Harman Kardon 3390, 1600 or Onkyo SR508

[jhucke]

Hey everyone, I've been looking for a receiver for quite some time now (under low budget) and stumbled across HK3390 and 1600 on amazon.com for a great price.
At the time, I was looking for a nice stereo receiver which got me looking at the 3390. And for 220 bucks I didn't think I could go wrong with it. After further speculation, I noticed that the 1600 was only $280 which also seemed applicable for the price range, which made me think if I ever wanted more than 2.1 audio this would be nice.
Looking at the 1600, I noticed that it only put out 50w per channel. Then I read somewhere that in reality it only puts out 35w. For the money, is this going to get loud? I know that HK is all about quality, but will this get louder than say an Onkyo SR508? The Onkyo is a little cheaper than the HK on newegg.com also.
I like the look of the HK a lot more than Onkyo, so my real question would be, is the HK worth 30 more dollars than the Onkyo?
Thanks

 

[rnatalli]

The stereo receiver will obviously stomp on the 1600 in terms of power. HK apparently had some issues with their website and documentation and the 1600 is indeed rated for 35wpc into 7 channels. Keep in mind that HK rates their receivers honestly and often underrates them so when they say 35wpc, they mean it. As for Onkyo, their numbers are inflated like the rest. I would expect the 508 to put out about 33-36wpc into 7 channels so pretty much the same as the 1600. It really comes down to what features you want in a receiver that will decide in this case. You should also consider last year's models if 3D isn't a necessity as there are some good deals out there. That said, stay away from HK's line last year (x54 line) as they are full of bugs.