The Harman Kardon AVR 325 is GREAT and made for HDTV!
Written: Nov 22 '02 (Updated Feb 01 '03)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Sound: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
|
|
|
Pros: A beautiful crystal clear sound with up to seven speakers and a subwoofer!
Cons: The Price!
The Bottom Line: This receiver is perfect for the person wanting a great sound for a Home Theater System!
|
|
|
| surferdude7's Full Review: harman/kardon AVR 325 7.1 Channels Receiver |
A powerful receiver made for seven speakers and a subwoofer with two remote controls! This receiver is loaded with all kinds of digital and matrix surround sounds. It incorporates MP3 decoding for use with your computer or a digital audio player. It has high-bandwidth, HDTV compatible component video switching. The AVR 325 lets you preset up to 30 AM/FM stations.
This beauty is made for the Home Theater System with the choice of a 5.1 system or 7.1 system. A 5.1 system consists of three satellite speakers up front, a left, right and center speaker plus a left and right rear speaker and one subwoofer. The 7.1 system adds two more speakers made to go in the center of the room, one on the left side and one on the right side. Now you have a surround sound that is truly surround sound.
The Remotes
The main remote is a programmable remote for programming in your TV, DVD player, CD player, Satellite Dish, cable box and more. This is a very impressive programmable remote because it is made to control everything in a Home Theater System. The buttons are of fair size and the layout is nice but there are a lot of buttons to learn. This remote can be programmed in by the codes listed in the manual or it can learn your code.
The second remote is a lot smaller and made for controlling the receiver from another room with the optional Multi-room IR Input. This is handy if you only run a 5.1 system for your Home Theater then you can place two speakers in another room for stereo sound away from the receiver. This remote has the basic functions for the receiver and I find it helpful since I use the TV remote for most applications.
The Connections
The back of the receiver will blow your mind with so many connections. I counted 84 connections plus one switched AC plug and one un-switched AC plug. With so many connections it can get confusing so follow the instructions closely and you will be able to make all of the connections.
Some of the pluses are seven direct speaker connections, a lot of receivers are 7.1 ready meaning you usually have to purchase a separate amplifier to run the additional two speakers. Other great pluses are two digital optical ins, one digital optical out, two digital coaxial ins and one digital coaxial out. Plus three S-video out connections, three S-video in connections and one S-video monitor out connection.
The Harman Kardon AVR 325 also has a subwoofer out, preamps out, RS-262 port, A-BUS Connector and AM/FM connectors.
In the front you have three RCA inputs, one for video, two for audio and an S-Video input.
There is a built-in exhaust fan in the rear that doesn’t turn on until the receiver starts producing a lot of heat and it will!
Setting up the Speakers
Using the on-screen menu through the TV allows you to setup the speakers for distance and sound.
For distance you need to place in is how far each speaker is from each other and where you will be sitting the most. This will let the receiver know how to adjust the proper sound for your room.
Now setting up your speakers for sound you need to use the Small speakers if you are using satellite speakers and the Large speakers if you are using larger speakers. Now you can set each speaker and the subwoofer to its own db setting. My personal preference is to set the center speaker at 10db because this is where the voices come from and the rest of the speakers at 8db making sure that I can hear what they are saying out of the center speaker. The rest of the speakers are for sound effects and music, though you will hear some voices through them sometimes, but the main voices and speech comes through the center speaker. Now the subwoofer I also set at 10db to get the maximum out of it and I can also control the subwoofer manually at the subwoofer.
EzSet
You can let the receiver automatically setup the speakers with EzSet. The receiver checks the output levels of the speakers and makes necessary adjustments as needed. I personally like it the manual way like I described in setting up the speakers.
The Surround Sound
This is a 7.1 sound system but it is not THX surround sound. You can use 7.1 in Dolby Digital EX, DTS-EX Matrix & Discrete and a 7-channel stereo. You can also use a 7.1 speaker setup with an exclusive Harman Kardon Logic 7 in Cinema, Music and Enhanced.
Other surround sound formats are, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, DTS Neo 6 Cinema & Music, Dolby Pro Logic II for Movies, Music & Emulation, Dolby Stereo 3 and a 5-Channel Stereo.
The receiver will automatically pick up the proper surround sound like Dolby Digital 5.1, EX, DTS and so on. You can also set each one up manually, they will only work if it was made for that sound. On DVD movies that are Dolby Digital and DTS I found that I would have to go to the DVD setup and set it on DTS and then the receiver picks it up automatically.
Dual Zone!
The Harman Kardon AVR 325 provides you a second remote to set up a 5.1 sound system in your main room and set the other two speakers up to hear a different source. This can be handy if one room is set up for a Home Theater System and the other room you just need two speakers for you music listing from the tuner or a CD player.
Even though they provided the extra remote, you still have to purchase the optional Multi-room IR Input to use it.
MP3
For computers and MP3 players that have an optical or digital coaxial connection, it easy to play your MP3 files through the receiver. I don’t have an MP3 player and my computer doesn’t have the connection so I haven’t tried this yet. I bet the MP3 files sound great through a 5.1 or 7.1 system.
Now Harmon Kardon offers the DAL 150 Digital Audio Transcoder to convert digital signals from a USB output to a coaxial digital output if your MP3 Player or Computer doesn't have an optical or digital coaxial connection but, the playback this way is in 2-Channel stereo.
My Final Words
The Harman Kardon AVR 325 is a video & audio receiver but I use mine only for audio. The reasons being, first of all when you run all of your video connections through the receiver first could possibly give you some signal loss. Second reason is we use the receiver mainly when watching movies from the DVD player or satellite dish, when watching regular TV programming the TV has plenty of sound.
In a 5.1 sound system the AVR 325 puts out 65 watts of power per channel, this was a little scary when making the decision on buying the receiver because my 5-year-old Kenwood produced 120 watts per channel. I can honestly tell you that the new receiver is just as loud as the old one. My old receiver could be cranked wide open and it sounded good but did get a little distorted after about 85% of the volume was up. The Harman Kardon AVR 325 can be cranked wide open on the volume and it is crystal clear, no distortion at all! In a 7.1 setup the receiver puts out 50 watt per speaker.
I must say that this receiver has made the sound so much better than my old Kenwood receiver. I couldn’t believe in the clarity and the way the sound was distributed more evenly than before.
The AVR 325 had a retail price of $799 at the store but I got it for $700, which may seem high but remember I saved a couple of hundred dollars by not having to purchase a separate amplifier to run the additional two speakers.
I haven’t added the two additional speakers yet so I haven’t experienced the 7.1 sound yet but, it is coming soon!
Harman Kardon has got it right with the AVR 325, I love mine and Highly Recommend it.
Here are some of my other reviews!
Thank You for Reading Them!
JBL 12" Powerbass Subwoofer
Advent Wireless Indoor-Outdoor Speaker
Advent AW770 900MHz Wireless Headphones
Onkyo TX DS787 Surround Sound AV receiver
Sony XM Satellite Radio Receiver Home Package
Polk DS7200 Home Theater System
Harman/Kardon AVR 520 Surround Sound AV Receiver
Kenwood VR 4080 Surround Sound AV receiver
Things to know before Buying a New Receiver!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 700
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
surferdude7
|
 - Top 10 |
|
Location: Elizabethtown, Ky.
Reviews written: 374
Trusted by: 1168 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.