Home > Consumer Reviews > Harman Kardon FL8385 5-Disc CD Changer

I've just got this player last friday. I must say that I was quite happy with the way it sounds but, after just five days of very light use (I hardly played more than 15 CDs since friday) it's already refusing to work properly! It just wont play discs that my 15 year old Sony CD-player had no trouble playing!

I read some alarming reviews about the former version of this model but I was confident that the mechanical bugs described in those reviews had been fixed on this newer version! Apparently I was wrong!!!

Last night I wrote a review about the wonders of the Harman Kardon receiver (HK-3480) that I bought along this CD-player. I guess that Harman Kardon still has a lot of homework to do with their CD-players!

I'll ask for my money back and will start looking again for a decent CD-player!!!

I had the unit for about 2 months, it starts with this non-recognition problem on certain CDs. Then it will progress to not being able to see any CD inserted at all, including brand new CDs just bought and not yet played. These CDs are all perfectly playable on my SONY CD player. What is crazy is, sometimes it would work perfectly as if nothing had been a problem! There's got to be some kind of weakness in the electrical circuitry inside... Keeping the power on all the time seems to help somewhat but not 100%. Customer support says unless it is purchased from an "Authorized" dealer, they refuse to repair/replace under warranty.

Off to the dumpster it goes... Visually a nice design though, too bad it kinda have to also play CDs for it to be useful. Total POS, not recommended.

Since the early 80's, I've drooled at the sight of Harmon Kardon's products, wishing I had thousands to blow on their super high-end gear. Then I see I can buy their CD changer for under $200! It can't be bad because it's an HK, right? WRONG!!!

Every problem stated in these reviews happened to me within the first few minutes: horrible grinding sounds and clicks you haven't heard the likes of since you rode your Schwinn in 3rd grade, not reading disks, buttons not responding, the tray jammed shut with your CD's trapped inside, looooooooong waits for it to start playing when it actually did.

I thought I must have gotten a repackaged used one and thought my retailer was the bad guy. I almost asked for a replacement instead of a refund. But reading these reviews confirmns that HK is the bad guy.

P.S. The sound (if you ignore the egg timer trapped in the unit) is fine but nothing to write home about.

this is the worst product i have ever owned forget just stereo equiptment. I have never owned an item that worked so poorly from the day that it was bought. i bought it last saturday and will be returning it on friday. it never woked correctly. listen to these reviews. it doesn't recognize cdr's and many times does not recognize regular - store bought cd's. it looks cool and sounds good when it works, but it never works.

the audio quality of the HK is wonderful, and it does have nifty programming features.
But--the carousel grinds very loudly. louder than the music, and loud enough to hear from 2 rooms away. opening the tray is also very loud, and sounds like an old chevy motor. This is why it isn't a 5 star. i expected much better.