I bought the H&K 8300 to compliment my H&K AVR30 (love it). I must say it sounded good and could play the most abused CDs. That is when it worked. I had to send it in to be repaired twice during the one year warranty. It wasw not one problem, but many, and the problems did not make sense or form a pattern; they were random in attacks and in problems. The repairman was sympathetic and said it was nothing he could do, H&K does not exchange lemons they only repair. If anyone thinks they can fix a possesed CD player, email me at gepoole@juon.com and you can have it for the price of shipping.

I had the FL8300 for something like 18 months. I was a little apprehensive at first buying a Multi disc player, but was enchanted by it's natural sound.
However, altho it was a good sounding player, H/K had major problems with its internals, namely the power supply and the platter gearing. After a coupla months the tranformer starting making loud hummimg noises - no worries got it fixed. Six months later the player stopped completely - the main fuse had blown due to a shattering of the gearing, and apparently this was a common problem with these H/K players. My player was one of a number of 8300's at my local supplier with the same problem, however, H/K in Australia are not prepared to recognise there to be a problem! Is this the reason for H/K in the in UK to bring back the old the old FL8450, the player that the 8300 replaced?

After 8 weeks of arguments between the Aust H/K distributor and my local retailer, I finally ended up replacing it with a Marantz CD67 mkII single disc player. A great player, but I would've preferrred a reliable 8300.

Other equipment:
H/K AVR 25 receiver (fantastic)
Spendor SP1 speakers (natural and breathtaking)
Kef model 30B active sub

In summary for H/K FL8300:
4 out of 5 stars for sound (when it worked!)
0 stars for reliability
= 1 star overall 'cause it's no good if it doesn't work!

I have been a salesman for Circuit City for 4 years now. The HK FL8300 is an ok cd player. I have the model before the FL8400 and comparing it to the 8300, I feel the 8400 is a better cd player. The 8300 has some inconvience as far as the buttons are concerned. In order for you to skip a disc when you are loading and unloading, you pretty much have to get on your hands and knees to do it. When you open the cd player the disk skip it under the cd drawer. That is the only flaw i have with the HK FL8300.

The H/K 8300 sounds WONDERFUL (IMHO) - very "open", and terrific in the highs and lows! However, I've been seeing horror stories regarding its reliability, which is making me nervous, wondering if I should return it while I still can... I do love its sound, though! I compared to similar-priced Onkyo stuff, and it sounded MUCH better.

Nice fully programable cd changer,with a digital output,Very easy to use,and built soundly,unlike the junk the japanese throw at us,

I just bought a FL-8300 a few weeks ago for 150(including shipping) from www.onecall.com. It is a steal. Well, after testing it for a few weeks, there are a few pros and cons. Well, the pros is that it is an excellent player and it produces beautiful quality sounds and the features are cool too. Well, the only cons is that it is very sensitive to bumps as everytime I run or bump on a place near the CD-player, it skips. Other than that, it is a fantastic player. Highly recomendded

An excellent budget changer. At $130- new with coax digital output, it can't be beat. Build quality for both unit and remote is better than the Yamaha 765 ($300). The HK doesn't offer volume control for headphone listening and it doesn't have gold plated jacks. As far as sound quality, it can be good or bad depending on the listener's taste. The HK is cold with slightly harsh midrange but also very detailed and dynamic. It performs exceptionally well with rock/rap music. I prefer the FL4300 better than the edgy treble of the more expensive Parasound C/DC1500. Basically it's the ultimate changer for highschool or college students. I use it for my "abusable" mid-end setup. The Yamaha offers more features and IMO is a better all around performer. But the built quality is also lower and it doesn't offer digital coax output for future upgradability. Absolute sound quality: 3 stars. Value: 10 stars!

We actually have the Fl8350 but there is no listing for it. We bought ours a month ago and it already isn't reading all the disk slots (in fact usually only 1 slot is picked up). Time to return it, and go for a different brand.

`I just hooked this player up to a Harman Kardon AVR 20 II. Together they sound tremendous. Clear, full sound, with a rich bass. I replaced a 12 year old JVC single tray player. While multidisc players may not be true audiophile products, it is convenient to have random play going on several discs, or to listen to a long symphony (Mahler) without having to change the discs.
I do not hear any of the "spiking" between tracks complained of in earlier posts. This player was one of the last that onecall was selling at clearance prices. A real bargain, with sound as good as my ears can appreciate.`

The skip disc button/bar is under the open tray. Luckily, my player rests at about eye level. That is a curious bit of ergonomics.

I believe that this machine was built by women. It's entirely too perfect to be designed by any man. The clarity is like a wisp of wind, a change in character.When making love, the black chassis reminds me of lust from days gone by, and the fl8300 speaks to me in it's south korean tone. Quita, I love you. Oil me up,
slide some ani defranco or some dreamy melissa etheridge.I recommend this Black machine to Black women like myself who demand more than audio from their lives.