Harman Kardon

Question

OK I'm about to give up and abandon my prejudice for surround sound. I suppose I can still listen in stereo and at least the kids have the option of using it when I'm not there.
Someone has told be there is a Harman Kardon receiver in cash converters for just over a £ 100, no idea what model and I don't suppose it's the latest model but it does sound quite cheap and in 'as new condition', so I don't suppose it will hurt too much.
Not being all that interested in this area I really don't know what I'm buying, does anyone know whether this is a good brand or even better know of any issues with the tv. Can't say I've heard of it before or seen it mentioned on these forums, unlike Yamaha and Onkyo. So either no one here has this brand or there aren't any reported issues.
I realise without a model number it's difficult to comment on the receiver, but I'm more interested in a comment on the brand at this time. Whilst I haven't had any interest in receivers to date, I'm not completely blind to the technical side and should be able to decide from the specs exactly what it does, I just won't know how well this brand does what it does.

Answer 1

Alley_Cat wrote:
Many high-end audio manufacturers to my mind though have lost out with the digital 'revolution', as reasonable quality goods are available for often a fraction of the cost of similar items 20 years ago.
Just to expand on that, before widespread DVD and home cinema options were available, specialist hi-fi stores could still do well from high-end stereo audio kit.
These days though consumers want kit that is a jack of all trades and the perception of value for money factors highly. 'True hi-fi' products have been marginalised by the home cinema factor, and many hi-fi stores who used to turn their noses up at anything other than pure stereo have had to adopt cheaper AV kit simply to stay afloat.
As with all purchases there's often a law of diminishing returns with hi-fi. The £5000 separates system will be far better than the £500 all in one mini system, but not 10x as much.
How do you attract the average consumer to spend a few hundred pounds on a 'quality' DVD player when they're £15 in Argos or Asda - it has to do a heck of a lot more to justify the price tag, whereas as an early adopter I was happy to pay nearly £600 for my first DVD player some 10 years ago. I would be very reluctant to do so now.
High-end manufacturers also sometimes seem completely out of touch with reality in terms of pricing - for example I've just had an invite from the local hi-fi dealer to go to an evening demo of a Naim hard drive based player.
The spec includes 2x400GB mirrored internal drives, USB and network functionality, and undoubtedly very high quality audio circuitry. It can output/playback non-DRM FLAC at up to 24 bit 192kHz which admitedly AppleTV cannot, but even though I'd love to have one for it's sonic prowess, I have to wonder how much better it can sound compared to the AppleTV when it costs £4,500 vs £200! The interface also looks clunky - onboard TFT display - you may be able to connect to a TV but looks like it's composite or S-video only! You appear to be able to connect a keyboard/mouse and control from a PC.
Now I'm sure the Naim device will sound very good, and if it includes a high-end CD player anyway might be more justifiable, but in terms of VFM AppleTV blows it out of the water.
I guess there are plenty of people out there though that have no desire to use a computer and would be happy to pay for a high-end all in one solution.
Sorry to digress - more of a blog type comment!
http://www.naim-audio.com/products/hdx.html
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9932321-1.html
http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=47322
AC