Harman Kardon AVR355 AV amp opinions

Hi Everyone,

Need some advice or user opinion on Harman kardon AVR 355 as i plan to get it this coming wednesday at a very attractive price in penang.

I like the GUI the most compare with others. I audition this AVR pair with only JBL satelite 5.1 and its already got the blowing effect which is more than enough for a 10ft x 7ft living room.

Thanks and best regards
Danny

Wah.... seems like HK is not so popular here ....

Guess i will make the comment myself after i got the units.

my father was a hk user in pro logic era,
for me its bass are too boomy from what i remembered
maybe its because of using his vintage sansui 3 way circa 80s
woofer was 10in so u know what i mean,
but then with his late au-117 everything sounded nice

i would recommend those into HK to try it 1st with diff setting of speakers before buying one
after having that unit for 5 years, the pre-power went dead
after recoiling the pre power transformer, it went dead again
i guess it cant stand bolehland tropical weather too long

I'm using this amp. So far I don't hv others to compare.

Thanks for the input and comment.

Just got my unit last nite. Took ~3 hrs to complete setup both amp and 5.1 channel speaker for basic function only. Not yet read the instruction manual.

I hook up the receiver to my PS3 with HDMI for Video and Audio then output HDMI from receiver to LCD. Too bad PS3 didnt bitstream HD audio yet but coming soon in the software update 3.0 to enable PS3 bitstream function to receiver.

I was shock at the first time when i saw the avr video ouput when i test it with BD. THe BD picture quality drop from Bluray become VCD quality. Fixed with turning off the reciever upscalling. (may be didnt fully explore the receiver upscaling function.)

Azri,

you are right. may be it cant stand bolehland tropical weather too long. The amp on for ~4 hrs and you can feel the heat on top of the amp like "burning" Bet i better move the receiver to open air instead of sitting inside TV cabinet. How about on top of subwofer?

hi Danny,how much u buy the AVR355? dont worry bout the heat so much all amplifier will heat up after long hours,even worst if amp with troidal transformer..

Enjoy..

Hi FIZI,

you got PM.

BTW, the transformer you mention izzit in 355?

Thanks
Danny

Putting electronics equipment on top of sub is a big no no. It rattles when in usage and vibration is bad enemy to electronics...

Thanks alex. Got your advice. i plan to put a PC Fan to blow/absorb the heat out from the receiver. While long term plan is to get a new TV cabinet and put on top of it.

yup, not a good idea to place them on top of a sub

The manual should state recommended space for top and side for ventilation purpose. Well, at least that is the minimum you should have.

Just curious, why settled on HK avr? Have you auditioned other brands like Denon, Yammy and Onkyo?

alex wrote:The manual should state recommended space for top and side for ventilation purpose. Well, at least that is the minimum you should have.

Just curious, why settled on HK avr? Have you auditioned other brands like Denon, Yammy and Onkyo?

Alex,,can u discribe in details..y settled on HK not others..? are those statement said that HK AVR is not good compare to others?

sharing is caring...

fizi, no hard feelings. I am not judging neither saying that HK avr is no good. I am a movies lovers and have never auditioned a HK avr, to be specific never had the chance. IMO, msia ht is more popular with brands I mentioned earlier. Ohya, not to mention marantz too. I for myself auditioned all 3 above and settled on Denon bcoz I found it has more omph in surround. I believe every brand has its own strength and was wondering why danny chose HK. Maybe he found something interesting with HK that could share with us...

I also found some Sheerwood avr on sale at amcorp mall and wondering too what's its strength?

Perhaps one day I will meet with a lucky owner to share his / her opinion with me...

I owned Yamaha RXV861, Marantz SR7002, Denon 3805 and Onkyo 575 (a bit old model) before and tested Yamaha RXV663, RXV3900 and several i-can't-remember models
But nvr any of the above has beaten (yet) the AV surround sound qualities of my current AVR355. Except for Marantz SR8003, Meridian and Audionet ... those are outta-my-budget range
By looks i personally feel it beats them all ... look at the lit-up circle ring ...
Oommph !

alex--Dont worry no hard feeling,,just wanted to ask litle bit clear on that..

Many AV Shop not selling HK brand maybe dealer got a reason on that..thats y HK not so popular in malaysia..HK brand is 1 of the pioneer in HT amplifier..U can thrust the specification even the amp with low watts..now a lot of big brand name not very specific and cheat us bout their spec sometime so hi watts but interm of performance is very poor..im using onkyo,denon and marantz before but frankly speaking interm of sound quality europe amp still the best..japanese amp is concentrate on new gadgets,latest spec and tweaks here and there to be more publicity looks..

fizi, so early wake up already.. I miss the morning breeze in cameron, hehe.

Once I visited a hifi shop selling HK avr few years back. I was young then around 19~20 years old so did not ask for demo. The guy boost how good HK is compared to others.

2-3 years later visit the same shop and didn't see any HK around, just Denon. I asked him what is the reason and he claimed HK very bad, this not good that not good and Denon is the best. Guess he just talk crap to boost his business.

Other than this I have not encounter HK so abit curious on its performance.

If I am not mistaken you were using Arcam avr 280?

alex,maybe the price factor or better profit to selling japanese
product. If i not mistaken dealer selling HK will sell JBL and Infinity
product too that very rare to look for this product..in ipoh from
many HT dealer only 1 selling this product..maybe we can get the thruth
from dealer comment bout this..

could you pm me whitch shop do you bought the HK, i fall in love at 1st look...

thank you

HK avr is definitely under rated in our local context. Probably due to its low watts rating. But then it is a HIGH CURRENT design. Look carefully at the power consumption.

I am using an entry level HK AVR135 with 40 watts x 5 channel / 50 watts x 2 rating. The power consumption for this unit is 500 watts. Other brands might have say 100 watts x 7 channels, but their power consumption is only 400 watts or so.

My front speakers are the Sonus Faber Cremona floor standers. I have no complaints with the performance although you can't compare the Harman to a Krell, i.e.

To each his own.

danny wat the price for ur JBL satellite?? coz i got a old avr yamaha rx-v393 that i just put there no play it from long time....after i get a new tube amp....
feel wan to get a JBL satellite to hang it at wall coz my room no place to put speaker....or sifoo here any budget satellite recomend to me?

Hi, sorry to answer to an old post but I'm actually looking for a HK360 (or equi). I'm from KL and it's very difficut to find a shop which sell this brand. HK is not well know here but it's not the case in Europe... I don't know the price here... cause I can't even find it .
So if some of you bought one HK recently I would like to know how much you pay (want to compare with Europe). Thanks in advance.

PS: seems you don't like to talk about price in Malaysia, in this case feel free to send info by PM.

hi can007...try go to desa home theater at low yat plaza bukit bintang...

Last I ever saw HK unit for sale is at Audio Synthesis on the third floor of Amcorp Mall. I almost wanted to get a unit from them, but the shop owner fumbled during our audition. He cannot turn on the unit at that time as he found out he can't do any tinkering without connecting the amp to a screen.

So I left without leaving much impression of its audio quality.

Its been a long time this topic never active....



royroy,

i got my JBL 5.1 channel satelite speaker at rm1050 if not mistaken. If you from penang, can go to Style Photo (opposite Komtar). Sorry for the late reply...
btw, i also got the yamaha avr 393 and same like you .... its collecting dust since changed amp.

i agree with jteoh tat the HK amp is under rated on its watt per channel and infact my 65w per channel oledi powerfull enough to blown me away although with just a normal satelite speaker. (my entry level thought)

Becarefull when getting an HK amp or speaker as some shop may playing around with the price because of its un popularity in Mal.

Peter, i bought the avr355 mainly on its appearance.... hahaha ....forget about the SQ .. hahha just kidding. Yes, its difficult to navigate this avr355 without a display.

CAn007, how's your avr360 hunting? do keep us update.