I have had my FL-8550 for about four months and so far so good. I have done some research on the problems that have been reported in reviews on this site.I will add an e-mail that I received from a tech. at HK. I would like to say that I am hearing things on cd's that I have never heard before. It looks like I may encounter problems in the future though. The serial number on my 8550 is below the one that you will see in the e-mail I have included below. For now I will rate this unit a FIVE !!!!Message:
I purchased an HK FL8550 cd player on 4-28-99. I have had no problems to
date and I am very pleased with the sound and function of this unit. My
concern is, in the reviews that I have been reading about this unit. In one
review it was stated that the troubled units were tied into and stoped at a
certain serial #. Is this true ? And if so what would the serial # be, so I
can check my unit. Also could send me any info you may have on the types of
problems that are being reported on this unit, I would like to do a review
on my 8550 and set the record straight. At this time I would give it a 5 out
of 5 possible.

Hi Dwayne,

I would have to think that you got a unit that is fine. The problems all
pointed to the tray and transport mechanism. The unit would start acting
up, skipping over discs, etc., and eventually would completely stop reading
discs all together. This turned out to be two resisters that were installed
in place of each other on the original run.

However that has all been fixed. As long as your unit has a number of
YC0003-08667 or higher, you won't have a problem.

Enjoy your FL8550. I got mine two months ago and love it.


I hope this helps.


Sincerely,


Joe Chinnici
Internet Support Specialist

I am a former owner of an FL 8300, and from what I here, a lucky one. I never had a problem with it. When the 8550 came out I had to have one. I am glad I had not heard of the problems with it or I might not have gotten one. The 8550 complements my AVR 85 superbly. I did not know that CD's could sound so good, especially at such a low price. I have to give it a five star rating.

Sound, especially with coaxial cable

loud changing mechanism, sometimes slow to find discs, few quirks, like change one cd at a time while no cd playing, but two with cd playing

I too ran into same problems with my FL8550--not reading discs and shutting off. However, trip to shop under warrantee and now works fine. Amazing sound for 5 cd changer. When I first bought it, I stayed up all night listening to my cds coming to life. However the unit still has some quirks. Slow to pick up cds, especially when move to cds out of order, for example, disc 1 to disc 5. When cd is playing, can change two discs at a time, but when no cd is playing can only change one. Biggest complaint I have is that to get it to play through all cds have to press repeat all discs, otherwise it stops at disc 5. If change discs, repeat all discs has to pressed once again b/c not in memory. B/c of problems and quirks, I give it four stars for value and four stars overall. However, I highly recommend it as the one of the best sounding multiple cd changer on the market. The only one I thought came close was Rotel and I compared HK with Yamaha, Sony and Onkyo. Best value in its class.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha and Sony products

Good sound quality, HDCD decoding.

IT WON'T READ DISCS!!

Here's an update about my HK experience. (Please refer to my two posts in May, 1999 for further background information.) After two months in the shop, I finally received my FL8550 back with the infamous disc sensing problem repaired. The service center managed to put a nasty scratch on the side of the player and bent the digital output jack in the process, but I was so happy to have a working player again that I overlooked these cosmetic problems. That was in July, 1999. Two weeks ago, the player started showing the exact same disc sensing problem. To their credit, HK agreed to send me a new unit which I am currently awaiting. Hopefully, it will work OK, but I'm not holding my breath as at least one person's replacement player was also a lemon. This machine still rates a 1 in my book. If you're looking for an inexpensive changer with HDCD, check out Toshiba's new 4109X. It's a 6 disc DVD/CD changer with HDCD processing. Granted, it's an unknown from a reliability standpoint, but it can't be any worse than the FL8550.

Similar Products Used:

Technics and Sony changers

Beautiful sound, Coaxial Digital connection

None so far

I purchased this unit from Harman Kardon directly as a reconditioned unit. As you have read, these units have had reliability issues concerning their ability to read discs. Apparently the reconditioned units have had the diode replaced, and mine has run without a glitch. Sound is outstanding, and for the price (currently $100 US at HK outlet) this unit is a steal. If you ever do have problems with an HK product, their customer service division is outstanding (particularly the customer service link from the harman kardon.com web site).

My system:
Harman Kardon AVR310 receiver
Harman Kardon FL8550 CD changer
Boston Acoustics VR940 mains
Boston Acoustics VR910 center
Mission 771DS bi-polar surrounds
Monster cable Z-series cable

Similar Products Used:

Sony, HK FL8350

HDCD,Burr Brown processors, price

LED has problem with display.

Purchased this refurbished unit to complement my H/K amp/preamp system since one remote controls all. So far so good. Plays CDR's and HDCD's sound extra good. Carousel tray is not annoyingly loud. I have heard quieter but have heard louder changers also. If you use random setting to constantly change selections, this may perhaps explain some of the complaints. Remote is uncomplicated and straight forward. At original list price, I would have passed on this unit. HDCD with twin Burr Brown processors for 106.00 including 1 year warranty makes this a good value, not great, since DVD units with similar sonic capabilities can be had for a little more money. Let's see how it holds up reliability wise over the long haul.

Similar Products Used:

yamaha, sony

Sound

Reliabilty

A year ago I decided to replace my Sony changer with a new one. Spent time researching one on this web site. I came across the FL 8550 and read about the reliability issues with the player, I also noted that a lot of people said the unit sounded great when it worked. I also read about the higher serial # numberd units having the disc reading problems solved. So I took a chance and made sure of the serial # before buying one. For $200 you cannot buy a better sounding cd player than this.
Well one month shy of the warranty running out the player stopped recognizing discs. The tray would just spin around and never stop. Took it in for repair and got it home a couple of days ago, as of now its working fine and I have that very well defined sound stage that this player provides. I can only hope it will last this time since the warranty has expired. Remember that this unit was a higher serial # and was not suppose to have this problem. So beware if you buy one of these units that the higher serial # is no gurantee that you wont have a problem. I also noticed that you can buy these players now for even less than I paid. If youre willing to take a chance on getting a reliable unit for the price you pay you will get a great sounding cd player for a fraction of the cost you would pay for a comprable sounding player.

Similar Products Used:

Sony,Denon&Technics

Good Sounds

Unreliable

This is an update to a previous review. A little over year after purchasing this unit, same story. The player would not recognize CD's even when it was loaded with 5 discs.

I called Harman Kardon customer service and we located an authorized dealer within 15 minutes of home. A week later, my player came back and it has worked beautifully ever since. The repairman said he had to replace a diode and it took about 3 minutes. Didn't cost me a dime, either.

Yeah, the player has disc recognition problems. But HK did a great job to get the player fixed.

Similar Products Used:

Rotel, Denon

None. In fact, now I fear all HK products. See below.

Did not work right out of the box.

I wish that I had read these reviews BEFORE investing $300. Now I understand the value of the internet! This unit not only did not recognize disks, but also would not return the disks to me.

I have little confidence in HK since I had to return my avr45 when it no longer sent signals to my surround speakers. I did get an avr300 in its place (HK cust serv is excellent). It is probably a matter of time before the avr300 fails on me...

Do they have dogs running quality control?

Similar Products Used:

receivers: avr45 (failed) and avr300
sony CD D111

Sound quality

reliability

Basically, this reveiw covers all HK-FL series CD players. I began with(I think) the 8373. I was impressed with the sound quality, much better than anything near the price. I bought it because I owned an HK620 power amp and was impressed(still am!). My advice, if you pick up one of these units from a large outlet, buy the additional performance warranty. Mine quit working all together after 4 months. I then exchanged it for the same unit. It too failed, but, only after 2 months. I still had two years on the unconditional warranty, so I decided to go with the next better model, figuring the 8373 being of poor quality. Then this unit began giving me problems with recognizing CD's after 5 months. At that point, I gave up and purchased an Onyo 5 disc player and have never been happier. The sound wasn't quite up to par with the HK, but, who cares. It's hard to compare sound quality when the HK can't even show up for the race.

Similar Products Used:

Onyo