Harman Kardon Quality Issues?

 

Wayne
I have been warned by folks who have bought H/K to stay away from the brand as their quality has gone downhill in recent years. This person had a H/K 510 receiver and had to take it back to the shop twice.

Have other folks had these kind of problems?
 

Jerry
I have an AVR 520, and while I can't attest to it's amplifier ability (I bought it as an inexpensive preamp), it has given me no problems, and continuous wonderful service. I use it daily for movies and music, and am very happy with it. It has so many features and settings. I love the fact that it remembers the different settings for the subwoofer crossover levels and speaker levels for each input, which is different for each one. I really don't think I could be happier (but maybe just as) with any other brand of receiver. I also have an HK 5-cd carousel that has been beautiful since I bought it. I use it daily too. All my equipment continually gets a thurough workout. The only feature I don't like about it is that every time I load a cd it checks all 5 trays to see if a cd is in them or not. It makes for alot of music down time. My Pioneer DVD changer I just bought will just play what I've selected without caring about the other trays.
 

I purchased a refurbished AVR 8000 with extended warranty for $1,000 at One Call a couple of months prior to H/K discontiuing model. It was with a MSRP of $2,500 and I couldn't pass up on the price, especially after reading all the positive comments about the reciever. A big mistake! The reciever never sounded quite right, although sometimes it was almost acceptable. Yet, it was always gnawing at me that the unit was defective. After listening to their 525 in a demo room, I was convinced as it just blew away my "flagship." I called H/K's tech support today and they made me a deal I couldn't refuse: my refurbished unit for a new 7200. I was delighted with the offer, and have read comments from two other people receiving the same offer, which leads me to think H/K knows of reliability issues, at least on the AVR8000.
 

New member
Username: Heff

Post Number: 24
Registered: 12-2003
Nice to hear manufacturers taking care of their end users.

My dad bought one of the first H/K stereo recievers from an audio show back the 1960's, and he is happy with the brand. He has since upgraded to McIntosh which is another popular brand not discussed much in this forum.

I own an H/K and so far, no worries! Also you'll have peace of mind when dealing with authorized dealers like OneCall. I have purchased several items from them and can recommend them too.

Gee, have you heard any rumors about NAD quality?
 

New member
Username: Harbolt

Post Number: 4
Registered: 12-2003
Hello. My first experience with Harman Kardon was over 13 years ago. Back then,
you could only by HK through an independent dealer of sorts. My first HK was purchased
out of the back of a guy's house. Of course it was before all the surround sound
and digital stuff. I never had one problem with that unit and to this day, my parents
still use it every day without problems. A couple of years after I bought my first
HK, my brother bought one also. Again, never a single problem and to this day it
still works great. Two years ago, I finally decided to get a nice surround sound,
digital receiver. I went with Harman Kardon because of all the good luck in the
past. But, a lot has changed these days. Now, everybody and their dog sells HK
and because they have gone so commercial, I believe their quality has really suffered.
About a month ago, of course after warranty was up, my svideo went out on the HK.
I am so frustrated with this that I could have a HK for 13 years and nothing go wrong
and now I have one for two and a half years, and already something is wrong. I am
now currently looking to replace this receiver and have vowed to never by another
HK again. It is too bad when companies go so commercial and are so focused on volume
that their quality drops. I have talked to high end receiver shops that don't even
carry HK any longer because of this reason. So, that is my two cents although it
is probably not worth anything. Good luck and hope everything works out for you
on the replacement.
Brent
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