User Friendly, the digital setups are great. Who woould have thought that there would that big of a difference going from anolog to digital inputs.

It''s not spelled out that you have to use your optical line to obtain any digital solutions. the coaxcal line won''t allow you to enter that mode.

I purchased the AVR-210 just to get a digital sound,Boy was I surpraised. I had no idea that Harmaon made such wonderful equipment. After coing form an Awia system I heard a difference in sound quility right away.Once I add a Progressive scan DVD player i''ll start charging my friends to come over and watch the football, baseball, and basketball games.

Similar Products Used:

RCA, JVC, Sony, Samsung

The receiver made all of my old speakers sound new again, but in a way I''ve never heard them before. Sound is crisp on the tweeter end and dampened perfectly on the deep end. There appears to be no conflict with the production of wattage for my Advent and Bose bookshelf speakers from the 80''s.

I will be adding on some Klipsch to get the best sound possible. The receiver is not serving its full potential as a driver for outdated speakers. As I move into surround and other connectivity. This has nothing to do with the quality or complexity of the component, I simply believe that its time to upgrade the entire system, and I have my first component --- the heart of the system.

As a casual listener, I replaced the older quality components I had with an affordable, capable and up-to-date performance units. The receiver I chose was actually the Harmon Kardon AVR 220, but it is new enough, not to show on the review list, however, it is most similar to this model as far as I can tell. Acoustic Sound Design set me up with an unmatched price of $379, so even with shipping, I stayed at a budget of $400 and gained a very nice central component to my casual system that can incorporate all of my ancillary electronics. I am still amazed at the wide array of connections I can make --- satellite, camcorder, DVD/CD, etc.

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My outdated system is twenty-five years old and does not rival this type of technology in any way.

Ability to play with any speakers,component connections,versatility

None that I have found but I have only used it 4 times and it isn''t broken in yet so it sounds a little tight.

Well I took this machine over the RXV-800 because it was a little cheaper but in terms of construction I like the Yamaha more and it is built better.I find they each have there own distinct sound but I definetly like the sound of the H/K and I would recommend the machine to anyone who is looking for a receiver with a fair amount of component connections and the ability to add on later.It is very versatile because of this so if you plan on getting bigger speakers in the long run or dying for more power this machine is great.I got mine with a 5 year Warranty and also a 510 remote because the 210 remote sucks and at least with the 510 remote you can see in the dark and also it is a learning remote so ALL of your components can be programmed.I really like the look of it especially at night but I haven''t got the time to use it so I might sell it but for the 2 movies I have watched she performed nicelly and it hasn''t even been broken in yet.The ability to expand I think is a must because when you get a bigger house or something like that you might need to throw some Power Amps onto it.The versatility is a must for anyone and the AVR 110 is great but it won''t push the sound like I would want for a decent size house.Great machine!

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MANY

AVR220.Love this unit. works great in my place. much easier to setup compared to the old AVR210 it replaced. use mine for mainly home theater. Has plenty of power to run my Monitor9s Im using for my front and surrounds.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz (to expensive)

Great looks, Great sound, Inputs/Outputs

Remote

This is a great receiver. The sound is exelent, the unit is beutifull, and there are enough inputs to wire the entire space shuttle to.

I originally planned on purchasing an AVR110, but there were none in stock so the I opted into the 210. There aren't many differences between the two models. The 210 offers the easy set option for surround speaker levels, and preamp outputs for 6 channels. They cut me a pretty good deal on it, but I don't think I'd buy this model over the 110. If I wanted to upgrade I would have gone with the 310 which has more power.

This unit has pleanty of power for my use. I have a medium sized apartment, and so any more power would get me into more trouble than I already am with the neighbors. The sound is exelent as high as I've had it. No his whatsoever. I did notice a real faint clicking in the speakers when changing volume level at high volumes.

The unit takes a little time to set up, but the on screen display and all of the settings are logically layed out. Each surround mode (or non-surround mode) can be set independently, so there is not much changing when listening to music or watching videos.

I also had some trouble with the remote. It works fine w/the TV and VCR, but my DVD player is not recognized. My bad for buying a cheap, un-heard of DVD player. (Apex)

Similar Products Used:

Sony, JVC, Pioneer

Fidelity, Audio Quality

No possible to play 4 ohm speaker

Unfortunately I've a bad experience with the Receiver. I used for 2 weeks with celestion E4 speakers (4ohms) for center and main channels, and past weekend it has problems with left and center channel: it stops playing it! but then it continuous playing. When it stops I change to FM or other input but it has no problem left and center plays, but with CD doesn't. I wait a few minutes it continue playing, should I wait till it likes to work??Sorry HK you've a dissapointed costumer.
Well the sound is amazing, the quality is really good, but maybe using another speakers (like 8 ohm) you wouldn't have any problem. Manufaturer tells you it support low impedance speakers..mmmh maybe not. I'll change it for an Onkyo 696, no 4 ohm speaker problem and more power (100w), rather than changing my Celestion speakers.

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Upgrading for Onkyo 696

High current - 25 amps; EZ set; logic 7; 6 channel input

The remote is NOT user-friendly or learning

Otherwise known as happy-krappy. If you are lucky to get one of the well built machines, you'll be happy.

The main reason I purchased this receiver was the price. The sound is excellent and I love logic 7! I find this receiver very easy to use. I like the fact that you can choose any input for any source, digital or analog. DTS & Dolby Digital are great, but V-Max and other theatre modes - Hall, etc. are rarely needed. The delay settings are a good feature if you have an awkward shaped room. EZ-set doesn't work as well as an SPL meter, but gets the job done. The only thing I really don't like about this product is the remote. I told the Harman Kardan representative, Todd Taylor, and uh, he didn't really agree. He thought the remote was okay. I personnally use the remote from a 5-10 HK. I am a sales associate for Future Shop, and my knowledge of receivers in general is exceptional. Toot, toot! I think Marantz and Onkio make a better built machine, but they cost more. Harman Int'l needs to increase quality control because I've see a few "krappys" being returned. Young people who like distortion and are looking merely for booming loud noise, will not be satisfied with this product.

To summarize, I really like my 210 HK, and recommend it for you if you are an audio enthusiast as well!

Similar Products Used:

Technics, Pioneer, and Sony

Looks, Sound, inputs, construction

remote, lack of second set main speakers

Well, looks like my review will follow most. Great receiver, poor remote. I have now gone through 3 Sony receivers in my day and each one got progressively worse. It was time to move on, and boy am I glad I did. You read a lot how Sony has lots of "bells and whistles" and you usually have to sacrifice those in order to get the quality sound that comes with a unit like HK. Well not with the HK 210. I cannot think of one usefull feature that i found important to my system that an 800-900 series sony has that this doesn't (im not a big fan of sound fields). This unit gets an A+ for features, hook ups, inputs, adjustability etc..

As far as sound goes, previously owned Sony's with up to 110 watts per channel can't hold a stick to the clean, pure sound this baby gives. I run Boston Acoustic speakers and the high end is simply fabulous. There is absolutely no distortion or hiss. The 40 watts per channel sounds skimpy but fear not, you will have plenty of power.

The other thing i love about this receiver is its construction. All you have to do is turn one knob to know that this thing was put together well. I obviously haven't rummaged through the interior, but if the innards are put together as well as the external, then i have no fears about reliability. The change from my last Sony (Str-910) is like going from a pontiac to a mercedes. I noticed the difference before even plugging it in.

Only flaw is the remote. I couldn't get it to run my DVD at all and it doesn't run half the things on my TV. And who has fingers that small? Those buttons get so small near the bottom you need a needle to press them in.

Great receiver. Overlook the remote. I would highly recomend it.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Yamaha, Onkyo

Best sound in the business, sleek styling, tons of front inputs (including digital), Ease of use.

Remote is a little weak in features/performance.

Ah, to finally shed some light on the elusive new AVR-210 by Harman Kardon. What a privilege! To give you some background, when we started to build our home theater, we wanted to be around $2500-$3000 with EVERYTHING (including a TV), but I didn't want to sacrifice quality for a pre-packaged system that wasn't up to snuff. Before I get into this review, here's what my system contains (after many, many hours of research and comparison shopping.)

- 32" Sony Wega 32FV12 TV ($890 + tax)
- Harman Kardon AVR210 Receiver ($420 w/ shipping)
- Polk Audio RM6600 Satellites with PSW650 Subwoofer ($1049 + tax)
- Sony DVP-360 DVD Player ($229 + tax)
- Speaker Stands, Cables, and Accessories ($400)

I can't really discuss the selection of the HK Receiver until I discuss the selection of my speakers. To me, it didn't make sense to spend $1000 on a receiver, if I couldn't notice the difference with my speakers. Additionally, I didn't want to skimp on my receiver and not take full advantage of the quality of my speakers, either. Picture quality aside (see my reviews of the Wega and the Sony DVD Player on this site), I wanted the cleanest possible sound, something that looked decent (for my wife), and an easy to use control system. Pound-for-pound, the HK gets it done very well!

Since I selected the Polk RM6600 satellites, I didn't need a gazillion watts of power to drive the speakers. Since the subwoofer on a 5.1 channel system is self-powered anyway, I didn't need the power to produce bass below 80-100 Hz, either. This is where most of your system's power will be used if you drive full range speakers. Rather, I wanted to make those satellites hum with crisp, clear vocals and highs, and precise imaging.

What really sold me on the AVR-210 was its kick-#^% sonic quality/performance. Second was the combination of features and simplicity of use (though the sound quality is so good, I would have lived with some minor annoyances for the sound this thing has.) Since all my other components are sony, I figured I would stick with Sony gear all-around and make it simple. Then I actually heard these side-by-side. Don't let the power rating fool you, this 40W/channel (50W/channel in Stereo) will kick the Sony's 100W any day of the week, and is very comparable to the 70W/channel Onkyo or Denon receivers! The key is "High-current", not just high power rating. Being an Electrical Engineer by training, I can understand the principals behind this:

Power is equal to Voltage*Current. It is also equal to the voltage squared divided by the resistance (measured in Ohms - what speakers are rated in) or current squared times the resistance. Since the current is the driving force of the speaker (what actually makes it move), it is much more reasonable to want quality CURRENT output rather than voltage. If you have a receiver that can deliver high voltage, but will clip when the current output rises too high, you might as well pack it up. Sony measures their power rating against a lab resistor at 8 ohms (nominal impedance, probably around 1kHz where it is relatively easy to produce - not low or high end frequencies that demand more control of the signal.) This is fine for a pretty spec, but since the impedance of a speaker actually changes (and often will drop below 8 ohms in normal playback due to inductance in the coil of the magnet), it is more important that you can output high CURRENT rather than power. Although power can be measured as a function of current, it is useless without knowing what the true impedance of a speaker is at a specific frequency. The result of high-current design: Smooth delivery of sound at all frequencies (as impedance changes) which results in a much cleaner sound. Whew!!! If you followed that, BRAVO!

I used to think that a receiver was a receiver, and they all sounded just about the same. WRONG!!! I drool when I hear smooth classical, contemporary jazz, or screaming special effects from movies being cranked out by this baby. Everything from gospel to country to heavy-metal sounds so crisp and lifelike. It truly is a sonic experience that will enlighten you. Go listen for yourself with the same speakers, side by side. You won't believe the difference there is in sound quality. I also compared this receiver to Denon, Onkyo, and Yamaha in the same range +- $150, and couldn't beat the HK's quality of sound, although the Onkyo was the closes competitor to the HK as far as sound goes. Beware - make sure you set the bass and treble tone controls to flat before comparing - some salespeople will crank the bass and treble on some receivers to attempt to replicate the sound quality of the HK. Make sure you comparison is "Apples to Apples".

This deck also has MP3 decoding capability, but I don't see how that will be much use to me in the near future. Perhaps down the road when I get more into that stuff. Anyone with a MP3 player with digital output will really benefit from this feature.

My only complaint about this receiver thus far is the lack of ability of the remote to control all my gear (mainly standard Sony DVD player, VCR, and TV.) I can't even get the remote to turn my DVD player on, and the TV functions are missing the right-left navigation buttons - key for switching between normal and the 16:9 enhanced mode that my TV has built in. I thought about going to the AVR-310 to get a learning remote, but I didn't need the multi-source functionality, and would still deal with a relatively clumsy remote for my system that may or may not work everything I have. Instead, I am going to buy a universal learning remote (most likely the Sony AV-RM2100) for around $125. This will hopefully ease my pain of remote hell. For the record, I doubt that you will find any remote that works all your gear in this price range, so it really isn't as much of a defect on the part of HK as it is on the part of the industry in general.

Finally, one of the coolest features of this thing is the "EZ-Set" remote. It has a built-in Sound-Pressure-Level meter to get your speakers output levels set exactly right. You can set the levels for each type of surround sound combination separately, so you can have your subwoofer tuned optimally for music and movies separately without any manual adjustments at the time of playback. You can also set DD, DTS, Pro-Logic, Logic7, etc. separately, so you truly have a lot of control over how the speakers sound with different sources. It also has the ability for one-touch calibration, which will set all the speaker levels at the touch of a button automatically based on the SLP meter in the remote!!! How cool is that!

To conclude, if you want tons of gadgets and toys on your receiver, go buy a Sony or something else. But if you want the best sound quality in the business, good looks (in my opinion - some think it's ugly), and simplicity of use, you can't beat Harman Kardon!

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood, Sony, Yamaha

Clean sound,looks,power

Remote

This is my first a/v receiver with dolby digital and dts. The sound is incredible. I have it matched to the energy take5 with the 8"sub. I never knew home theater could sound this good. Considered the Denon 1801, but it was going to be backorder for several weeks, bought the H/K on recommendation from Eric at SoundDistributors.com. I'm glad I bought it. The remote doesn't work with my vcr but works with my Toshiba tv and Toshiba dvd player. On screen menu is very nice. It is a good size receiver compared to my old one, but I love the looks. Setup was very easy. This is by far the nicest piece of equipment I've ever owned.

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replaces my 11 year old sony str av910