Harman Kardon AVR 7000 Dolby Digital/DTS Audio/Video Receiver

by Harman Kardon

Product Details

Product Manual [752kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 20 x 17 x 7 inches ; 49 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 57 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: B0000300EN
• Item model number: AVR 7000
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #376,644 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Heading up Harman Kardon's superb line of surround receivers is the flagship AVR 7000, which cranks out 100 quality watts to all five channels across the audible frequency spectrum. Harman Kardon, long a champion of the importance of high current over high power, offers both in this model: the AVR 7000 delivers a staggering 75 amps of High Current Capability (HCC) to drive the most demanding speaker loads without distortion.

And while sound quality is definitely a priority here--we're talking about Harman Kardon, after all--a lot of circuit-design and digital signal processing know-how went into this receiver.

Most significantly, the receiver offers Harman's exclusive Logic 7 and VMAx surround modes (intelligent 5.1- and two-channel surround matrices for any sound source--stereo or otherwise) and onboard decoding of Dolby Digital and DTS surround formats in addition to HDCD. Throw in 30 FM/AM station presets alongside S-video and component-video switching, and you're looking at your key to top-flight music and home-theater enjoyment for well under $2,000.

The AVR 7000 can also supply sound for two rooms (with the use of an external infrared remote sensor), and the receiver comes with one set of stereo RCA outputs, composite- and S-video outputs, and a separate, limited-function remote control for this purpose.

With all of its features, however, nothing gets in the way of sound performance. The tone controls--the AVR 7000 offers actual bass and treble knobs--can be taken out of the audio circuit to keep the audio signal path as short and clean as possible. In listening to CDs through either the analog or digital inputs, we found that the AVR 7000 opens a big, natural window on the music. (We recommend using your CD player's analog outputs only if it has no digital outputs or if it's a player with extremely high-quality analog circuitry.)

With the AVR 7000, the qualities we expect from separates (preamplifier and amplifier components) but don't usually get from integrated receivers abound: a wonderful sense of air and ambiance; complex layers of rich harmonics; a beautiful nuance in vocal delivery; wide dynamics and subtle microdynamics; smooth, extended high frequencies; and a bottom end that is at once powerful and well defined but never muddy.

Surround decoding of Dolby Digital- and DTS-encoded discs, performed by 24-bit, 96 kHz Crystal DSP (digital signal processing) circuits, is just as impressively clear and dynamic.

The AVR 7000's biggest drawback is that you can't adjust the speaker delays for surround formats other than Dolby Digital. Because most living rooms do not lend themselves to optimal home-theater speaker placement, it's standard for receivers to let you input and store the distance (in either feet or meters) from your various speakers to your primary listening position. This ensures that the sounds from your speakers arrive at your ears simultaneously, as if you were equidistant from all speakers. You can, however, adjust the relative volume levels of each channel, which is actually more important than adjusting the delay times.

In practice, the AVR 7000's surround sound coherence is excellent, even with DTS-encoded multichannel music CDs (though the presentation in one of our less ideal rooms was not as seamless as it might have been).

The AVR 7000 also lets you toggle between a given component's analog and digital outputs from the remote control--a function that few receivers offer. Granted, this feature will appeal mainly to audiophiles who are interested in comparing, for instance, the sound of a component's analog outputs to its digital output, or the effect that different analog audio interconnects have on the sound (using the digital output as a reference). But Harman excels in this kind of detail-oriented feature, and it's good to know it's available here.

Unlike most of the overhyped proprietary DSP modes out there, Harman Kardon's own Logic 7 (multichannel) and VMAx (two-channel) surround modes work extremely well, in most cases audibly improving over regularly decoded, discrete source material (like Dolby Digital and DTS)--no small feat. Logic 7 also instantaneously generates 5.1-channel information from two-channel material such as CDs, television, VHS tapes, and other sources, letting you take full advantage of your surround system without the annoying artifacts that often accompany such faux-surround algorithms.

Setting up the AVR 7000 is, not surprisingly, a complex and time-consuming effort, but one that pays off. To its credit, the unit boasts a terrific onscreen setup display (though it does reset your settings when you revisit a given parameter), one of the best owner's manuals we've seen, and an uncluttered, illuminated, full-function remote control capable of operating up to eight devices (choose from 17 brands of DVD players and over 80 brands of televisions).

The only other drawback worth mentioning is that the system often takes a few seconds to lock onto a new sound format, whether it's DTS or an HDCD-encoded CD. This means that you'll occasionally miss the first couple seconds of sound, but you can always preselect the format or simply start the track anew. This was not an issue in DVD video titles, where the surround format is usually triggered long before you actually need to hear sound.

When it's all configured and set to go, you'll have most of the home theater world at your remote-clicking fingertips, from full future-ready capabilities in the receiver's 5.1-channel analog inputs (perfect for DVD audio) to component-video switching for videophile DVD video performance.

If you're hankering for top-of-the-line audio performance and highest-level video switching, the AVR 7000 is a real bargain. --Michael Mikesell

Pros:

• Sound quality rivals separates
• Excellent build quality
• Loaded with features
• Converts S-video to composite-video
• Remote control lets you toggle between analog and digital inputs for a given component
• Controls easy to navigate
• Defeatable tone controls
• Future ready with 5.1-channel analog inputs

Cons:

• Lengthy setup procedure
• No speaker-delay settings for DTS surround sound
• No phono input
• System can take a few seconds to catch up with a new sound source

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice package for discerning audio enthusiasts!, June 17, 2000

By 

K.Puccetti (Deloraine, Tasmania, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harman Kardon AVR 7000 Dolby Digital/DTS Audio/Video Receiver (Electronics)

After a lengthy process of comparison shopping, both on-line, and in the stores, I arrived at a short list of two receivers which had the features I wanted at a price I could afford. One was the popular Denon AVR3300, and the other was the relatively new (to Australia), HK AVR7000. I have to say that both units are excellent for their intended purpose, which is to provide better than average two channel sound for music lovers, while adding the dimension of 5.1 channel sound to DVD movies. In the end the HK won out, because it was cheaper and didn't have the potential problems associated with an internal fan. The HK uses passive cooling via large heatsinks. The sound from my HK is very good, though the NAD amp it replaced sounded just as good in my opinion, for two channel stereo. The sound on Dolby Digital and DTS is fantastic. It took me a day or two to work my way through the manual, and adjust the various settings to arrive at a sound that worked in my smallish room. I particularly like the way in which the AVR7000 remembers the setups for each input. So now when I select CD as the input, the AVR7000 knows to switch off the sub woofer and the rear surround speakers. Likewise, it remembers to add these back when DVD is selected as the input. The remote works well, though I've yet to use it's learning capabilities. Other features I like are component video switching (which most DVD players use these days), tone defeat option (I like my sound as uncolored as possible), and on-screen setup menu (made it pretty easy to adjust my settings. On the downside, the AVR7000 is huge in size, and is vented all around (due to the absence of an internal fan), so it's placement can be a problem in some homes. Whatever you do, don't place it where someone might carelessly place a drink glass on it, as a single drop going through the vented top cover would be the end of your unit. There are a lot of receivers on the market today and in the end it comes down to your budget and the features you want. For me, the AVR7000 was the best sounding, most fully featured unit on the market within my budget. Happy shopping.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great sounding reciever, September 5, 2000

By 

Student of Life "Student of Life" (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harman Kardon AVR 7000 Dolby Digital/DTS Audio/Video Receiver (Electronics)

I bought the HK7000 in March of 2000, for the onboard digital freatures such as the decoding of DTS for DVDs. This allowed me to purchase a cheap DVD player for under $150. I should have done that for my CD player as well. I found the the HK produced better sound when I bypassed my more expensive Marantz OSE CD player by using digital out, and once again letting the HK decode the signal. In short this is a great reciever, with lots of programable digital/video inputs (the coaxal digital input goes to the cd, the fiber optical cable goes to the DVD player, etc...). The high output of the amplifier is clear and distortion free at high volumes. The sound that this unit produces is truely appreciable. Drawbacks include the large size and heavy weight. The unit also produces a good amount of heat, and shouldn't be put in an enclosed cabinet. I also found that the included HK universal remote has developed a minor glitch.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars seatle, age 34, October 1, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Harman Kardon AVR 7000 Dolby Digital/DTS Audio/Video Receiver (Electronics)

I have had top of the line sony, yamaha, and denon receivers and non of them stood up to harmon's flagship receivers.
bottom line:
If you are married there is no way your wife is going to let you put more than 5 speakers in your living room so why spend $2000-$3000 dollars for a receiver that will run 7 speakers.
I listened to monsters, inc. with it and when my infinity IL-60's subs went off It nearly scared the @#$& out of my wife. All I have to say is thank god for giving me the insight to avoid the crap they sell at ultimate electronics.
see ya.