Harman Kardon has finally released a new series of AV receivers which feature three HDMI 1.3a inputs and one output, allowing native internal decoding of all the new high definition audio formats available on Blu-ray (not including the AVR 154). 1080p upscaling is also provided and a new graphical (GUI) onscreen menu system helps the setup process. All three new models are scheduled to ship this month.
Discuss "Harman Kardon Introduces New HDMI 1.3a Receivers" here. Read the article.
How are they planning to sell these? They seem pretty feature starved.
What feature are you looking for? It has HDMI upscaling of all sources. DTS MA and True HD decoders. Preouts for amps. I read on AVS that the scaler seems pretty robust with tweakability and has the ability to turn on and off. If they can fix the HDMI issues the 247 and 347 had, I think these amps will be popular.
Except for having only 3 HDMI ports (3-4 should be the mid range with 6 high end) I think they are pretty good feature wise. They certainly look great. Much better than my Onkyo 875 and this time the review is not a year late! They should be good sellers. HK is a popular brand and they have been left in the dust over the last year. This line brings them back into competitiveness and there aren't any more must have features that these lack like HD audio and HDMI. Things are settling down again in the receiver business.
I liked both the AVR-247 and 347 models (two of my very close friends have both). They seemed to be very capable models for what they could do.
At CES 2008 I took pictures of these new models which at the time were actually labeled as the AVR-347, but it had HD-audio logos on it. I knew there must have been a badging error, or HK hadn't finalized on a name yet.
Considering the power increase that both the 254 and 354 are gaining, in addition to the HD-audio and HDMI 1.3a spec and everything else, I bet HK does the HT market good this time arround.
The 3490 seems interesting with its digital inputs. Never seen a stereo receiver with this feature. Getting rid of the VMAX feature and adding Dolby Virtual Speaker was a nice touch. It's a good psuedo surround format for us two channel home theater people. Now if they where to add full fledged bass management this would probably be the sweetest stereo receiver under 500.
JR.com is taking pre-orders at 329.00. Not a bad deal if I do say so myself.
The second link is in Czech. but the numbers say these are rated for 170W @ 4 ohm. They would appear to be some of the beefiest receivers out there, aside from certain Flagship units. I am going to try and find out if they have a voltage selectable power supply (most H/K units historically did not, but one can always hope). They do have removeable power cords.
With both the 655 and 755 doing Serial cable control, internet radio, and A-bus connection it would be a great unit for my home theater.
Why H/K does not think the market in the states is "ready" for these is beyond me. Or maybe these are being released later this year, fingers are crossed.
I would email HK and ask for the new chassis. If people start complaining, maybe they will give in. If I can get the same cool chassis the Europeans will be getting, my new receiver will be another HK. If not, there will be plenty of receivers from other companies to buy from. It will come down to which receiver will be the best value.
Harman Kardon Introduces New HDMI 1.3a Receivers
They should be good sellers. HK is a popular brand and they have been left in the dust over the last year. This line brings them back into competitiveness and there aren't any more must have features that these lack like HD audio and HDMI. Things are settling down again in the receiver business.
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