HK Discussion

[yettitheman]

Around here, everyone is talking Pioneer/Denon/Onkyo/Yamaha ect...

Not too much news about HK.


I thought that this might be an interesting thread to discuss HK's of new age, as well as some older products perhaps.
Not that I'm interested in HK at the moment, but I would like to hear some discussion on HK, seeing as there is little discussion compared to the other major brands.

Fire off!

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I will start.

I haven't as much as seen a HK since the last one I owned in 1984.

 

[PENG]

I am going to be repeating myself, but since you asked...

If you are in the U.S., HK receivers are competitive with Denon, Yamaha, Onkyo, Pioneer, Marantz. Outside of the U.S., e.g. Canada, you can also forget it unless you are a fan of the brand because you will get much less W/$. And please don't waste time telling me about HK watts=more Denon/Yamaha watts because I am talking about W/$ based on lab measurements, not published watts.

 

[Matt34]

I am going to be repeating myself, but since you asked...

If you are in the U.S., HK receivers are competitive with Denon, Yamaha, Onkyo, Pioneer, Marantz. Outside of the U.S., e.g. Canada, you can also forget it unless you are a fan of the brand because you will get much less W/$. And please don't waste time telling me about HK watts=more Denon/Yamaha watts because I am talking about W/$ based on lab measurements, not published watts.

Your saying the HK prices are unreasonably higher than the other brands outside the U.S?

 

[Nomo]

I've never been able to get past the looks of the HKs. I just don't like the style of them.
I'm sure the performance is comparable the other brands, but looks count as well.

 

[PENG]

Your saying the HK prices are unreasonably higher than the other brands outside the U.S?

Actually I was wrong. I just checked the Future shop price for the 354, to my surprise it is going for C$999.9 and the 154 for C$499 so I guess the gap has closed. Not too long ago, something like a 335 would go for C$1399 or more.

At the moment, I would say they are still expensive in Canada but not unreasonable, considering C$=0.9 US$ (around 0.95 only a few days ago).

 

[mazersteven]

I've never been able to get past the looks of the HKs. I just don't like the style of them.

I love the blue dial.

I also like the two tone look of the HK.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

The only HK I've ever owned is a HK6500 integrated amp that I still have. 65WPC stereo goodness. I still can't believe that I spent $500 on it that long ago...

If it had a sub out I'd be running a 2.1 system with it somewhere...

I like it.

SBF1

 

[PENG]

I've never been able to get past the looks of the HKs. I just don't like the style of them.
I'm sure the performance is comparable the other brands, but looks count as well.

I thought the older models such as the 525 had a much better look.

 

[Matt34]

Actually I was wrong. I just checked the Future shop price for the 354, to my surprise it is going for C$999.9 and the 154 for C$499 so I guess the gap has closed. Not too long ago, something like a 335 would go for C$1399 or more.

At the moment, I would say they are still expensive in Canada but not unreasonable, considering C$=0.9 US$ (around 0.95 only a few days ago).

Ah, alright. I wasn't aware of that.

 

[Matt34]

I love the blue dial.

I also like the two tone look of the HK.

I like the look of mine and have been happy with it since I bought it used a couple years ago from a fellow member....but there are some features I now desire that this older model 330 doesn't have.

For the lower-end receivers I think the Pio 1018 takes the win with it's front end.

 

[mazersteven]

For the lower-end receivers I think the Pio 1018 takes the win with it's front end.

That receiver is junk. No Blue Lights?

 

[Matt34]

[/IMG]

 

[mazersteven]

Now that's what I'm talkin' about.

 

[Nomo]

I love the blue dial.

I also like the two tone look of the HK.

Some day I'll figure out how you find these pics so fast.

Yeah they look good in the dark. Blue is my favorite color for HT lighting. But the silver just doesn't do it for me.

 

[armaraas]

Isn't that a blue light right in the middle of the 1018 if you look closely? I have a new Pioneer Elite 03, and it has 2 blue lights on it. I also have a Marantz 7002, and that has 2 blue lights on it too. But I am going to end up with a Denon 3808 as my final choice it appears, and you know what's going to annoy me the most about it and why I wasn't considering Denon before?

No blue leds lights...seriously, my tv has blue led, my pc has blue led, my power conditioner is blue, my other one has blue leds too, the ps3 has one blue led, my non-hdmi HK had blue, and now after upgrading I'm going to have this stupid 3808 with a GREEN lighted power button. Seriously, who does green??

Back on track, I had a HK 235. When I replaced it with the 03 the first thing I noticed was how much more headroom the HK had for volume. The loudest I ever had it was for Attack of the Clones, and I had the HK around -10 or -12 and wouldn't dare go any louder. On the 03 I had it at 0, and it was loud, but not to the point where I had to hurry and turn it down or anything, I left it there for the pod race. I have the Clones volume to lower than most other movies, not sure if it is a fact, so most movies I will not have that loud, but between the receivers I noticed a difference.

I originally wanted to get a 254 or 354 for my hdmi receiver to go with the ps3, but unfortunately I have seen a lot of people complain about compatibility issues, dropped audio, messed up video, and HK is working on a firmware update, but I'm not sure when it will be out so I ended up looking at other brands for better or worse.

 

[Seth=L]

I am unimpressed with the average lab results I've seen with H/K gear. I feel that they are behind on technology as well. A company as big as Harman Industries should be able to keep up with the competition. Where are they flagship models? Why doesn't Lexicon make their own receiver instead of ripping off the top of the line H/K and marking it up a couple hundred bucks?

 

[STRONGBADF1]

I am unimpressed with the average lab results I've seen with H/K gear. I feel that they are behind on technology as well. A company as big as Harman Industries should be able to keep up with the competition. Where are they flagship models? Why doesn't Lexicon make their own receiver instead of ripping off the top of the line H/K and marking it up a couple hundred bucks?

Inquiring minds want to know!

SBF1

 

[yettitheman]

So far, the discussion is going well, I think.
I didn't expect it to gain this much momentum...

I personally like the HK looks.
As far as performance... well.. that's debatable (seeing as I have no HK experience).

 

[mnatiq]

Just bought the Hk 354

hey guys i just bought the AVR354. previously owned the Avr 247. well to your surprise i love these receivers they sound amazing. the Avr 247 was much weaker i can really tell the difference compared to the avr 354. as for the looks there awesome much better than before. the silver part of the receiver isnt actually silver its dark grey now and as for the blue lights they have been replaced with white ones.(looks amazing in the dark) the remote is 12 feet long(12 inches) and has this very cool backlight. everybody has been experiencing problems with the new HKs and HD audio well just to let you know after about 40 hours of use i have experienced none. as for the bridge II its laggy on the screen but if you look at the receivers display its quick. set up was a breeze the new EZ set thing is very easy to use but takes for ever.(accurate, the measurments of the speaker distances from the mic were dead on) but there is one thing that is bugging me, the receiver doesnt display which decoder its running on. for ex. i was watch a blu ray movie with 5.1 dtshd and i had no clue that it was running on that.