Harman Kardan advice needed!!!

[drew spelts]

I am brand new to this site but the people on here seem very helpfull and not snooty like alot of other sites I was looking at. This week a friend of mine offered me an iresistable deal. I can buy any Harman Kardan receiver through him that Circuit City sells, for 65% off their price. I have a Sony STR-DE 995 receiver that I have been using for about 2 years now in a 5.1 setup. I have Cerwin Vegas all around that I plan on replacing entirely with Polks. I believe the sound is "ok" but it definately does not make my jaw drop. I will be using it in a 15' X 15' room and 75% movies 25% Stereo. I will eventually acompany this receiver with a pair of RTi12's because the reviews from everyone on this site are enough to sell me withought even listening. Dont wory about amplification on the 12's because I will use the unbalanced pre-outs to a sunfire 300 to power them. I have looked at all the information I can find online and believe that the HK AVR-635 is a good match for me because of the price and variable setups along with auto setup and pre-outs to just list a few goodies. I am mostly concerned with the quality of sound this unit produces because I do not want to upgrade for at least 5 years hopefully 10 and I just want to be happy with how it sounds. I was previously looking at the pioneer 1015 untill this offer and figured that the Harman will sound better. I do not have the option to go and listen to them side by side.

I am asking for advice between HK and pioneer for my use.

I also am looking for what model you guys recomend of HK because I am prety dead set on getting one with my discount and I do not want one below the 635 due to any lower wattage.

And Finally I am asking HK owners how satisfied they are because like I said earlier the sony I have sucks and I dont want to buy another receiver for quite a while. Thank you.

[PolknPepsi]

Hi Drew,
65% off the Hk should make it a great price and the Sunfire 300 is a nice amp too. Looks like you are on the right road to audio satisfaction.

Welcome to the Polk Forum...

[aaharvel]

Welcome to the forums Drew. You will be thrilled with the Harman Kardon/Polk combination. Don't worry about the lower wattage~ as Harman Kardon rates their receivers conservatively with all channels driven simultaneously between the entire 20hz-20khz range. (Sony's 110 watts means nothing b/c it's one channel at a time driven at 1khz~in actuality it's pushing about 25-30watts per channel.)

I am thrilled with my H/K. I'll keep it forever. Before buying I directly compared Harman Kardon, Marantz, Denon, Onkyo, and Sony ES. The Harman Kardon beat them all hands down~ especially for 2ch. music playback.

Also, you'll really appreciate Logic-7. It's great technology that was invented and is utilized in high end Lexicon gear and imo it's GREAT for analog sources.

[cfrizz]

Welcome to the club Drew!

Well you have done a good job of researching all the info that you need. I'm sure a few HK owners will come along to answer the HK questions.

If you can take some of your favorite music (that you know real well) to listen to on the HK that you want to get you should be able to determine pretty quickly if it sounds better than your Sony & if you can be happy with it for several years!

[ND13]

If you're going to use a seperate amp, you might want to go with the 235 or 435 and use the savings to buy better speakers as your surrounds, center(s), and sub.

Welcome to CP and good luck in your endeavor. You are moving in the right direction, btw.

Also, I believe you'd have to step into the realm of Pioneer Elite to really compare with the HKs, again, just my opinion. I've never owned a piece of HK gear that I wasn't completely satisfied with.

[aaharvel]

If you're going to use a seperate amp, you might want to go with the 235

excellent advice. They'll all sound the same in pre-amp mode anyway. I'd get the cheapest one with pre-outs: this being the 235 and now the brand new model the 240. The only difference I see between the two is some sort of I-Pod Bridge compatability that only Harman Kardon uses. The amps, channels, processing- all identical. With the 235 (or any of the series) on closeout PLUS your employee discount, you should be able to get a really sick deal.

[drew spelts]

Well the seperate sunfire amp will only be hooked up to the harman via the pre-outs only for the front Left and Right channels. I believe that the rest of the Harman will be used to power all the other speakers in the 5.1 setup. I am kinda leaning toward RTi8's as the rear surrounds and they definately have to be towers but definately do not need any subs as I understand the RTi12's will produce plenty of base with a nice seperate amp.

[Schris22]

It is true that rti 12's will produce pretty low bass but now matter what for movies it's almost a requirement for a decent sub. Playing those sub frequencies will require plenty of power which will take some strain off the sunfire. This should clean up the bass as well. Looking at the specs it dips into 18 but for +-3 it is at 30. That great movie explosion or LFE down to about 20 or less won't be as evident.

Since you're watching so many movies is the reason. Get bookshelves for the rear and put money into a sub and I doubt you'll regret it.

SVS and HSU is what people will recommend and not polk subs though I have no experience with any.

Chris

[2+2]

Welcome Drew...I have never heard the new Rti series with an HK but I would bet it would sound very very nice....Rtis will likely balance out the warm sound of the HK. If you decide to go LSi, I would suggest a slightly less warm receiver unless you really, I mean really, like lush, laid back type of sound....best of luck..

[Dennis Gardner]

Listen more, read less.................and learn to read between the lines.
Get a sub.
Buy wisely. The 65% is less important than good sound.
Get a sub.
Towers aren't really required for great theater sound.
Get a sub.
Separate amps are a waste in a 15X15 room. IMO.
Get a sub.
65% off makes HK even better.
Get a sub.
Polks are a good choice too.
Get a sub.
Great sound with poor video is a waste of $$$.
Get a sub.

[cfrizz]

ROFLMAO!!!! Gee Dennis, what are you trying to tell him! :D

[Dennis Gardner]

He reads good and retains good advice, I just thought he missed something along the way.

He gets it that towers deserve power & HK and Polk are solid together. I'm kinda surprised that he didn't add a tube preamp and thick power cords to his list of must haves. :D

Honestly Drew, welcome to ClubPolk, and stick around to let us know what you spent your $$$ on. Oh and BTW, nothing you buy today except speakers will be relevant to HT in 10 years. Dolby pro-logic and VHS are dead, they were the only choices 10 years ago.

[drew spelts]

You guys have been even more helpfull than I imagined. The reason for the sunfire amp will largely be for when I work out at home my work out area is on the other side of the house and I like to really romp on the Hard Rock. The second reason is that I heard that the RTi12's are very power hungry. Everyone says great speakers sound like crap when obviously underpowered. I plan on getting a velodine (I believe the DPS 15 whatever the one is that comes with a mic and is electronically tunable on your TV!) Sub in the future when I have a larger area to spread in to and possibly expand to 7.1. But for now the speakers and receiver and sunfire amp will cost me about 3,000 I am guessing. But I will be able to earn back $600 at the very least by selling all my old stuff to a few friends and Ebay. I LOVE HT and this hobby keeps me out of trouble by staying buisy. Buisy earning money that is LOL!

[BIZILL]

i work out in my garage and my system is plenty loud to hear every single musical tone through the turns through passageways from my ht room to the garage. if you research more you'll find what i did. i, too, wanted the rti12's. did my research and found the rti10's or rti8's to be a better route to choose, so long as you combine them all with a good sub. even rti6's all the way around would probably sound great paired with a good sub. or heck, get the rti12's, sunfire amp and a good sub and never friggin' ever look back. well, at least not until you can get some lsi's for 65% off retail.

[BIZILL]

btw, i just pump my local rock station in 7 channel stereo. sounds super-sweet!

[Holydoc]

Can't wait to hear what you finally decide to purchase. I have the RTi12's with an amp to push them and really love them. I could not be happier with my HT system.

Oh... but I have a sub. *wink*

[drew spelts]

BIZILL, I see you use the HARMAN/KARDON AVR7300. I read a review stating that the fan on that guy was a little loud for many consumers. Do you find it loud at all and what promted you to go all the way up to the 7300 instead of a slightly smaller receiver say the 635?

[Ron Temple]

Probably Frys $999... :D

[BIZILL]

BIZILL, I see you use the HARMAN/KARDON AVR7300. I read a review stating that the fan on that guy was a little loud for many consumers. Do you find it loud at all and what promted you to go all the way up to the 7300 instead of a slightly smaller receiver say the 635?

got a refurb from ebay and harman with factory warranty. had issues and they replaced with a brand new unit! fan is a bit loud. but nothing i even notice anymore. it's only audible when there is complete silence in the room. even ambient noises such as a ceiling fan on its lowest setting conceal the noise. fans make sense to me. i went all the way up to the 7300 cause i wanted a good component switcher to connect all my devices to the tv and switch between them with the push of a button. also i knew i was not man enough to buy separate amps to push many sets of speaks. i wanted a powerful enough receiver to simplify things for a 7.1 setup. it powers all my speaks quite easily.