Great sound

Not reliable.

After HK replaced my original unit that could not find the disks with a "new Unit", it failed to work after using it only three times. This unit would see the disks, but was unable to play them after making three attempts at each cd location. They are sending me a second "new unit". Their quality control seems to need a little work.

Fantastic Sound, Looks

none YET

It is really a shame that H/K had so many quality control issues with this player, because the sound is first rate. Detailed, crystal clear, nice tight bass. Better than any changer I ever heard. I have not had one problem with the player and I am keeping my fingers crossed. If it does break down, I will post again. People talk about the noise the changer makes when changing discs, but what difference does it make when Listening to the MUSIC? Kudos to the system administrator for deleting "Frenchy's" numours posts that helped skew the ratings for this product. Hey, Frenchy did you help design the maginoue line?

Similar Products Used:

Denon, Onkyo, JVC

sound quality, HDCD is awesome

that damn carousel, BUT I HAVE A FIX FOR IT...

FIX FOR THE CAROUSEL...
(Bought this used, had been to the factory, but the carousel started having problems finding discs again. Other than that, it sounds great, but not as nice as the Adcom.)
*FIX*: Open the drawer and look at the bottom of the extended tray. You'll notice a little lever attached to a spring. The fix involves this lever.
If you hit the "Disc Skip" button, you'll notice that as a disc goes by, this lever moves out, then back in again. If this lever meets some resistance when it goes out, the carousel will stop spinning when it is supposed to.
You could try tightening/shortening the screw and see if that helps (I didn't try this.)
*What I did was cut out a little piece of a mouse pad, put some Crazy Glue on it in an ideal spot, and wedged the piece into the opening where this lever moves out towards. Make sure the glue doesn't screw up the lever, and make sure the mousepad piece isn't so big that the lever can't move out at all. What you want to do is provide some resitance to the lever moving out. Experiment with wedging different sizes and shapes in there, and use the glue on the final best piece that works. Hit the "Disc Skip" button to test it out before making it permanent.
I did this and the player works perfectly now.

This is an easy fix and I recommend it to those of you having problems with this player. (Email if you have questions.) Because it NEEDS this fix, I can only give this 2 stars.

Similar Products Used:

Adcom GCD-700 - better bottom than this HK

Superb sound,

quirky user interface

I posted my initial review of this product a month or so after I purchased it in early 2000. Nothing I said about it then has changed. The sound is superb. This unit has been extremely reliable. I have not experienced any of the problems noted by some others who purchased this model.
The user interface is different but you get used to it over time. The disc changing mechanism (carousel?) is somewhat noisey but not annoyingly so. If have no problems recommending this cd changer to the serious music listener with this caution: Do your homework and make sure the one you purchase is not from the production run that has all the problems.

Similar Products Used:

Denon, Technics, Yamaha, Sony

Sounds Great. Plays HDCD. PMD 1702 Burr Brown D/A conv.

none

I cannot believe the kind of technology I recieved for this price. It is truly amazing that I found these on UBID for so low. As with every product I have bought on UBID, this one does not dissapoint. There is a definite difference between playing cd's on my dvd player(using digital out) and using this beauty of a cd changer. And that's with just regular cd's. With HDCD's, I think it's a combination of my ears not being as keen as they used to be and the software I have chosen, but the only obvious difference I can tell is that it seems to be a little bit louder usind HDCD's. Don't get me wrong, they still sound awesome. I would pay this much just for the D/A converter! The changer is smooth and I have not experienced any problems recognizing discs. Anyways, this is the system I have built almost entirely from UBID. And no, I am not affiliated with UBID in any way, I just like their audio stuff. Muy cheapo! (well not cheap, low priced. hehe)

Denon avr-2800
Klipsch ksf 8.5
Klipsch quintets
Klipsch RC-3 center from Ken Krane's(not so cheap)
Harmon Kardon FL 8550
Apex DVD (I know, I know,-but it plays mp3's and I'm not big on video anyways. I have a crappy TV.)
I got coaxial digital audio cable from radio shack for $10! and I am using it for the analog outs. I don't know if that is overkill or what but heck, what else am i gonna use them for. To think I paid $30 bucks for monster coaxial, what a rip! It's just rg-6 cable with rca terminals slapped on.

Similar Products Used:

I have never had a cd player this good.

I brought one home last night. I returned it this morning.
Don't get me wrong, it probably has better sound than any other mid-fi 5-Disc changer. But it wasn't great, and I'll elaborate.

First, the changer weighs about 16 pounds. Not really any heavier than my 7 year old JVC changer (hey, I was in High School!). The remote is cheap and flimsy, the buttons on the front panel feel light, and the drawer makes a huge racket when opening and changing discs (more than that JVC!)

Next, my system includes ProScan DVD player (as a CD audio transport), Adcom GDA600 outboard stereo DAC, Mirage AVS speakers (like the Energy Take 5), Energy ES8 Sub, Onkyo 828THX receiver. Of course, tests were done in stereo, with all tone controls bypassed. Both the Adcom and HK 8550 analog outs went to the receiver via identical Acoustic Research interconnects.

My comparison is 3-way:
#1. The HK 8550 analog outputs (HDCD)
#2. My ProScan DVD player (PS8600P) feeding through a $50 Toslink Cable to my Stereo Adcom GDA600 DAC
#3. The HK 8550 coaxial digital output through a 2m AudioQuest Video1 cable to my Adcom DAC (non-HDCD)

Now, I have no duplicate CDs, so I sat and listened to Opus3 Special 20th Anniversary Disc (HDCD) and Holly Cole's Temptation. First on #1, then on #2, then again. I took notes of things I'd never noticed before in the music. In the end I concluded that I heard little difference between #1 and #2 in this comparison. But, my ears are not the greatest, and it's hard for me to tell without doing quick A-B comparisons.

So, I did some A-B comparisons between #1 and #3, because it requires 1 button on my receiver, and almost no switching time. The difference was dramatic! Even on HDCD material, the Adcom had a soundstage that was much deeper and sat me in the middle, while the HK analog out was much less spatial. The instruments and vocal intonations seemed to be pretty close, but imaging detail seemed much better from the Adcom's DACs.

So, I cut my testing short, and boxed the HK back up. Goes to show you, that even the newest technology, when implemented poorly, sounds poor.

I would have liked to compare #1 and #3 longer, mostly to ascertain the quality of my DVD player as a transport, at least compared to the HK, but proving that the HDCD and DACs of the HK were WORSE than my 3 year old Adcom, was enough for me.

Thanks for your time,
Ben Zimmer.

I can't compare this player to any higher cost/quality players like the previous review below, but I can say that it beats the socks off anything you'd find in Best Buy or Circuit City.
While I think the sound of the player is quite good for the price (about $360) the ergonomics and design have some things to be desired.

1. No remote on/off switch. I guess I can understand if this makes the thing sound better, but I don't see how it would matter...

2. When the player is stopped, it only presents one disc at a time, but when you're playing discs, it presents two at a time. What gives? And how come my five year old JVC player could present three at a time?

3. The current disc and track blink. This is annoying for me, maybe someone else would find it a feature.

And I must agree with the first review in that it really doesn't handle scratches very well (even compared to that old JVC).

But mostly these are just nits to pick, it delivers where it matters.

A great Cd-Changer. Looks just like a FL8350 ; just has the HDCD logo on the front panel. Sounds much better than any HK cd-player in existence. Haven't tried any HDCD's yet, though. Doesn't like scratched CD's. Overall, a very good product. Made in China. Wish it was made in US. I do not like the quality of Chinese HK products.

I had my HK FL-8550 for a little over a month, and it's the best CD player I've heard. I was replacing my aging but still working Denon DCM-444. Going by the reviews on this site, I checked out the Denon 460 and the Yamaha CDC765. The Denon and Yamaha both sounded quite good but the Denon had the edge. I selected the Denon but the store was out of stock. Then, salesman hooked up the HK FL 8550, which was not on display yet. One song is all it took, I was hearing stuff on my 10 year old CDs, I never heard before. Hooked up to my system, a Yamaha M-60 amp, Adcom GTP 450 pre-amp, hooked up to a pair of Infinity Quatum 5s (20 years old and still sound better then anything out there, but that's another review) I was blown away. The bass is deep and controlled, the treble is crystal clear, it doesn't get any better than this, at least in my price range. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the Denon or the Yamaha, but it's sound is much better. On the flip side, some of the buttons on the console are poorly placed and confusing, but that's something to get used to. It's quieter than the Denon and Yamaha,it's in the same price range ($399) and it can play HDCDs, if I can find a place that sells them. Give it a try, you'll love what you hear.

I got the FL 8550 because it was the most inexpensive HDCD player out there. I've only had a Sony Discman before and this pretty much blows it out of the water. I listen to it with my Sennheiser HD 545 headphones only. Those Reference Recordings CDs sound so good on this unit. I don't know how it compares to more expensive CD players but this is one big bang for the buck. Paid $363 for mine, mail order. One caveat though, the unit generates a mains hum from the casing and/or the power transformer. It is quite noticeable in a quiet room. I guess thats one place they cut some corners. I plan to do some modifications after the warranty period to fix this.