Harman Kardon Receiver

17 comments so far

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  Walter D. Williams, July 29, 2010:

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  After spending a few years in a disease called audiophilia, I vowed to stop spending money wildly on different audio gear just so I could hear something different. I came to the conclusion after having a H/K theater receiver before that I did enjoy the sound enough to try another one as a two channel set-up. I sold my tube amp and bought the H/K 3390 from Amazon. Short story is the H/K 3390 sounds remarkable for 1/5 the price of the tube amp. The exponential in audio can be frustrating as you have to usually spend a lot more to get a margianally better sound. I'm not saying I will never dabble with more expensive electronics, but someone who buys this amp will be satisfied with the results.

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  T. Bui, July 29, 2010:

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  I was pleasantly surprised to have found an inexpensive receiver from Harman Kardon. This is an analog stereo receiver. No digital inputs such as HDMI and the like. No fancy equalizer. So do not consider it to connect to your brand new LCD or plasma TV set. I bought the unit to replace an older Integra receiver. I connected the unit to a pair of Monitor Audio A6 and a high-end Toshiba HDCD (high definition CD) player. The system was installed in my 500-sf study room just set up to listen to music while reading. The installation was quite simple. A pair of high quality speaker wires. And a quality RCA cable to connect to the CD player. As expected from what I read in the reviews prior to the purchasing decision, the sound was of high fidelity, and the AM/FM tuner was crystal clear even with a tiny antenna wire. As with any good receiver, the HK reproduces the CDs as it was recorded with no perceptible distortion (if any) . I tried the system with a variety of music types and with a variety of recording quality. The system does justice to all of them. Those that were inadequately recorded showed its flaws. Those that were artistically recorded sounded just wonderfully. Even at low volume. I also like the simplicity of the unit. Just a few buttons on the panel, and a dimmer function to dim the panel light. In sum, simplicity and quality. That all I need. Just pick a good CD from your favorite collection and enjoy.

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  Adam Czuprynski, July 30, 2010:

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  The best receiver I have ever owned.
  
  I just got this in the mail today, and was so blown away that I decided to write a review. This is the first time I have ever been compelled to write a review so that is saying something.
  
  First off, this is a music receiver plain and simple. No fancy video components here, just simple raw musical power. You may look at this and think why should I spend $200+ on receiver that is only 80 watts a channel when I can spend the same and get a 1000 watt surround sound system. These ratings are true full bandwith power ratings, and these 80 watts will outpower just about anything. It even rivals my $1000+ 120W a channel denon av receiver.
  
  Enough about power, what really matters is sound quality. Right now I have these hooked up to a pair of old $15 garage sale speakers, and this receiver makes those sound incredible. They are big old speakers, and this thing makes those old speakers sing. Rock and country sounds amazing, and when I turn on the party mix, this puts out bass to rival my 12 inch powered sub.
  
  Needless to say, I am amazed by this receiver. And if you are trying to put together an amazing sounding music set up, look no further.

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• J. Irwin (Scottsdale, AZ), 2010-03-20:

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  This Harman Kardon 3390 was part of a larger upgrade to the home sound system, replacing an aging 90 watt per channel Yamaha. Also included were new speakers in the form of Klipsch Reference Series RF-62's, replacing Bose 501's. A similar review will be posted for the speakers. As we all do, I started this upgrade project with certain assumptions - some accurate, some not. And like many of you reading this, I relied heavily on user and expert reviews from many sources on the web. But those aren't always helpful since the world of audio equipment seems to have its own peculiar lexicon with terms that are not defined and often fully understood only by the writer. Actual auditions of the equipment were somewhat limited by the fact that few dealers carry both brands where I live. This is a real problem since best results are achieved not just by selecting a good receiver and good speakers, but by hearing how they work together. For instance, "bright" speakers don't pair up very well with "bright" receivers - the result can be something too bright and potentially harsh sounding. That said, I nevertheless attempted to gain as much understanding as I could through things I read (reviews, blogs, etc.) and limited auditions of equipment. In the end, I feel rather lucky to have put together something that works very well as a system. I've always been a believer in going with a lot of watts per channel, not so much to produce high listening volume, but to have plenty of "headroom" in the system so that the sound is better even at modest volume. 100 watts always seemed like a good target. I was therefore a little unsure of the 80 watt rating of the HK, but all the reviews I read seemed to indicate that it would be OK. For those of you who have similar beliefs and concerns, I can tell you that the 80 watt HK is plenty adequate for a medium sized family room, particularly when paired with easy-to-drive speakers like the Klipsch Reference. The sound quality does not seem to be compromised at all by the "modest" 80 watt output. I have not auditioned the HK 3490, so I don't know if the additional power makes a difference in sound quality or not. If you are driving less efficient speakers, it might be worth exploring. As others have noted, the sound is uncolored, although it seems rather warm sounding compared to the Yamaha. It sounds great - deep and smooth bass, clear and smooth highs - with a high quality sound to it. It is not fatiguing to listen to it for extended periods of time. Some say it sounds similar to a Denon, but I find the sound of many Denon's to be less clear than this receiver. Perhaps I just haven't heard the right Denon yet. Like a lot of folks my age (58), I have a collection of old vinyl albums that don't see much action. This was not the primary reason I chose a receiver with phono inputs, but it seemed like a nice feature to have for those rare occasions (the old Yamaha had this feature as well). The HK 3390 is said to have an audiophile quality phono pre-amp in it, so I figured I might as well try listening to some of the old vinyl stuff to see what that was all about. The quality of the sound in this mode is spectacular, and I now fully understand why vinyl is making a come-back. The old records will be seeing a lot more action now. They simply sound better than CD's when played through quality equipment like this (aside from the usual clicks and pops, of course). This receiver is worth its list price. At Amazon's discounted price, it's a bargain. An old fashioned 2 channel receiver may not be for everyone in this high tech world, but for those of us who use a 2 channel set up, it's great to find a product where the money goes into quality rather than features we'll never use. Now, about that remote..... yes, it is quite large, almost comically so. But it works quite well and controls a lot of different functions. And you won't have any trouble finding it!

  

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• davguitar, 2010-01-05:

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  I own too much audio gear. I have separates (B&K/Carver) plus a vintage Technics Pro Series integrated amp that weighs more than most of the heavier power amps, an old Yamaha receiver, plus two newer Onkyo receivers, the 8222 and the 8255 still sold here at Amazon (and some of this gear is going ot be sold or given to one of my sons). I've been using this new H-K unit for only a few days, so I'm still in the honeymoon stage. Unless the thing just goes dead, which I don't expect, I don't think that this "honeymoon" will end any time soon. If you've done you're homework and you're looking at the product offerings here at Amazon, you may have narrowed it do buying a Yamaha, Onkyo, or this Harman Kardon. Yamaha products are very nice but they are over-priced, just as Denon products, IMHO. Onkyo is priced right and the quality is excellent. I narrowed my choices to this H-K and an Onkyo 8555. What tipped the scale for me was reading that you have to change the Onkyo receiver's setup every time you want to use speakers with a nominal impedance of 4 Ohms to 6 Ohms. If I were the only user of this receiver I would not be concerned. Since I don't know exactly what that setup change does, in regards to the receiver's power supply, I didn't want to have that to be concerned with. I will state that H-K and Onkyo have superior tonal qualities. Amplifiers are supposed to be neutral, like the ideal "straight wire with gain" but the fact is that amplifier manufacturers oftentimes do "voice" their products just like speaker, cartridge or digital disc player manufacturers do. Onkyo units sound about as neutral as you'll find but if not mated with the right speakers they might sound a bit harsh on the top end. This H-K sounds very neutral to me and is not quite as hard sounding on the top end as Onkyo. Depending on your speakers or phono cartridge or other, you might not hear it this way. But I can say that when I substituted this for my trusty B&K preamp and Carver Mt series power amp, I am not missing anything. In fact the noise and hum of that preamp are gone! I believe that this receiver has a better phono preamp than what is in the B&K preamp. Last night I listened and listened to some of my vinyl collection, along with my Denon DP-47F turntable with a Shure 97Xe cartridge and I heard detail in the records I did not hear with the B&K and I bought the B&K at dealer cost and paid more for just that than this H-K receiver. At 80WPC this thing has enough beef to power all but the most inefficient speakers in average sized listening rooms. This receiver has plenty of audio ins and outs, including a preamp-power amp loop. You could put sound enhancing devices in that loop if you chose to and not lose any other inputs or switching. There is one tape loop plus another video loop that could be used the same way if you needed to. The only video connectors are RCA style, so don't be expecting HDMI ports or feed-throughs. The person who buys this is more interested in traditional audio reproduction rather than to use it to produce movie sound effects. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but that's not what this is built for. So far I'd have to say that at the current special price that Amazon has on this unit - apparently not a discontinued receiver as it is still listed at the H-K web site- you'll not find a better performance to cost product anywhere. I really like this receiver and I've owned many of them over the years.

  

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