Customer Reviews

Harman Kardon AVR 247 Home Theater Receiver w/ HDMI connectivity

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Best receiver I've owned - crisp sound with plenty of power. Bought my first HK amp in 1963, followed by a Fisher, Crown, and 2 Denon's. Our Klipsch surround sound gives remarkable detail from LP's, tapes, DVD's. The AM/FM tuner is much better than the Denon's.

The 247 offers a lot of features for the price. The setup is pretty easy. The on-screen menu makes things even easier. I had problems getting the on-screen to work with rca connections, but it came right up with hdmi. The microphone for the automatic speaker configuration is simple and works well. A real luxury. The receiver reads the signals and adjusts output to match. hdmi comes through in digital dolby and it sounds great. Music sounds great, but video does not work as well. I have my cable running thru to the television. For HD, it is fine, as the signal passes right thru to the tv, but for lower signals (480i, the current norm for broadcast and cable), the receiver tries to upconvert, which can sometimes leave artifacts and shadowing. Overall, I am very happy with the receiver. It looks as great as it sounds, but I may run my cable directly to the tv to avoid the video deficiencies of the HK upconversion.

I've had this AVR for a couple weeks now and I am quite happy. At the moment I am only using 2 JBL Stadium speakers (dual 8" woofers) and the sound coming out of them is amazing. I upgraded from a crappy all in one unit that was like 40w per speaker, so it's a big jump for me. I was tired of going over to my buddies houses and being blown away by their setups. I did a bit of research, knew my budge was $300 - $500 for a receiver and the AVR 247 just kept jumping out at me with all the features for the cost. The lower power rating (50W per channel) had me looking elsewhere at first, but after reading several reviews of Harmon\Kardon being great with lower wattages and tonal balance, so I decided to take the plunge into in my first receiver. I almost went with the AVR 146, but the little bit extra power, the bump up to 7.1 surround from 5.1 and the video upscaling from 480i to 720p with 1080i/1080p pass-through capability sold me on the AVR 247. After finding it for $400 on JR.com with free shipping, I couldn't say no! The many settings have been fun to play around with, though I'm currently waiting to complete my surround system... I'm saving to complete the 7.1 surround with 4 JBL Venue Arena (6" bookself woofers), 1 JBL Venue Voice Center and the 12" JBL Venue Subwoofer (all for about $600 on JR.com) and then top it off with a Samsung 46" 16x9 1080p T4661F LCD HDTV. I should have all this by christmas!

The onscreen menu is very nice, makes setup real easy, took me like 45min to get every plugged in and adjusted. I'm not sure what all these difficulties are that some of the other reviewers were having with the OSD, I found it to be a breeze. I will have to redo it when my other speakers come, but with the auto leveling microphone, it should be painless. It's nice you can rename the Vid1, Vid2, etc. to what you like, makes it much more personal. The remote is the only bummer, it's just like they put all the thought into the AVR (the important part) and just took a generic remote and slapped on their buttons and took no time to think about ergonomically designing it and maybe placing the more used buttons where the thumb can easily access. All in all I am happy and am anxiously awaiting my next few paychecks to expand this awesomeness going on in my living room!

The earliest reviews reflect a bug that was fixed by the manufacturer. This integrates your home theater and home audio very nicely.

The remote control is a bit overkill, but it can really pump out a lot of sound. I am using it with the HKTS 18 Audio speakers. I fear I would break the windows if I maxed this out.

Do some research, HK advertises a more true "watts per channel" than other mfrs and especially from the old days. You may think 50w sounds a tad weak, but it could fill a large house with more sound than you know what to do with. I have not tried the multi room feature.

Also, with HK, you can call and speak to a technician if you have questions and they are actually in the USA, and not some helpless automated person on a line overseas reading answers from a card. They know what they are doing and how to get you configured, even if the issue might be more related to your cable plan or another unrelated product

Bought this receiver despite the 3.5 star review, because i have had a Harmen Kardon before and loved it. I needed a receiver that would do HDMI sound and video, but i am on a budget. Only receivers brands that were possible were Onkyo, Yamaha, Sony, and then Harmen Kardon. I had a horrible experience with Onkyo CS took me 1.5 years to get my "Fixed receiver" back. So i didn't want to live with that again. Since my last Harman Kardon was so good i opted for another. At first was worried with the reviews with this one, (Only one in price range.) But i looked at the reviews on other websites and this is the lowest review it had compared to Cnet, and others. I just needed to make sure that it had all the right inputs on it. Found out it did so i started saving.

Arrived very fast thanks Amazon I hooked it up though Cable Box(for surround via HDMI) Xbox 360 HDMI, and CD changer (Optical). I though this receiver was very easy to setup i had no issues with it. (Unlike the damn cable box and Cox) I have been listening to music, Played a DVD, and played a game and It would really good very clear. Volume is loud enough don't let the 50 watts a channel worry you. I have them paired up with Denon SYS-76HT speakers which also sound great. I highley suggest this receiver!

Here is some more info:

Been through 3 AVR 247's. All made clicking sound from all 5.1 speakers/channels when DVD or HD/DVR paused or audio input turned off. Returned two to dealers but eventually went through HK's warranty. Ended up with a 347 at no extra charge due to stock issues. Long story but you get the idea. Be careful about buying one of these.

It sounds great but it has some problems. Sometimes when there is no audio signal it starts a repeated pattern of clicks to the speakers. This is my third AVR 247 and they all had the same problem. I bought this third one at Best Buy because I wanted to be able to return it for full vaue ( within 30 days ) and Amazon's return policy is really not that great. They really do not do full returns. They return partial value. Their return policy is very deceptive. I did return one to Amazon and I have not heard back from them although my Fed Ex tracking indicates it was delivered. I called Harman Kardon and they said to send it to them and they would replace it but I really don't want to give up having my home theater system for any period of time. So, I have decided to tolerate the clicking since it only happens when I pause my DVD or HD/DVR. I know the problem is the HK because the repeating clicks continue even after I turn off the input device..

One thing I noticed is that it does not let you configure 7.1 configurations via HDMI unless you are receivnig a Dolby EX signal. I noticed that I could configure 7.1 features by switching to the OSD while receiving a Dolby EX signal in the HDMI input. But, this is not very useful since you want to configure 7.1 ahead of viewing time. I will try using the coaxial input for audio processing to see if I can configure 7.1 with that input.

I really like the On Screen Display (OSD) for configuring the 247 however there are some limitations. For example when configuring for HDMI input there is only one set of HDMI output settings such as delay and channel for both inputs. That is, the HDMI 1 and HDMI 2 inputs share the same output configuration which limits flexibilty. The OSD makes it look like you can configure these separately but when you check the seetings for HDMI 1 and HDMI 2 after separate configurations you will see that they will share the same settings. I guess this is because there is only one HDMI output.

I really do think that this is a great receiver value but the clicking sound makes me doubt the quality of Harman Kardon equipment. I have been thinking about buying the AVR 347 and returning this AVR 247 to Best Buy after I receive the 347 but I am not sure if I will have the same problems or not. All this returning is getting old.

I think Harman Kardon will fix this problem but it will take some time before the old stock runs out so it cannot be determined when for certain if you will receive a new version or not.

Bought this unit as a factory rebuilt model, and so far it works fantastic. Setup was easy. (Not sure what all the complaints about the 'confusing' manual from others are about - if you can read then you can follow along with the setup recommendations. If you can read but still can't follow along with the setup instructions, you are probably lacking fundamental knowledge of a/v setups and no kind of manual is going to help). The upscaling to 720p out of the HDMI works well. I have one HDMI, and 2 component sources as inputs, and 1 HDMI out to my TV at 720p. Now no more switching TV inputs because I ran out of receiver inputs. The fact that it only upscales component to 720p isnt an issue since my TV native relsoution is only 720p. On screen setup is the best part of this thing. I had all the customizations I needed completed in about 30 minutes time. Power output is plenty for my room size and the sound is very clean. Happy with the purchase.