HK AVR 235 Refurb Review
Purchasing
To start out, this is one of the first things I've bought off of eBay, and it went smoothly. Bidding is pretty feisty for these receivers since they are directly from Harman Kardon and carry a low price and good warrantee. The one I nabbed was my third try. Amazingly, it was also the lowest priced bid I made as well, so I got the lowest price I've seen for a 235 at only $183 plus $27 flat shipping. Most go around $200-$230, but some go much higher and a few go lower.
After winning the auction, I simply hit pay now and went to Harman's online secure checkout site, where my item was added like at any other online store. I used a Visa (no paypal required) and it went through fine.
Shipping took 4 days, and it arrived at the end of the week.
Unpacking
The box came on UPS ground, in a fairly big brown box:
The box didn't seem to be damaged much, and it was in good shape. I then opened it to find the giant receiver suspended in two foam blocks.
This was solid and it looked like it hadn't had any major bumps. The remote and full manual, along with an AM loop antenna and a FM antenna, along with 3 batteries also were included. Nothing yet hinted at a refurb.
Appearance
The Receiver itself was very sharp looking with the famous black-metal combo for the faceplate. The black plastic part was protected by a film that peeled off, revealing a scratch-less surface. The volume knob is hollow with a blue light inside, and resists some to turn it, but has a faint click when you turn it, like notches. I liked it, although it takes a few spins to increase the volume a ways. The bass, treble and balance knobs were very resisting and were solid to turn.
The front panel controls were helpful and easy to use. The remote is on the big side, but is functional. I don't mind it, although it isn't backlit unless you press a button; then the source indicator will light up.
The only flaws that I noticed cosmetically were a few scuffs on the sides toward the back that weren't noticeable from over 3 feet away. It was prefect on the front, so it was basically new.
This thing also weighs around 35 pounds, and was packed on the inside. Still, the receiver ran only slightly warm after 2 hours of continuous use. Nothing was very hot underneath either. There were some massive heat-sinks inside to aid its passive cooling.
Performance
I first had to build a makeshift rack to put the receiver and Yamaha 5-disk CD player (analog). It took about 20 min and some leftover lumber, but it was sturdy enough to sit on. I positioned this in my room, which doesn't have much dampening besides a big rug and a bed. I tested the performance earlier using an old Denon stereo amp, and it was alright but the speakers were fuzzy and driving them hard didn't work out well.
I used a stereo setup to do my listening. For speakers I used a pair of Klipsch 3-way "bookshelves" that I have grown up listening to. I found some stools to set them on to raise them to about sitting level on my low couch. After wiring everything up and reading through the manual to get used to the different options, I decided to stick with the direct stereo mode and not use VMax processing for stereo. My room was too live sounding for a stereo DSP to sound very good. I adjusted the levels on the speakers and ran the bass a little hot to balance the lack of a sub. I was ready to roll...
Soundtrack from the movie Everest (Soundtrack)
Immediately when I started the track playing I noticed excellent separation of the channels, the sparkle of the first track was crisp and clean. The CD contains lots of native music, ambient nature sounds, and a fusion of old-world and new-world instruments and vocals. This CD really showed the increased clarity of the AVR 235. I ran it up to -25 Decibels and the sound was loud and very clean. The power was also evident since the Klipsch speakers aren't the easiest to drive, but yet it had lots of power to spare.
Very nice first taste, I felt like I was hearing the CD for the first time again.
Counting Crows - August and Everything After (Alternative)
This CD is much more laid back, the vocals were very nice and haunting, as were the instrumentals. The 235 also was very clear and clean even at low volume levels. I could distinctly hear everything in the song at almost a murmur level. Very well presented, although there were a few minor flaws in the recording that became more evident with this revealing receiver and live room. You had to listen close though to notice.
Dave Matthew's Band - Crash (Rock)
The full acoustic sound of DMB really was evident with the 235. It was very clean a crisp. I went downstairs to check something and when I came back up it really sounded like there was a live band in my attic! Every cymbal and saxophone note was crisp and the harmonics were excellent. Stereo imaging was also great. Another excellent performance.
My CD - First Pulse (Electronic)
I am into making music electronically on my Mac, so I wanted to test my system with a flawless disk that I knew took the recording studio out of the equation. I made this CD last summer, and it has lots of different types of sounds and synthesized beats. After making each of the songs using some high-end headphones I knew how each loop and rhythm, each sound is supposed to sound. After listening to the first couple of tracks I was very impressed. Everything decayed correctly, soft passages were still very crisp and clean. The loud, trip-hop beats were also tight and crisp, although the speakers couldn't reproduce the sub-40 Hertz passages (which add a lot to the ambiance) The receiver worked terrific though.
Conclusion
This is an absolute steal for the price, it has everything you would need to keep up with a growing system: 7 channels, full pre-outs, SACD inputs for each discrete channel, Component video switching, 3 point bass management for different sources, so you can automatically switch crossover frequency to suite the material, two switched outlets, a learning remote, On screen display and sexy looks (plus all your Dolby and DTS stuff) for between $210 and $250 shipped!
This is an excellent Bargain, and I would highly recommend Harman's ebay store for refurbs.
Performance: 9/10
Features: 9/10
Value: 15/10
-WorldLeader
