JerzyDevil

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $115.00 from Harman Store on Ebay

Summary:
I purchased the HK 3380 to replace an aging NAD that had plenty of power and overhead but no channel separation or musicality. The NAD seemed to need a serious overhaul which was not worth the cost. I decide to try the bargain priced HK before upgrading to pricier equipment. Even running somewhat inefficient Vienna Acoustics speakers, the HK does just fine. Of course the sheer power of more expensive stereos might be absent, but for the price I am not complaining.

Strengths:
Price. Has remote control. Sounds musical as a stereo should. Good value.

Weaknesses:
Lacks overhead or reserve power. Weak bass. Flimsy jacks feel like they could break.
Shipping and tax diminished good value. But, would buy anyway.

becleave

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.67 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $149.00 from eBay

Summary:
I bought this receiver to replace an HK avr20 II which had owned for 3 years.
For the bargain price of $130, I received a remanufactured unit complete with
manual, 3 year warranty(providing you register),a small antenna, and a remote
control including the batteries. This is a two channel stereo, no surround.
The stereo delivers a crisp, clear sound reproduction,with plenty of kick for
my listening enjoyment.
The styling is clean and elegant,the controls are basic and do not interfere with the
esthetics.
I love the blue light on the volume knob, which appears
as a crescent shape from almost any angle! Or you can dim the lighting in three
steps to only the power buttons blue glow.

Strengths:
I'm not much for reading audio reviews, so my impression may need some clarification
that I am unable to provide. This receiver has a well-rounded sound, I find that it
does a superb job of improving the sound on music which is over-bassed.
As in too much bass drum, that you may hear in jazz or pop music.
Compared to my avr20, which plays the input 'raw' or seemingly unattenuated,
this unti seems to sense and reduce the boxy sound to a tolerable effect.
Much as it was meant to be heard. In that sense, it does not offer the ability to
remove the effect,you get the clean sound it produces .
After one year, I bought another one for my den.
Has a tape monitor function, for adding an equalizer.
Also features preamp in/outs, for those who need them.
Eighty watts per channel is more than enough sound for my home.
The volume appears as -40dB , a format I had not seen before..
even turned up to 0dB, or into the plus range, the sound remains clear and
powerful.

Weaknesses:
I did find that
on occasion the unit will distort some high frequencies,almost to a hissing effect.
In regards, that may be a source problem, or in the manufacture of some CDs.
In comparison to my avr20, the sound is rather generic. With that receiver, often I would find myself hearing new sounds and/or aspects in the music that I listen to
repeatedly. These qualities would more likely be in the sense of seeing the music,
and not limited to what you hear,but this receiver does seem to alter the effects
in such a way that you get the aforementioned generic sound it produces.
So, if you are replacing a 600 dollar receiver with a 250 dollar one, you may expect
slightly less listening enjoyment.Yet the clarity and power of the sound is a definite
improvement over my old hk.

No loudness button !
At 6.5 inches tall, it is huge!
Once, and only one time, the unit (while not in use) made a clicking sound, as
the power was being turned off and on repeatedly. Unplugged unit for maybe
15 minutes and all was okay. Has not re-occured .

Similar Products Used:
Harman Kardon avr 20 mark II

Price Paid:  $199.00 from JM.com

Summary:
I was using a aging, classic Pioneer SX-3700 reciever for a den computer system. The Pioneer was starting to have some noise issues and channel balance issues. I did a little looking and comparsion shopping in the now relatively small 2-channel reciever market. I found a good deal on the Harmon/Kardon HK-3800. My range was 200 dollars. I paid $199.99 with free shipping promotion at JM.com. The unit has an MSRP of $245.00.

Factors that influenced my purchase included functional features and aesthetics of the unit.

The HK-3380 has 6 inputs: 1 CD, 1 Tape Loop, 3 Video Loops, and a Phono Stage Input. A video out monitor is also included. It also included rarer features, a pair of L and R subwoofer out RCA terminals which are master-volume controlled. There is no active sub-bass management...but if you know what you're doing with the controls on the subwoofer (Phase, Crossover, and Volume) then you can manually adjust your system...not as easy as some AVR's or Surround processors though... Also included are Pre-Out and Amp-In terminals, which come jumpped but the jumpers can be removed. I found this quite valuable as this unit can have a graphic equalizer added (not that I would...but that I can makes me feel special), or an out-board surround proccessor (I have an old, old Pro-Logic Adcom unit lying around...hmmm) could be added. On top of the rich set of features, the unit is tastefully designed with a flourecent blue lit volume knob, ice-blue readout, display dimmer functions, and crisp black-on-silver modern finish.

Upon recieving the product I installed it in place of the afforementioned Pioneer.

Let me explain the accompanying components:

This reciever's primary function was to power a computer stereo system. The computer's sound card was hooked to the reciever via a mini-stereo jack to L/R RCA splitter cable. The speakers used were Klipsch Reference RSX-5 Bookshelf Monitors and a Klipsch ProMedia SWS 8" Powered Subwoofer unit. The subwoofer was connected to the Pioneer amp via an RCA cable off of an available Line-Level Tape Record output (the Klipsch SWS features a remote volume knob, and the computer controlls the system volume). With the HK-3380 I was able to use the Subwoofer-Out jacks instead.

After making the appropriate connections to the HK-3380 I powered up the computer to play some music.

I do not download MP3 music. I have a dedicated hard-drive on my PC to which I rip full PCM CD-Quality audio tracks. Therefore I played back full CD-Quality music into the HK-3380 powered system.

I was amazed at how poorly the HK-3800 sounded in comparison to the vintage Pioneer Unit. It failed to image as clearly as the SX-3700. The soundfield had much less depth and clarity. The bass was over loud and too punchy. This is with the eq contour knobs in "null" position. Thus I found myself endlessly turning the "bass" contour down and the "treble" contour up, as well as cutting the SWS's relative volume back a large portion. Midrange was non-existant. Vocals sounded flat and undefined.

I am sadly dissapointed in the HK-3380. For $200 dollars (and that's not even the HK's MSRP) I wouldn't have thought a 20 year old reciver with dirty, fickle terminals in need of DeOxIt would have so handily beat a brand new unit such as the HK.

I will allow the HK-3380 to burn in by hooking up some mules and playing some burn-in noise to see if it opens up after a few days...but the difference was so huge I am not hopeful.

Anyway, I don't have much experience with the sound of many new recievers since I run components. Therefore I can't say if this is atypical of other reciever's in the HK's price range. Therefore I will neither recommend nor dissuade the buyer from the unit suffice to say that any serious audio enthusiast may wish to persue vintage equipment...

Strengths:
Features. It has a lot of features for a 2 channel reciever. The pre-out / amp-in as well as stereo subwoofer RCA out are obscure and useful.

The flourecent, dimmable display is pleasing and very nice. I wish it sounded as good as it looked. Then again the old pioneer with it's "Flouroscan" display and chrome-plated knobs and switches is 1980's-Sexy in it's own right...and has it where it counts...

It's got a an AV input on the front panel...good for a game console or a camcorder if you've got this thing on a TV... The input has a cover plate...boy it sure am pretty...

Remote Control (w/Batteries in box)

30 preset memory on the tuner. A coaxial terminated FM wire antenna and an AM loop are included.

Phono Stage. Increasingly rare these days...

Beacuse of it's features and low price it gets a "Value Rating" of 4.

Weaknesses:

Overall poor sound quality. It was clean, and noise free. That's all the better I can say. I did not have a hum issue as is described by other reviewers.... It did have a "new-electronic-funk" smell but not "disgusting" out of the box.

The unit advertised "Binding Posts" as the connection method for the speaker cables. Caveat Emptor. These are NOT 5-Way binding posts found on most speakers and good amplifiers. While they do accept banana plugs and bare wire, the do not accept pins or spade lugs. They also felt chincy (like they might break). I think I would have prefered either the standard spring clips or actual 5-way binding posts.

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer FM Quartz-Locked Stereo Reciever SX-3700
Manufacture Date: 1980
MSRP: $375.00 (1980)
Cost Paid: $20.00 at Goodwill (2003)
Total Watts per Channel: 45
Total Inputs: 4 (2 Tape Loops, 1 Phono Stage, 1 Auxiliary)

Klipsch Reference RSX-5 Bookshelf Monitors
Klipsch ProMedia SWS 8" Direct-Firing, slot-ported, powered subwoofer.

Compared overall to:
Klipsch Reference RB-81 Bookshelf Monitors
Klipsch Reference RW-8 8" Direct-Firing, corner-ported, powered subwoofers.
Arcam Xeta-2 5.1 Surround Processor
Aragon 18k Pre-Amplifier
Aragon 4004 Mk-II Power Amplifier
SONY DVP-NS900V DVD/CD/SACD Player

life_is2

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
2.78 of 5, 9.00 votes

Price Paid:  $150.00 from ebay(harman kardon)

Summary:
great product. i purchased from harman kardon direct on ebay. got a great deal. i am very pleased w/purchase. great sound for price. i would recommend this product to anyone. i am running a pair of cerwin-vega 10 inch floor standing speakers rated at 200 watts. this little amp pushes them just fine. the best characteristic of this receiver is that it doesn't over do the highs (like onkyo receivers), just perfect sound all the way across the frequency band. would no doubt buy another for double the money. had and avr525 for the home theatre and never has skipped a beat. i know this will be a product that i get a lot of use out of for years to come. recommend 100%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Strengths:
sound quality, power, ofcourse looks, and build quality

Weaknesses:
tuner is a little weak but look at the spec's on all of the top receivers, denon included.

Similar Products Used:
kenwood( no comparison) and sony(good receiver but blew speakers to easy due to clipping)

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poneal

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
3.60 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $135.00 from HK online ebay store

Summary:
I needed a standard old stereo receiver for my bedroom and did not want to pay a fortune for it. I noticed this on ebay and ended up winning it for $135. Z-stock but carrying the full factory warranty. First, the receiver arrived and it looked brand new. No scratches, etc. Everything worked. Nice power, etc. It even came with batteries for the remote which was kind of toylike. The amp section is definitely HK. Nice lower end thump and plenty of power. I keep mine at -45 ot -40 for most listening. The radio works fine and came with supplied am and fm antenna and 75ohm to 300ohm adapter. All I can say is that for $135.00 I definitely feel that I got more than what I paid for. Way to go HK. I did not have the smell thing or have any problems with this unit.

Strengths:
Nice amp section, radio. I like the basic layout and feel. Easy to use and not complicated like the AVR sereis.

Weaknesses:
Toylike remote.