Customer Reviews

Harman Kardon AVR-354 7x75W 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

It's unfortunate about the previous poster but I have the same unit and it is incredible! The unit has all the bells and whistles that you would expect on a much higher priced receiver. Do some research on the the chips used in this thing, they are incredible and are found only in a $5000 high end competitors line. The weakness of this receiver is that it can sometimes be too rich of a sound and lacks the crisp high that some look for because, honestly the degraded sound that we have received from companies like Sony and what we listen to in our cars have ruined our idea of what even sounds are. Just a side note, one of my buddies was the one who brought this "weakness" to my attention because he said it didn't have enough high range. I told him well watch the whole movie and lets see how fatigued your ears feel. Afterward, he was amazed how nice and easy it is to listen to this HK. The strength is it's punch and ability in the home theater to make gun fire sound like gun fire and not rocks being thrown against a tin roof. HK doesn't disappoint in my opinion with this receiver and it's too bad one customer, and the only review had a experience that is honestly out of this world. HK customer support is probably one of the best in the world, and are often recognized for that fact. Besides one month old and breaks, why not take it back to Best Buy?

I would encourage anyone to purchase this product. I have been researching and listening to receivers for more than three months, ever since a lightning strike wiped out my NAD T-762. I was getting ready to pull the trigger on the NAD's successor, T-785, which would have run about $2,000, when I saw this on sale for $599 and read the specs. What's not to like?

I am a musician, and to me, it's all about the sound. Harman Kardon was where I had begun, more than 20 years ago, and I knew it had sounded good. I am still using my 20-year-old JBL speakers, and when I plugged them in to the 354, I felt like I had come home. The sound is heavenly. I have no other word for it. I've been listening to Denon, Pioneer Elite, Yamaha high end products on high end speakers at Best Buy Magnolia, and couldn't quite go ahead. I know I would have liked the NAD. But why pay so much more? I don't think anything could sound better than this. I can listen to this for hours on end, and enjoy the bliss of warmth, clarity, and resonance.

I'm also very satisfied with the video. I had to tweak the brightness on my TV up a hair, no big deal. I really wanted 4 HDMI inputs, and this has only 3, but I worked around that using component for a non-HD source - ROKU Netflix player - that happens to have an HDMI output, and that has worked out well. So I have room for HDMI from my media server, DVD player, and HD cable/satellite. The upscaling works very well, ordinary DVDs look almost HD, and my ROKU Netflix player, which is putting out SD at best, looks better than DVD when upscaled through this. The NAD did not upscale, by the way.

Be ready for a few quirks. I think every product has them. HK is addressing them through firmware updates, and hopefully they will keep improving. I can bust at least one myth you may read about. Noisy fan? If my unit has a fan, which I doubt, either it's never on or a stethescope couldn't hear it. I am a fanatic about this. My PC is completely fanless.

I am mildly disappointed in a couple of things. Zone 2 has separate source and volume control, which is nice, but it works with analog input only, no digital. I use it for my outdoor speakers, and it's annoying that I have to put in analog connections just to use those. The PCM lock can be a little slow, so you can miss the beginning of a CD track occasionally, if it starts very quickly. My NAD did that too, so I'm used to it. I hope HK will improve this one. But it's not too bad, better than the NAD was. Lip sync delay setting is across the board, not per source. When I reported that, HK said, "We thought it was per source too," so it's probably a bug they will fix.

But to me, it's all about the sound. If you like to listen to music, especially classical music, which is what I listen to most, you won't be disappointed. This is a fine piece of gear.

If you're taking the time to read this you're either considering your first AVR purchase or upgrading and, as I was, looking for a solid product that works and is easy to install and operate. I will not waste your time as many would by trying to convince you to buy this product over another or why this one is superior to others or reiterating its specs as I'm sure you've already done that much research. I will simply try to convey why I selected this product and how it performed.

First, a little background. I'm not an audiophile and, unlike many, do not attempt to be one. I'm 51 years old and have only owned two receivers before this one. The most recent was a twenty-year-old Pioneer VSA-1000 as part of a multi-component system. It's also been twelve years since the last time I connected my previous stereo system. My point is I have very little experience with these units and attempted to find the simplest unit that met my upgrade needs and would play nice with my three-year-old Pioneer plasma and Toshiba upscaling DVD player.

I considered most of the name brands and, because of my custom wall unit limitations, narrowed my choices to this unit, an Onkyo 606 and 705, and Pioneer's 918 and 1018. After spending dozens of hours of reading review after review, forum after forum, I decided on this unit based on its ease of use and reputation for sound. Sure, I could've chosen a HTIB but I didn't consider that much of an upgrade. I also discounted the one or two poor reviews by the anomalies associated with purchases. Someone's going to get a bad product regardless of brand. It's the luck of the draw and I accept that but also do not let that influence my buying decision unless it's pervasive.

The comments that kept coming up with this unit, and almost all HK's, regarded the well-written manual, quick start guide, ease of use and sound. I didn't see as many of those comments with the other brands. The first thing I did upon receiving this unit was to have the Dec 4th firmware update installed. I could've easily done it myself with HK's exceptional directions but decided to have BB do it for the same price it would cost me to purchase the required serial cable. During the couple of hours BB was performing this update I spent the time to read the quick start guide and manual. I believe those that have problems either don't take the time to read the manual or are unable to comprehend 8th grade writing. I found the documentation to be easy to follow and understand as well as use of the remote.

I have not had a single problem with this unit and getting it to perform as advertised. I connected my new JBL L Series speakers, my twenty-year-old Pioneer CD player (analog into Aux), the Toshiba (HDMI 1), Comcast HD box (HDMI 2) and HDMI Out to the plasma. I performed the speaker setup program, setup AUX for the CD player, and I was listening to music and watching U571 within 30 minutes. The depth charge scenes were incredible. While I certainly understand thousands of configurations exist within owners' homes I didn't encounter a single problem or issue with mine. I don't own a PS3 so I didn't care about any potential PS3 issues. The only change I had to make was to my Comcast Motorola Cable/DVR box. The 4:3 Override setting in the menu user settings had to be changed from 480I to Stretch (or OFF).

Finally, was this HT upgrade, with the five JBL speakers, sub and HK AVR354, worth $1,500? I'm still undecided but it was definitely an upgrade with improved home theatre performance, picture and sound. I'll need about six months before deciding whether I'm getting $1,500 more enjoyment from my upgraded HT system. However, when my daughter came home from work last night and said, without knowing I'd replaced the home theatre system, "What did you do? It sounds like I'm sitting in a movie theatre". That's all the feedback I needed.

Ok, this is my first attempt at writing a review but I have read enough of them that I feel obligated to give back. So your reading this review because your getting ready to invest quite a bit of money in a AVR and don't want to make any mistakes and more importantly you are willing to take the time to do the research. Prior to buying this AVR I read many reviews from this site and many others and I was nervous that this AVR may have too many problems and require firm ware updates and complex setups that I would not be qualified to perform. I also read that HK's customer service was terrible so I decided to call even before I plunked down my money and after a short wait on the phone (on a Saturday even) I was connected to a very helpful rep who assured me that I need not worry about any firmware updates as 98% of all receivers have no issues right out of the box but he assured me if I did they would walk me through every step of getting my AVR up and running. After this call, I decided to make the purchase from Amazon who was offering the best price by far.

I received the receiver after a short time and was excited to set it up. My previous receiver was a NAD 775 and my expectations were high. No problem with straight forward in/out connections and plenty of HDMI ports. Within a short time I was up and running listing to the sweet full tonality of a full powered system. Don't be fooled by the 75w rating as the rest of the competition inflates their numbers to make up for other short comings. The included sound setup microphone works tremendous and even auto detects the best settings for each of your speakers or allows for a manual override. Since my wife is not a big fan of the complex in life I was required to wire the system in parallel so that she could watch TV without the use of the stereo for sound. (Why anyone would want to do that is beyond me, but what can you do?)This posed no problem as there are plenty of in/out options available. The video coming from our Verizon FIOS feed looks excellent but you do need to brighten the picture for any signal going through the AVR; however, this is accomplish in a matter of seconds with no trouble. Also important to note that zone 2 will only accept an analog feed such as an Ipod or CD player and not the digital music station programming as offered by Verizon. This was problem so I called HK customer service and got through with very little wait. I was pleased to talk to a well informed English speaking professional who set me on the right path. He said "no problem as you can simply plug in a set of component (RCA - red & white) cables from the Verizon set top receiver into the AVR and set the input accordingly." As far as the included Ipod Bridge goes no issue with that either - runs a tad slow but really people can't we wait a few seconds for gigabytes of information to flow through the system?

I have to admit I was nervous after reading all of the negative remarks about HK service and the small issues with this receiver but after all people much prefer to take the time to complain than offer praise. The bottom line is that I feel this is absolutely the best AVR for the money period. The sound quality is superb, the included sound setup microphone works great, and the included Ipod Bridge is the icing on the cake. If you are currently on the fence, have no worries this receiver is as advertised! I hope this helps in your decision making process and thanks to all of you who take the time to write reviewss and share your experience.

The HK AVR 354 has a ton of bugs, the new firmware update helps, but doesn't solve all. First the USB to Serial cable from radio shack ( gigawire) works really well. Don't try any others, save yourself some time and just run to RadioShack and get theirs. Make sure you do the firmware update first because one of the PROBLEMS is an intermittent POP that is sometimes intense and BLEW one of my tweeters on my rear left surround. Second, (THIS IS NOT LISTED IN THE FIRMWARE INSTRUCTIONS) DO NOT USE A LAPTOP TO DO THE UPDATE. TECH SUPPORT TOLD ME THAT MOST LAPTOPS DO NOT HAVE STRONG ENOUGH USB OUTPUTS TO DO THE UPDATE, TAKE YOUR RECEIVER TO YOUR DESKTOP AND DO IT THERE. IF I HAD KNOWN THIS WOULD HAVE SAVED A BUNCH OF TIME. TECH SUPPORT INFORMED ME THAT THE FACT THAT LAPTOPS SHOULD NOT BE USED SHOULD BE IN THE INSTRUCTIONS BUT THEY HAVE NOT GOT AROUND TO IT YET. Good thing is that do to the TONS of problems that everyone in Tech Support is very knowledgeable about the avr 354. Next problem is that Video is downgraded through this receiver. Blu Ray to TV is better than through the receiver. Although the picture is better than the other receivers I tried. This will be fixed with future updates. The firmware update AFW v0.95.1.1 fixes the problem with poor color gradation on blacks so if you push avr, 1,2,3,4,ok on your receiver and AFW v0.95.1.1 does not show on the front of your receiver then you need this update. Now audio performance, since the update, FLAWLESS, Sounds amazing, I compared to Onkyo, 606,806- Denon and Pioneer in the same price range, IN MY HOME on the same speakers and the 354 was the best. 2 channel stereo is killer on the 354. Extra power over the 354 is a big plus.

There is my 2 cents, make sure you follow my instructions on the updates so you don't spend all day doing this update. RADIO SHACK Gigaware Model 26-949 ON THE CABLE. WORKS ON VISTA 64 BIT 2!!!!!!!!

I am a huge Harman brand supporter and expected a lot out of this machine, considering that I have owned 2 of its predecessors and absolutely loved them.. I upgraded for HDMI switching, and new HD sound format processing(DolbyTrue HD,DTS-MA,ect)
I will give you my pros and cons for this receiver.. First and foremost..
CONS: It needs a Firmware upgrade,while this is simple,it is very annoying, and does not solve the problems it is intended to, at least not in my case.. When changing channels there is a popping noise that is heard through your speakers, even at low volumes(very faint most times,but it should not be there,and makes you wonder if over time this could be very troublesome). The software update was supposed to fix this, but it did not.. When switching from a standard 480i channel to an HD channel the Receiver does not make a smooth transition and often makes an error where half the screen is all distorted requiring you to turn off and re-boot to get a clear picture, the Firmware upgrade is supposed to eliminate this, but it does not. When you play a Blu-ray film with DTS-MA 7.1 or Dolby True HD, the receiver will always Display Multi-Channel PCM, I know it is processing the sound formats, but it would be nice to see exactly what is being transmitted(Others do disply all formats), after all we spend our money for this new technology, we should be able to see and hear it working. Harman Customer support while always available and patient are not always properly informed and educated on their products, a guy in tech told me that the firmware upgrade could solve this problem, check it out for yourself the receiver will not display the High end sound formats on its screen, it will only read Multchannel PCM, no matter which format it is playing.. I did my homework and Ive owned for a year now) It turns out that sometimes your Cable box itself can also play a major role in the issues I described above & after switching to Fios (not that I want to give verizon a plug) most of the problems went away and the receiver runs flawlessly. I have also set-up another standard Component cable for non HD channel viewing. It eventually becomes second nature to u to simply switch the input to Component 1 or HDMI 1 when switching from certain HD to non HD channels that encounter this error , but more and more lately almost everything is available in HD & the quirks with the receiver are becoming less & less of an issue at all.
PROS:
Now the plus side of this receiver if none of the above scare you away.. The sound is incredible once you get it up and running.. Stereo mode is enough to power monster speakers properly and faithfully, if your surround speakers are up to par, this receiver will play them as they were meant to be heard.. Also I will elaborate on what other reviewers touched upon with respect to Picture Quality.. The receiver does an Amazing job of playing and upconverting picture quality.. If you are watching a movie in HD(1080i),and you set it to upscale or output to 1080p, you will notice a slight upgrade in picture quality(thats all you can ask for from an upscaler).. It will not be Blu-ray quality from HD cable, but it will be sharper and the separation is improved from character and backround.. it will not take a 480 signal and make this 1080i HD, but it will improve it slightly if you set it up to 480p from 480i.. In short, the receiver would be perfect if not for the problems it has switching from analog to Digital Broadcast & the popping heard sometimes when channel surfing.. If these were truly fixable through firmware upgrades I would have kept this and given 5 stars, but now Im considering switching after 10 years of Harman Receivers.. And it breaks my heart because I know the potential of Harman products and how close this machine comes to perfect, but as a consumer report I read stated, it just falls short of Harman Integrity on a couple of small annoying levels.. Good luck and I hope I have helped someone..

Could not be happier with this product--my second HK, also having the 347. The sounds are smooth and crisp, HDMI flawless--and one of the few machines that carries both audio and video via HDMI. With this receiver you get a great deal for your money and will find it very difficult to outgrow.

Enjoy it.

The previous reviews have done a great job on the excellent performance of this product so this review will focus more on the overall feel of the product.

The review by Home Theater Review.com hits it on the mark by describing it as "wanting to love it" but falling just shy in one or two ways that drive one crazy. The fact is that the outer build quality of the unit does not meet "flagship" quality - the plastic used on the remote and the receiver's face plate appears to be of low quality. There are scars and scratches that appear to be imbedded in the plactic, especially on the remote control. It feels like the plastic parts of an old K-car were placed into a high-end vehicle, thus cheapening the product.

If you can look past this deficiency, the product performs superbly, the Bridge II is a nice bonus, and the Amazon.com price makes it an outstanding value.

Harman Kardon customer service (e-mail experience only) is first rate though. Responses are prompt and thorough.

I recently purchased the HK AVR-354 receiver for my home theater system. I am a true Harman Kardon guy as this is my 3rd. HK in my home presently. I chose the 354 because it has a third HDMI input verses my other system which only has two HDMI inputs. As for performance, it has a higher watts per channel putput and i will say that the sound is great, although i am only using it as a 5.1 instead of the 7.1 it is designed for. Overall I am very satisfied with the product and will buy another HK when the need arrises.

The best amplifier/receiver you can get for the price. Don't let 75 watts fool you-- this box outperformed a Crown 420 (300 watt stereo) power amplifier. The sound is perfect on this. The video upscaling is crap, I would only recommend this for audio processing-- run the video direct. I run a system with Polk RTiA9 speakers off of this and it sounds amazing.