Customer Reviews

Harman Kardon AVR 135 6.1 Channel Surround Sound Audio/Video Receiver

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Harman Kardon again amazes me with their quality products. Nothing else can give you the power or sound quality of an HK in this price range. This receiver is a high-current receiver, which means it sounds a lot more powerful than the wattage states. The speaker connectors on back, while maybe a little hard to get your fingers around, are designed so you get the best connection between the speaker and the receiver. Receivers where you just "push the wire into the connector" give you the poorest connection of anything on the market. This is a much higher-end way to build a receiver. I just cannot say enough good things. It even LOOKS cooler than other receivers, with blue lights on the front and volume knob.

This is a very complex receiver and definately not for the beginner that i am...i found it very diffucult to set up and had to ask a friend to come to my house and complete the process.
Very happy with the sound and the HK speakers.

This may seem like a strange selling feature, but I have a HTPC at home with a choice of 5.1 or 7.1 output. But my well tuned home theater speaker setup is 6.1. Obviously I didn't want to lose the back channel by going 5.1, but at the same time I didn't want to remount and reconfigure my system for 7.1.

Enter the AVR 135. It has 7.1 analog inputs (perfect for my 7.1 sound card), and it combines the SBL and SBR channels to one SB channel. At first I was a little apprehensive about such a configuration, but with numerous audio tests and a little calibration with my PC, it sounded quite well.

I've now owned this product for a year or so and it has served all of my needs. The only drag is that it's hooked up to an "all high def" system, and the on-screen display will only display to a standard def input (S-Video or Composite). The on-screen display is absolutely necessary for calibrating the speakers, but most High Def TVs have at least one legacy input ... you'll find yourself devoting it to the OSD for this device (which works perfectly fine).

I bought this receiver to go with my new Panasonic plasma TV and so far I'm pretty happy. Plenty of connections for all your AV equipment, including three digital inputs.

Two complaints:
- As mentioned by other reviewers, the speaker connections on the back are somewhat hard to get to.
- It takes the unit a few seconds to start up, which my Harmony univeral control doesn't like. After turning the AV135 on, the remote tries to switch the input, which the AV135 frequently ignores because it's still busy initializing.

The only thing that I was concerned about prior to purchasing this reciever is the low wattage rating...that went away as soon as i set it up. The Boston Accoustic tower speakers rock on. I love the reciever.

There isn't much to say about this receiver that hasn't already been said. But, it has to be one of the most efficient and fine tuned receivers regardless of the price. I have had many, many audio systems over the past 20 years and I know a thing or two about high quality sound, so believe me when I say that this receiver SOUNDS SUPERB! I'm using this unit on my secondary home theater system that I use when getting away from the wife for a while. It consists of five 2-way Bose speakers (not cubes) and a nice Polk Audio 12" powered subwoofer. I was using a year 2000 Pioneer Elite Dolby Digital 5.1 receiver up until now and I though it all sounded as good as it could... that is until I replaced the receiver with this Harman Kardon unit! The difference... oh the difference! It is like night and day. It truly sounds like the actors are standing in front of you speaking due to the clarity and crispness of the sound reproduction. The surround sound processing is excellent and the separation of the channels is perfect. I watched Iron Man on Bluray directly after setting up and calibrating the Harman Kardon unit and it was like I was watching it for the first time. I was on the edge of my seat and could still feel the explosions from even the front speakers. My main living room system consists of a $1000 Onkyo 7.1 receiver, $500 Klipsch powered subwoofer, and 7 larger Bose speakers... my Man Cave system with the Harman Kardon receiver and cheaper speakers easily sounds better at this point.

This was my first ever receiver and so it was overwhelming figuring it all out. Even as a novice I was able to set it up not once but twice, (I moved). The second time I had a more knowledge about the connections so it was way easier to set up. I agree that the connecting the speaker is hard, but I don't do it often so I didn't mind.

I am sure that the receiver can do way more than I use it for, but I am happy.It has so many sound options, which I don't use, but since the sound comes out good,I haven't tried to really figure it all out.

The unit has cable connections in the front, so I can easily connect my laptop, mp3 player,dvr as well as other electronic equipment. The lights on the front panel dims, so I can turn it down or off while watching a movie.

One thing I don't like is the remote doesn't light up, so using the remote during a movie is a small hassle. I love the macro function on the remote. I can turn on or off tv, dvd and amplifier by pressing one button, (there are four programmable macro button). This makes up for the lights missing on the remote.

The unit does get very hot, which makes me nervous, once it even shut off for a while. But that only happened once a year ago, now I keep it properly ventilated.

The speaker connections could be better. I like the Pioneer where you push the speaker wire into the connector. The connectors are too close together. It is hard to get your fingers into the area to work the wire.