This is one nasty sounding receiver. The treble has to be turned all the way down for the sound to be at all bearable. Same results on two different pairs of speakers. buyer beware.

This is a fine 2 channel stereo receiver , which is replaced by the H/K 3270 . I picked this unit up for $ 200 ( possibly less at other dealers ) . The highs are not overly bright ( at least not mine ) with plenty of detail ( mids ) with a good low end and a very nice deep , wide soundstage . So if you can find this unit out there at a discounted price do yourself / others ( friend , family ) a favor and pick one up for main , x-tra room , first stereo , etc. , and enjoy . ONLY 4 STARS , NOTHING IS PERFECT .

I recently bought one factory refurbished (for $125!) and coupled it to my JBL Arc50 speakers. Although I heard much better, this unit provides excellent sound quality for the price (even if you pay closer to $200 as most do). Do not worry about the 40 W/channel power rating. I do have it in a fairly small room, but even so I can tell that it can get very loud. Even when turned up the bass comes through nice and clear - not muddy or distorted. Highs are crisp but not painful.
Overall, hard to beat in this price range.

Correction. One of the sets of speaker outputs had some kind of problem and hence my earlier bad review. I have switched to the other outputs and now it sounds much better. Nice thing about this unit is that it was totally cheap on the net. There is no hissing. reception is good. No real gut wrenching power but what do I expect it has a 5 amp powersupply or something. It also includes preamp outputs so you can upgrade to seperates if you want which is nice. I don't think you can do better for the price and since it doubles as a preamp you can't go wrong. 3 stars overall. I would give most of its competitors 1's or zeros if that were possible.

This is a great budget receiver for anyone who enjoys critical listening and wants the most for their money. Highs are clean and clear, bass is tight and well defined. Although the power rating is 40 watts per channel it plays louder with less distortion than the 100
watt per channel JVC receiver it replaced. And one great feature I like about it is the preamp out jacks for adding another amplifier
sometime in the future. It was a great deal!!

Thi sis one sweet piece of equipment. I bought it for about $280 (U.S.). It has 40 watts per channel at 8ohms and 65 wpc at 4ohms. It has a built in tuner which makes it an incredible deal. It also has pre-amp in/outputs so you can control another amplifier allowing you to adjust to a growing system. In my opinion, for the money, this is one of the best deals out there.

This is a great stereo receiver. Before it arrived, I was a little worried because it was rated as a 40 Watt receiver (sounded underpowered). However, matched with my Cambridge Sundworks Ensemble II sub/sat system (which I love) this receiver provides clear, warm sound, and can shake the house if turned up loud enough! It's great. I highly recommend it! The styling can't be beat, either.

i completly agree with jeff

Two months of shopping and looking around for my first stereo led me to HK. I wanted a regular receiver and not surround sound because I don't have a TV and am not planning on getting one anytime soon. That leaves listening to the radio and CD & Tapes which I enjoy with glee. Not to bore you, I ended up buying a HK3250 receiver from HK for $164.00. They call this scratch-n-dent. With a microscopic scratch that saved my much money. The only thing that is cheaper and sounds better is the angels singing in heaven. Like most of the things I buy they end up going back to the repair shop soon or often. Like my Gateway 2000 computer, Northertelecom phone, '88 Jaguar and '96Honda autos, so what is new that this went back also. The reason is that there was / is a hum from the transformer amp or something. Much louder then any other receivers I've listened to. But even that is bearable. One little complaint is the back panel metal seems too thin for a sturdy cabinet. When plugging in banana plugs it flexes much. This receiver is a great buy for anyone who is not into TV. Oh, the 40 watts, in my average sized living room 15-25% of volume is loud. If you need louder buy some fine headphones and blow your brains out. I'm using Paradigm monitor 5 speakers, excellent, even they had to go back to be fixed.
Read about what I think out my HK 8450 CD player & HK 520 Tape deck

Call HK at 1 800 981-3810 for the best prices on HK, JBL, Infinity and more

Whenever I walk into a store looking for audio equipment, there's always that embarrasing moment when they ask what equipment I own "Yeah, I have a Harman Kardon hrrrmmm reciever" To get right to the point, if you want a budget reciever with awesome sound, here you go. If you're at a higher level of listening like I am, go for an integrated or pre/power amp. I am satisfied right now, but replacing as soon as I get the dinero