Harman Kardon AVR 247 Home Theater Receiver w/ HDMI connectivity

by Harman Kardon

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 15 x 17.3 x 6.6 inches ; 30 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 33 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B000N81BPC
• Item model number: AVR 247
• Batteries: 2 AA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,455 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
  • #94 in Electronics > Televisions & Video > AV Receivers & Amplifiers

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Harman Kardon's AVR-247 receiver incorporates a number of genuine engineering breakthroughs. These include innovative iPod connectivity and HDTV and multi-room capabilities to take audio/video receiver design to new levels of performance and functionality. It features an exclusive iPod interface that, with a compatible iPod connected via The Bridge (Harmon Kardon's optional iPod docking station), displays menus on a connected TV or video display and the receiver's front panel display. The iPod can also be operated via the receiver's remote control. It pumps 50 Watts of power through each of its 7 channels, employing Logic 7 processing and EzSet/EQ technology to ensure that you always have crisp Dolby Digital audio. The AVR-247 also allows you to upscale incoming analog video signals to high-resolution 720p output.

Product Description

Harman/kardon avr 247 7.1-channel a/v receiver with hdmi 7 x 50w high current ultra wide amp; two-input hdmi switching; faroudja video processing upconverts standard video to 720p;ez set eq with microphone included for room equalization;xm-compatible; incoming video is transcoded to component video, & audio is processed with multiple surround moddes;compatible with the bridge; 7.1-channel a/v receiver with hdmi.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great midrange receiver, July 16, 2007

By 

P. Werdel "prw" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Harman Kardon AVR 247 Home Theater Receiver w/ HDMI connectivity (Electronics)

Great sound and power to burn, even at 50w per channel. Harman Kardon is well known for their marriage of tone and power, and this receiver delivers on that promise. Bright and distinct high end, clear and robust mids, and punchy, clean bass. Most of the lower rated reviews here knock the user friendliness of the receiver. But people, don't leave the comfortable confines of entry-level receivers unless you're willing to spend some time learning to operate your purchase. Very happy with this receiver. Sounds great. Looks sharp too.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quality component all around, May 11, 2007

By 

C. Gould (Northest Arkansas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Harman Kardon AVR 247 Home Theater Receiver w/ HDMI connectivity (Electronics)

I bought this receiver around a couple of weeks ago from Best Buy for $475. I had purchased the Yamaha HTR-5940 earlier, and returned it in order to purchase this.

Sound. I'm no audiophile, but I could tell a clear difference between the sound quality of this receiver and the Yamaha. The sound from the H/K is very clean, clear sounding without being too "bright" (if I'm using the term correctly). Really fantastic sounding. Extremely happy with this part of my purchase. One downside that I'm told exists is that it does not boost LFE when processing 7.1 channel PCM.

Video Processing. One of the reasons I purchased this receiver was the HDMI capabilities. It deinterlaces and scales 480i/480p/720p from HDMI/Component/Composite/S-Video to your choice of 480p/720p. It uses Faroudja DVDi technology and does a good job with it. It will also pass-through 1080i/p signals from HDMI. I'm no videophile, but from what I can tell it does a better job processing video than my display (Panasonic TH50PHD8UK) or my cable box (Motorola DCT6416 III). On the downside, you do have to make sure you set it such that there is minimal "re-processing" of video (e.g. if you have your DVD player upconvert the video signal, either go 480i/p [i if you can, p if you have to] or 1080i/p). Also, you can't pass-through video via HDMI to let your display do the video processing unless you send a 1080i/p signal.

Hook-ups. This machine has loads of connects for composite/component/S-video. It has two HDMI inputs and one output. One more input would have been nice, but I'm getting a switcher to address that issue.

Set-up. It has an auto setup program that uses a microphone that you set in your viewing/listening postion. Really does a great job of calibrating your speakers to the position. The OSD is awesome and I like the remote well enough.

Build. To the uninformed, it appears to be a very high quality build. Everything seems tight.

Overall. I'm extremely happy with this machine at this price. It more than amply meets my needs and the sound quality is really superb. My only two complaints are the lack of ability to pass-through <1080 video signal and the lack of an LFE boost via HDMI 7.1 PCM. However, both of these issues are fixable via firmware, and I'm optimistic that they will be addressed. I spent a lot of time researching Pioneer, Onkyo, Denon, Yamaha and Sony (after I bought the first Yamaha and before I bought the H/K) and felt as though this represented the best value within my <$600 price range.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars receiver switches from surround sound to stereo mode, July 10, 2007

By 

Ronald Sudjian "rons" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Harman Kardon AVR 247 Home Theater Receiver w/ HDMI connectivity (Electronics)

This receiver appears to everything except one thing. If you have a dvd
playing with digital audio coming in and somehow the audio content is
disrupted such as:
1. program going from title to start of movie.
2. a pause in dvd player (doorbell rings, etc)
3. a stop in dvd player.
4. a layer switch

The surround sound is switched off. You have to manually turn it on using
the On-Screen Display menu or cycle through the remote buttons. This is
unacceptable for a product of this price tag. Other negatives are:
1. The website contact is a whimpy little box with 25 characters across.
2. There is 1-800 number for Canada but not for the US.

I did get a response from their support. They said to try a power off
reset and/or front panel switch reset. Did not fix the problem. I noticed
some other strange behavior in the audio connection type switching from
coaxial to analog on the On-Screen Display menu. All the receivers in the
HK product line are likely to have this problem but I cannot be certain.
You have to do your own test.

Be warned that these receivers (and I bet all models do this) run real hot
They should not be stuffed into tight fitting cabinets. I would bet
that the higher powered models run hotter than the lower power units.

At this time I am ready to return the box if I don't get a response for
how to resolve the problem. I will not do any more Quality Assurance work
for HK any more. And why would Amazon want to keep a product for sale
that has issues which prompt returns. I will try to update the review if
anything changes.

7/11/2007
I returned the receiver and re-purchased the same model. The second unit
works like the manual states. It works great. I know the first unit was
a problem and it is going back to HK. If HK would get a 800 number for the
US people wouldn't have such a hard time using their products. In fairness
to HK I would rate the second unit 4 or 5 stars. If somebody at amazon
could bump up the review from 2 stars for the first unit to 4 or 5 stars
for the second unit that would be nice.