Price Paid:  $200.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
I don't remember the price paid. I won't bother repeating what the other reviewers have said, so suffice it to say that the sound is great, nice features for the price, the ergonomics are poor, but the death nail lies in the poor... or rather piece of cr*p... mechanical reliability of the tray & loading mechanisms. I plan on gutting it tonight in a last ditch effort at repair to keep it going another 6 months, so I have sufficient time to select a replacement free of such anguish. (Why do I do this to myself?) Oh... and for those of you experiencing power problems, if you see the way the face attaches to the internal circuitry, you'd know why... junk, junk, junk, and quite a challenge disassemble for repair purposes, hence the wait times for those of you dissapointed with the aftermarket service...

Strengths:
nice sound

Weaknesses:
Poor placement of controls & display. Horribly unreliable tray & loading mechanisms

Price Paid:  $219.00 from american

Summary:
WITHOUT READING THE REVIEWS, I FOUND THE FOLLOWING PROBLEMS WITH MINE. FIRST, OCCASIONALLY, THE UNIT WILL NOT RECOGNIZE A DISC, USUALLY DISC 3. SECOND, THAT DISC SKIP BUTTON IS IN A HORSE SH*T SPOT. THIRD, I THINK THE SPINNING OF THE CAROUSAL OCCURS WHEN YOU PRESS THE DISC SKIP BUTTON MORE THAN 1 TIME. FOURTH, I THINK THE UNIT SKIPS TRACKS ON THE CD THAT I AM PLAYING, EVEN THOUGH I DO NOT PROGRAM IT (UNLESS I AM ACCIDENTALLY PROGRAMMING IT). FINALLY, I BOUGHT IT IN JUNE OF 1997, AS A "DEMO",AND IT HAS PERFORMED RELATIVELY WELL, GIVEN THE IRRITATING PROBLEMS LISTED ABOVE.

Strengths:
WITHOUT COMPARING/CONTRASTING TO OTHER CD PLAYERS, IT SUITS MY NEEDS. I RECENTLY UPGRADED MY SYSTEM, BUYING A BRYSTON ST 4B POWER AMP AND A PAIR OF DEF. TECH. BP30 LOUDSPEAKERS. SOUNDS GOOD. DOES NOT SKIP UNLESS I JUMP AROUND NEAR THE UNIT WHICH DOES NOT OCCUR.

Weaknesses:
THAT HORSE SH*T DISC SKIP BUTTON PLACEMENT. MY UNIT IS BELOW EYE-LEVEL, SO I HAVE TO FEEL FOR THE BUTTON.

Similar Products Used:
NONE. I WILL PROBABLY PURCHASE I HIGH-END CD PLAYER AND STOP FOOLING WITH THESE CHEAP PRODUCTS, ALTHOUGH, AT TIME OF PURCHASE, I THOUGHT THAT THE H/K WAS A HIGH QUALITY UNIT.

Price Paid:  $175.00 from Ubid

Summary:
I have had this for over 4 years and never any problems. It has been moved around so many times and yet it seems to be in good condition. The crystal clear sound that comes out of this baby is worth every dollar I paid for it. It is so easy to make out the difference between the sound of this player and that of other players. I feel terrible about the bad review this has got from some people, but it sure seems like a Quality Control problem at HK. Some are good, some are bad. That does make me nervous about buying another HK product but on the other hand, for $150, this beats the c*** out of any other CD player

Price Paid:  $350.00 from A.N Other Audio

Summary:
I've had this unit for a few years now, and i'm just about to upgrade using an external DAC. I've been so please that i was really loathed to swap out the whole lot, so the external DAC was decided on. Apart from the drawer sticking, the unit has operated without fault (i've now lubed the draw and it hasn't stuck since). I've recently upgraded my Amp which has shown that my previous amp was a bit edgy, but my new amp now makes the CD player the weakest link (isn't this always the way).

Strengths:
5 Disk Play, Nice Smooth sounding, Plays just about anything without skips or pop's

Weaknesses:
Under disk controls, occasional drawer sticking on close

Price Paid:  $200.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
Transport and tray seem cheap. Don't like that it runs so hot. Only 'problem' I have had in the 3+ years I have owned it is that it occasionally will 'no disc' a cd, usually opening the tray shows the cd has slipped out of alignment. No other problems to date. Will skip when jostled.

I don't expect I will ever buy another Harmon Kardon product unless they really reevalute their quality and overall product lines. I also own an AVR 55 a/v reciever which is underpowered.

IMO H/K can really make some excellent sounding equipment, (I hate Sony's sound) but they have been getting gimicky and build quality has suffered.

Strengths:
Excellent Sound

Weaknesses:
Runs warm, loses the occasional disc, plasticky

Similar Products Used:
Sony, Kenwood