Power, looks

none

I first bought a Sony 845. I got it home to find it had absolutely no bass at all. I took it back and tried the 945. After a week, I decided it sounded too mechanical with all my cd's, like a computer talking. It sounded very good in theater settings. I tried the onkyo's next. Too bright sounding for my taste. Very serious lack of bass. I was beginning to think it was my speakers. I then tried a Denon. Very good sound. Just no bottom end just like the rest. I am using Advent Prodigy Towers for my main and surround, sony center, and a new Velodyne 10 inch sub. I decided to give the 110 a shot. Unbelieveable. This is a truly great sounding receiver. I have had it now for about 10 months. I have blown one of my advent main woofers. I think I'll replace them all now. As far as the receiver, the bass production is true and powerful. Very warm sound. I would not change a thing. DTS is the best. I personally like the remote. It works well with my equipment. Takes a little time to go through codes though. I

Similar Products Used:

Tested the Sony 845, 945, Denon, Onkyo 484, and 575 in my home.

Sound! Sound! Sound!

Remote but I have a Marantz remote of the gods. I guess if I had to stretch, no component video switching.

I really loved my Kenwood but decided I would try a HK since I had someone ready to purchase my Kenwood. I can not beleive how great it sounds. I just bought a new widescreen HDTV at the same time. When I do a demo for my friends they say the HD signal on the tv is really cool but they can't believe how well my sound is. All of my previous receivers sound like I was stuck in Pro-logic compared to this one. I thought the speakers gave you the subtle bass like a fist punching someone or cocking a shot gun but the receiver is the ticket. My Klipsch speakers have never sounded better. For the price I beg you to by this and you will thank me.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood, Sony

H/K brand and sound

Cheap remote and it's made in China!

After reading all the review here, I decided to order this receiver online. When the box arrived, I was shocked to see "Made in China" on the box.

I've nothing against China, but China is not particulary good in electronics. And, no wonder I heard people complaining about the Quality control and durability issues of recent H/K products. H/K may have good engineering design and produces sound quality, but China's QA is usually quite poor. Also, the remote control and manual (French manual looks like photocopies, and STAPLED together!) don't give a "high-quality" image as well... They really look like crap, and out-of-line for this fairly expensive receiver (compared to pioneer, kenwood, sony, etc)..

I'm in the process of hooking up the gears to see how it sounds... I hope and trust it would sound great.. But, the fact that it's made in China is a big big minus! I may not be able to sleep well, as I will always afraid it will fail soon.

Maybe I should have gone for an Onkyo TX-DS494 is or Denon AVR-1601 instead... (Well, it's still not too late as I can refund it..) I wonder if anyone has trouble with QA issues or failure with the AVR 110...

P.S. I hope I can give a better review after I break in the receiver (i.e. provided I would keep it)

Similar Products Used:

None

Clear crisp sound, lots of power, lots of inputs/outputs

manuel

I purchased the H/K Avr 120 with a Panasonic DVD-CV51.
It took a while to set up, mostly 1 day. The manuel that came with the system is very hard to follow. I suggest printing another manuel from the H/K website. It is located under the FAQ heading. I did a lot of research before buying this receiver. The comments/feedback on this site was invaluable.

The power is 40W/channel but at high current. I was reluctant to get a receiver with such low wattage until I realized by other reviewers that high current is quite different then the 100w/channel that other Mfg.'s claim.
This receiver has all the power I will ever need. With a sub hooked up, the bass is excellent.

I already had a home theatre set up with my Yamaha Rx-V480 but with the Avr-120 combined with my new Dvd player, the home theatre experience is even better then the movie theatre.

The price was a little high,but once I realized how good it sounded, it was a bargain. But the way, I got an open box for $100.00 less then full retail. What more could be better!

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RX-V480

100 watts per channel, optical in, and about 400(exaggeration) options

big......very big

very good. Powerful, chrisp, no hiss what so ever. i higly reccomend this amp for a poweful system with high quality speakers, Axiom audio's M1's. easy to use functions, this Reciver has it all,. i purchased this off of "returnbuy.com" which works off ebay. it was 200 with shipping, brand new.

HK

Quality, Service, Reliability

Generally speaking, when the unit is in good “working” order the sound quality is great. However, the major problem is the reliability. This receiver was repaired twice, once for defective left front channel and second time for DSP pro-logic mode (weak bass signal). Believe it or not, they say it's fixed but the problem still exists – still no bass. What is even worse is that every time you send-out for a repair, it takes about a month to get your receiver back--their service centers are backed-up (This may be a good indication that HK has reliability problem.) and in my case, they did not even fix the problem right the first time and it's still not fixed. I even wrote to HK's customer service, but they did not respond either. I still think this is a good unit, but when purchasing a new system, you need to consider the reliability as well as the customer service. My next purchase won’t be HK product.

Similar Products Used:

Denon, Pioneer - Very reliable

*** This review is for the AVR-120 ***
1. Full range sound from high to low.
2. Number and types of connections (digital, s-video, front optical)
3. Dolby Pro Logic II
4. Affordability

1. Remote is a little weird.
2. The look--its only a weakness in that it is so unique that you will either love it or hate it.

This review is for the 110's replacement: the 120. Basically the same receiver with the addition of Dolby Pro Logic II and the removal of one set of dubbing out connections in the back for a secondary VCR. No big loss. Unlike Onkyo, the new H/K's were not put on a radical weight-loss program; this one weighs in at the same hefty 31 lbs as the 110.

If you just judge your receivers simply by pounds on the hoof, this puppy wins its price category and the next couple brackets as well. Looking at Yammies, Onkyos, Denons at 65-100 WPC, most weigh in at between 20 and 25 pounds. This 40 WPC Harman Kardon tips the scales at 31 lbs! I wanted to find out what the instantaneous current capabilities of the others were, but it's a stat that apparantly only H/K makes public. Anyway, there's a lot of metal inside that big black case. And it is big: I had to take a handsaw to the particleboard backing of my entertainment center in order to fit the beast in there. Taller, wider, and longer than the 5240 I returned in order to get this one.

As to whether I recommend this unit, you have to look at what you really need. The 120 fit my needs because I am planning on getting at least two, if not three, of the next generation game consoles, so I needed enough s-video switching so they could all live together in peace and harmony. The Gamecube is the reason I wanted DPL II, as the Cube makes use of that for surround in games as opposed to DD. Can't wait for Rogue Leader II!

I am a simple man, and I'm not planning on having an external decoder or amplifier, so I didn't need line ins or outs.

I have never wanted music in two rooms so I didn't need A/B main speaker outs.

I have a small living room so I didn't need earth-shattering power. (Though this receiver has plenty of power.)

I do not have trained ears, and my speakers are old and run of the mill, so I can't wax rhapsodic about the H/K sound quality, so you'll have to turn to more audiophiliac reviews for that. I like the sound.

The display, as I said, is very different from what you are probably used to in home theater receivers. The first thing that is slightly shocking is the multicolored display. There's an LED display in blue, then radio button displays to the left in yellow, then a speaker diagram to the right in red and pale blue. Some might consider it garish, but I have a hunch that it will be very satisfying in terms of providing situational awareness as to what kind of signal you are inputting and outputting from the unit, what processing it is doing, etc. It works. So does the remote. I would rate this one higher than the Yamaha simply because it is impossible to point the wrong way up, which I was constantly doing with the completely symmetrical Yamaha "stick". One good design choice on the H/K remote is that the device key for the device you have selected illuminates when you press any key that corresponds to a function programmed in for that device. So hopefully this will help my wife figure out why the VCR isn't turning on when she presses power. A bad design choice in my opinion is that the device selection keys double as source selection keys, so that when you press TV, the receiver switches input to the TV. This seems like a good idea at first except that so far it has already caused me some consternation as I was watching a DVD: I wanted to make some adjustments to the video, but when I pressed "TV", the picture from the DVD disappeared since the receiver now thought I wanted to watch TV. Another bad design choice that seems like a good idea at first is that when you press a device key when the receiver is off, it powers on. The downside to this is that it makes the remote useless for using any componenets when you don't want to use the receiver. If you just want to watch TV through the tv speakers, too bad. When you press TV, the receiver powers up, and switches to TV source. So you think you can just turn off the receiver? Ok, try it. Switch to AVR, press OFF. Oh, that worked. Press TV. Damn, its back on. So, you win some, you lose some. It does have volume, channel, and transport punch-through that you can assign individually for each source to be the punch through-ee and the punch through-er, so that's a nice bit of extra control.

Finally, I'd like to plug Sound Professionals, who are impossibly good for having such amazing prices. This is an audiophile store with superstore-beating prices. Highest recommendation. My receiver arrived DOUBLE BOXED. For the cheapest price I could find anywhere on the net. Many of their products include free ground shipping. That's right, it was 325 to my door for a brand new model, not the 110 which is being closed out everywhere. And they are very knowledgable, friendly, low pressure, and enthusiastic. Highest recommendation: www.soundpros.com

In terms of value, this receiver is off the chart as far as I'm concerned. I don't know if I'll ever use the MP3 capability, but I'm astounded at the versatility of this piece.

Overall, I find it outstanding.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha 5240
Onkyo 595
Pioneer something something

sound, looks, range of inputs

functionality of the remote is a bit odd

I just moved into a new house and home theater was project #1. This receiver came in last week and it completes my system. I bought this receiver based on the reviews here and the Harmon Kardon name.

I am very happy with receiver. I practically knew everything about it before I got it. I read all the reviews here and I even downloaded the manual and read the entire thing during a recent trip. This thing produces clean, crips sound.....and it looks great. There are plenty of inputs for your needs. It was also very easy to set up.

One fault that I noticed is the use of the macro buttons on the remote. I programmed "M1" to turn on my tv, AVR110, and DVD player when I press it. This works fine....however, when I press it again, only the tv and dvd player shut off and the AVR 110 stays on. The manual stats that everything is suppose to power off. If anyone has a fix to this problem, please let me know. The remote is also a bit odd in its functionality. (see Andy O's review below)

I was also very happy with the price I paid for this receiver. I used pricescan.com...and it showed me the cheapest price out there. I got hifi.com to match it because they were having a special on free shipping. uBid also currently has refurbished AVR110's for bid.

I would also like to thank AudioREVIEW.com. I find that consumer reviews are the best source of information when deciding on what products to buy.

I popped in Star Wars Episode I the other night....and the pod race scene was just incredible. Why go out to the movies again!!

My system:
36" Sony WEGA (KV-36FS12)
Sony SAT-A50 DSS
Harmon Kardon AVR 110
Harmon Kardon HKTS1 Speakers
Panasonic RV-31k DVD Player
Acoustic Research Pro Series Interconnects

looks ok, vmax, pro logic 2, logic 7, dts

remote NO ON SCREEN DIPSLAY !!!!!!!!!!!!! too much money....no power

i got this when my JVC RX- 810 melted...... simply put the JVC blows it away.... although it does not have the strengths i listed (it is a 1998 model) but dolby digital is all you need. Really the old JVC out powered totally out based and has on screen display!! Remote is better and it has equivalent inputs minus front facing digital input. This harman Kardon Really diappointed me as a former owner of Denon, Sony, pioneer, techniques, Yamaha...blah blah blah my money stays on the JVC versus the HK. Real money goes to other higher end products when debating nuances of sound quality.
Even the buttons on the HK 120 suck and prove that quality is clearly something HK has moved away from delivering.... must have been when they started supplying future shop. Save your money a little longer and buy something better you wont be disappointed.

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defined sound quality, real high current, impressive appearance

cheap-lookin' remote, poor manual layout

After doing all the research and comparison, the AVR-110 was the top of the list considering the price range. I've been using this 'heavy weight' for almost 3 months now and I love listenin' every minute of it. It has this defined, crisp, crystal-clear sound output and the looks is so unique and impressive in its class. Plus, lots of optical,coaxial inputs and even my PC is connected for my MP3 files. It's a great buy and highly recommended.

My set-up:
50" Toshiba CinemaSeries Proj.TV
Panasonic RV-31k DVD
Pro-Linear Home Theater Surround
Pro-Linear 8"sub 100 watts
PC with musicmatch jukebox