and are closely spaced (clustered). Individual tracks may be directly accessed only from the remote -- and, it uses the somewhat clumsy two-digit entry system (tracks 1 through 9 must be entered as "01" - "09").

Mechanical noise is high, even for a changer in this price bracket. More important for some users will be the very slow turntable speed (when changing disks), and the slow slew rate between non-adjacent tracks on any disk. On the other hand, this changer does permit replacement of four disks without interrupting the disk-in-play.

Note that the front panel display is smaller, harder to read at distance (and the time display itself more cryptic) than most.

If good mechanical response is a requirement, do not choose this changer. But, if excellent sound is the primary consideration, then this machine is a bargain.