Harman Kardon AVR7200 A/V Receivers

Harman Kardon AVR7200 A/V Receivers 

DESCRIPTION

The AVR 7200's seven-channel, high-current, ultrawide-bandwidth amplifier is the most powerful ever in a Harman Kardon receiver. A comprehensive bass management system with Triple Crossover selection makes certain that low-frequency sound goes to the right place no matter what type of speakers you own or input you use, including DVD-Audio or SACD. Multiroom options range from assignable rear-channel amplifiers to an A-BUS Ready port, which allows complete remote-room control and amplification with only one Cat. 5 wire connection. A preprogrammed remote with an LCD display and EzSetâ„¢, an RS-232 port and a complete range of surround processing options all contribute to the AVR 7200's spectacular music and home theater performance.

USER REVIEWS

Showing 11-20 of 34  
[Nov 10, 2005]
J2phat4u
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Strong power, maybe too much for some.. Bass management system is outstanding Brings out the best in my Bose speakers for sure...

Weakness:

none noted

I have had this receiver now for well over a year and to be honest it is the best receiver i have listened to in my years of audio. When i first received it i could not believe how big it was. I opened the box and could not wait to set it up. I am running this receiver with Bose 701's up front, Bose VCS10 center channel, Bose 301's for surround and Bose AM5 for rear surround. I also am running a JBL PB10 subwoofer with this set up but just 4 days ago purchased a SVS 20-39 PCI and cant wait for it to arrive. I have a Pioneer Mini Disc player and Harman Kardon DVD22 and CDR31. All components are connected via Monster Cable which really brings more sound out of the system. I powered up the system and put U571 DVD on and i was blown away with how loud and clean this receiver was. I mean i did not even dial up alot of volume but it was so loud and the bass was mind boggling. I took my time and went through the set up portion to make sure everything was correct. In 2 channel stereo or 7 channel stereo this receiver gets it done. I invite friends over all the time just to let tem feel and wow about this receiver. If you are in the market for a receiver trust me you will not be disappointed with buying this beast. If you live in an apartment be careful because you will not be able to run this receiver full tilt without the police coming. A few years ago i had a friend that talked about Harman Kardon all the time and how good they were. Well i am convinced he was dead on and i thank him for opening my eyes. The 7300 is the new kid on the block and i dont know much about it but if you find one of these babies get it, its worth it.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo 575X JVC 5010 Kenwood

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jul 05, 2004]
jon655
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Excellent faithful sound repro. Amazing value on remaining units. Remote should lock into sub-modes indefinitely.

Weakness:

No fans so it realy is a room heater. Not a true weakness but it may be too powerful for small or neighbour sensitive installations (remember, early rock bands didn't have .7k watts to play with!) A (true) fifty watt per channel unit may be a wiser choice.

I've owned the HK AVR 7200 about four months now and couldn't be happier with my purchase. My previous set-up was only one step up from HTIB but since buying this unit the HT bug has realy bitten as has my bank manager! If I have a problem with the 7200 it's only that it may posses too much power and dynamic range for an appartment dweller like me. Case in point, take a reference DVD like Master and Commander. By the time you get the dialouge up to a reasonable level special effects like the cannons just rip through the room sounding almost as loud as the real thing. There are Dolby compression modes available on the 7200 but it's almost a sin to not let an amp like this breathe. I read (though can hardly believe) that some listeners found this AVR to be bass "light". Well perhaps they play bass guitar in a roots reggae band through a stack of JBL 18"s or something cause this amp has enough bass power to shake my building. I suspect the real problem here is the clarity of the HK's bass output. Lesser receivers with weaker power supplies will compress (crush) bass signals giving an impression of increased loudness but then you're realy hearing distortion not true bass amplification. A sure test is to set your amp at comfortable listening levels and see how far the bass travels through your own home. I find that even on comparitively light settings I can still feel and hear the bass clearly in my bathroom! Movies sound better than anything I've ever heard in my local cineplex and speaker matching is a breeze thanks to the excellent bass management capabilities of the unit. In fact even using speakers of varying impedance (L+R 4 ohms centre + surrounds 8 ohms) matching is seamless and transparent. My Vishorn VT-88 towers have built in 10 subs so apart from a very low 80hz cut on the centre channel (bass guitars and cellos sounded a little "thrummy" and overbloomed with both the towers and the center outputing full frequency) I haven't realy had to do too much management. It's there if you nedd it especially if you use the more common sub-sattelite format. As far as music is concerned. I'm a pro musician/composer/producer so perhaps a little less emotional about the whole subject of reproduction systems. All I can say is that, apart from a little softening of the excessive dryness and pinpoint imaging I hear in studio monitors, my own mixes sound almost identical on this set up as they do in the studio. I find Dolby Pro Logic II best for TV matrix surround sources. For music I initially went with DTS neo6 which is very sparkling and has a big "Wow!" factor but I'm now being drawn to the more subtle character that Logic 7 offers. There's only a hair in it and, to be honest, both formats enhance stereo sources without the awfull processed gunge those Hall and Theatre modes output. I hate phoney sounding DSP and let's be frank, who needs it? Basic stereo on this amp is far from basic on this unit. The amp soundstages superbly with both great depth and height. On a couple of occasions I've checked to see which DSP mode I've selected only to find I'm running pure stereo!! Can't realy add much to that. The HK 7200 simply does what it's supposed to do. It amplifies 7 channels of source input at around 100 watts per channel simultaneously which, aside from some other behemoths like Arcam's AVR300 and Sony's upcoming RX-Z9, very few AVRs can truly accomplish. This is near "separates" quality in one box and at a discounted price which is simply astonishing. I may never need another amplification device. The updated 7300 (if it EVER comes out) offers composite to component upscaling but I'm going to be purchasing a Samsung DVDHD941 as soon as available so I'll be running that direct to my monitor's DVI input. So no great loss there. Plus the 7300's 2 grand (at least for now!) Oh! the remote in itself is fine but universal use is compromised by a very short lock time in other modes (5 seconds if no commands input). A tad tricky after a beer or two! I did experience the infamous volume spike once but it's never happened since.

Similar Products Used:

Various pro and semi-pro power amplifiers.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[May 13, 2004]
Reticuli
AudioPhile

Strength:

Truly high current design. Biamping capability. Deep bass. Great imaging. Near perfect 2 channel fold down. HDCD. Front inputs can be switched to outputs for using the 7200 as an A/D converter. Toroidal power supply. Massive heat sinks. Heavy at 61 pounds.

Weakness:

Tiny buttons on the remote. No included second room IR receiver. Poor radio reception. Can't upconvert video to component out. No on screen display through component outs. Quirky when it comes to enacting the settings you tell it. Hot. Heavy.

That's $786 shipped brand new. Extremely finicky at first. Many of the settings would not take hold until the unit was unplugged. Before it sounded strained, undynamic, and slightly distorted. It turns out all the inputs were at max, which is why the volume wouldn't go above 0dB. The input DAC's are not fantastic, but the output DAC's are quite nice. Either use the direct 6/8 inputs or have it do the decoding for you. Don't input analog into it and then try to do bass management. The unit unfortunately does not have DTS 24/96, as some websites claimed. The bass management is pretty much as good as it gets in the hi-fi world. Stereo folddown from multichannel is the best I've ever seen. My Pioneer DV-655A PX drops the LFE channel in Dolby Digital, cancels all out of phase signal in the rear channels, and makes in phase rear information out of phase. Very weird. Other players and receivers do other strange things, since automatic fold down is a bit tricky. The Pioneer's Virtual Surround mode fixes this a little, but makes things too phazy, slightly suppressing in phase material and pushing diffuse material towards the sides. The HK doesn't quite have the tightness, control, neutrality, or smoothness of the Pioneer, but it gets the fold down right and pulls out more texturing to the mids and lows than the Pioneer does, giving it an ulta-cinematic quality. Imaging on DVD's is truly 3D, even with just two speakers, creating a physical presence in your listening room. I'm using NHT ST4's that are about 83dB/W. At the loudest I ever crank them, I still have 10-15dB on the volume setting left to turn it up. That's pretty amazing. My neighbors have started complaining for the first time ever. That's a good sign.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Apr 23, 2004]
andrus
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Power, soundquality, One of the few receivers with Toroid transformer, 7.1 capability. On board DAC that can decode MP3 streams or any Digital steams. Autodetect digital In.

Weakness:

Needs excellent ventilation; gets extremely HOT. It draws/needs so much current, it reaches full power after 5 mins of initial cold turn on.

Bass is not lacking. This receiver's meant to be used with a subwoofer and who doesn't have subs in their HT setup these days anyway? As for the other guy, who has florscent lights in their living rooms? You live in a science lab or what? Either that or you must have sat on your remote. Like the other guy said about sound quality, It's the first receiver(literally) that i ACTUALLy want to hurry up, come home and listen to it. It makes my paradigms SING! This receiver really shines when decoding DTS signals OMG GLadiator!

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Apr 15, 2004]
ti97
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Power, performance, features, versatility with x-overs, value.

Weakness:

Sensitivity to fluorescent lighting. Audio drop out with digital signals (try playing a CD using digital out, and you'll know what I mean...the first second or so of each track does not play as the receiver is trying lock on to the digital stream)

I am writing this review as an update to the previous post. HK support finally got back to me regarding the issue of the volume suddenly cranking itself on. Apparently, the receiver is known to have IR sensitivity problems to fluorescent lighting, and indeed I do have a fluorescent light bulb in the same room as the AVR7200. For those who doubt what I am saying and think I'm making this problem up, there are many other documented cases of the same problem on the AVS forum as well as the Home Theater Spot forum. You should go and check it out yourself. So far, the problem has not repeated itself. I might just replace the lighting system in the room to solve the problem. But other than that, the receiver has been rocking. I just learned that if you are only using 5.1 and have the 2 back surround channels free, you can use them to biamp your front channels. If anybody would like to know how, just PM me. For all the features and performance this receiver delivers at its price point, I would love to give it a 5 but will only rate it 4 due to issues with fluorescent lights.

Similar Products Used:

Denon 3803, 2803, 1804

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Apr 03, 2004]
ti97
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Very powerful receiver. No receiver in its price range could even come close to touching the amp section of the AVR 7200. Extremely flexible cross-over options.

Weakness:

Has a mind of its own. Will suddenly without notice crank the volume all the way up unless you turn it off. Could use more digital inputs. No gold plated connectors, but that's not a big issue. Bass seems to be lacking with my speakers (Polk Audio RTi150, which supposedly goes down to 26 Hz) but it may be just because I need to break them in.

I've only had this receiver for 2 months, so I won't go into too many details about the positives until I have more experience with it. There are already plenty of other reviewers who can furnish that aspect. However, I will write about a bad experience last night for the benefit of prospective buyers. I was listening to music at a very low level (-55 or so) when all of a sudden, the receiver's volume automatically and very quickly cranked itself up. It scared the h*ll out of me. I live in an apartment complex, and having a full set of speakers blasting at full volume at 1:30 AM would certainly warrant very angry neighbors knocking on the door. I ran towards the receiver tried to turn the volume down with the control knob, but it didn't respond! Luckily I turned it off in time before any speaker damage could take place. I've read about this phenomenon in some older HK model, but had expected this problem to be fixed by this model. I have already written to HK support, and hopefully they will get back to me on a fix to this. It's just very disturbing to have an otherwise very fine piece of equipment acting like this. Hopefully it was just some freak incidence and will not repeat itself. I'll post another review once I get some respond from HK support, if any.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR 3803, 3802, 2803, 1804

OVERALL
RATING
2
VALUE
RATING
3
[Mar 30, 2004]
74cuda
AudioPhile

Strength:

Great build,heavy,big.

Weakness:

other than lagging technology,the pre/pro is very poor,almost unlistenable for 2 ch music,Rock anyhow.

WOW,what a great looking avr,inside anyway.I thought this would be the best deal ever,WRONG,it only looked like a good deal.This avr is recomended all over the net,I now know never buy before you listen.The music this thing made was almost the worst I've ever heard,even though it did have plenty of power.Dvda,sacd and even 5.1 concerts were also terrible,I was almost in disbelief that anything w/this rating could be so disapointing.I did end up w/ a great avr that satifies my musical needs at a slightly increased($1200) price,but well worth it compared to the $300 avr sound I heard from the 7200 pre/pro.Again the amps looked and sounded competent,only the pre/pro was my complaint.You'll see plenty of these for sale cause they're too big,nah,just no one wants to dogg a unit they want to sell or have sold.If you own it please don't be offended,its only my opinion,if your looking to buy,listen first unless musicality is not important.

Similar Products Used:

Denon 3802/3/05(best 1k}, Pioneer 53tx,55txi,Yamaha 2400,HK 630(better than 7200)And the one I kept Rotel 1056.

OVERALL
RATING
2
VALUE
RATING
3
[Mar 30, 2004]
dlpfan
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Sweet warm sound. Make mediocore speakers sound good.

Weakness:

HEAVY, and the depth is 21". Most recievers are 16"-17"

Bought this reciever as I had heard about the warm sound of H/K amps. I originally had an Onkyo NR800 and a Denon 4802R and they made my Infinity and Polk speakers shrill. I could not stand it anymore, so I ordered one from JandR. This reciever made the Infinty and Polk speakers sound good. Have since replaced those with Axiom audio speakers and let me tell you what a sweet combination it is. I actually look forward to coming home to listen to music and that's saying a lot since I have a great car audio system.

Similar Products Used:

Denon, Onkyo

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Mar 14, 2004]
andrus
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Toroid transformer? clean tight control on the speakers and bass. Other stuff i need to discover.

Weakness:

Needs good ventilation. HEAVY. LONG. TALL. Rather cheesy / cheap looking face plate. Connections out the back are not gold plated.

Made in China, ugh. But oh well it was 55% OFF! Clearance i guess for newer models. And the kicker is newer models look kinda cheesy too. Anyway who cares about looks. Let's talk about how it sounds. It sounds good. I can't tell if it's better than other receivers coz i've never had any before this. I couldn't audition others @ Fry's either coz Fry's computer joint and HT stuff were just sitting in the back burner way in the back corner of their HUGE store. It does seem to have good power. I'd say around 75 REAL watts=rms that's plenty enough for any person. Sounds quality wise ehh... I hear slightly more details in the movie. VOices are very clear. Bass control is excellent. Two channel audio is very good.

Similar Products Used:

none.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
4
[Jan 24, 2004]
killjoy
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Ease of use, Well layed out back panel. Pure music through the whole vol dial.

Weakness:

Its tuner isn't as sensitive as it should be for its class.

Had it about 2 weeks and can't be more happy! So far only got it set up as 5.1(speaker package)hows its power and class with ease. Can't wait to get a nice set of floor standings for it i have no dought it will drive them with ease.

Similar Products Used:

First truelly "good" reciver

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 11-20 of 34  

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