Customer Reviews

Harman Kardon CDR 2 CD Player/Recorder

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First of all, with Harmon/Kardon how can you go wrong! When I first pulled this sturdy unit out of the box, plugged it in, and watched as the CDR-2's classy display light up I knew I had purchased a beautiful, higher-end piece of equipment! The users-manual is easy to read and understand, with several different recording scenarios explained. For my first recording I copied an entire CD in DIGITAL, using the 2X DUB feature. The CDR-2 performed flawlessly and made a perfect copy, keeping in mind that the CD I copied was somewhat new and scratch/dirt free. I have yet to explore it's other features, such as it's DUAL-PLAY mode; playing 2 CD's simultaneously, which will be helpful to me as a recording musician. It has many options for recording outside sources digitally (and analog) with it's COAXIAL and OPTICAL in/out ports. I've purchased and returned a "lower-end" recorder before and was extremely disappointed. The Harmon/Kardon CDR-2 is one solid piece of technology in my book.

This is truly a wonderful CD recorder. It is very easy to use, and it produces awesome sound. I have had 2 discs get messed up; I'm not sure if that is the CDR-2's fault, or the disc. Anyway, it was just one song-and the original was old. Beware though, if you want to mix and match songs, it takes as long as all the songs put together. Just because it can record at 4x doesn't mean it will record everything at 4x. Only if you are recording a whole cd (say to give to somebody, or copying theirs) will it dub at 4x. When mixing, it goes at 1x, the speed of the song. This isn't a bad thing, no other recorder lets you go any faster. It's a good recorder and one that will do almost anything you ask it to. Enjoy.

I've been in the market for a digital recorder, specifically a CD recorder for over a year. I initially was set to buy a Philips dual deck recorder, but luckily I didn't have the money together yet. Also, I wasn't too hot about it not having a traditional input level knob (instead it has "incremental"-type buttons). So when I heard by chance about the Harman Kardon, I was intrigued. 24-bit, 96khz convertors, 4x dub speed, great sound, ease of use. The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that it has no overload indicator (I, too, use it for my own, and client, recordings). This thing is a god send, and is one of the best investments I've ever made.

The Harmon Kardon CDR2 lives up to its reputation in terms of music quality. I also found it easy to set up and could easily record off both CD as well as audio cassettes. For those who have a large analog collection that they wish to digitize (as I do) I suggest that you buy one blank CD-RW disc also. You can then assemble a selection on this CD-RW and then zap it on to a (less expensive) CD-R disc. The CD-RW allows you to correct your mistakes (which are likely to happen when you are transcribing cassettes). The two features that I would like to see (but missing) are 1) multiple CD capability on the play side (if you are making a personal collection, the chances are you will be recording from several CDs), and 2)An option to finalize automatically. The other disappointment was that you could not use the 4x speed feature when recording a selection of tracks. If these annoyances dont bother you, I would highly recommend this deck. My rating would be 4 1/2 stars.

Since I've had this machine only a couple of days, I should probably have waited before writing the review, but I noticed a couple of things in previous reviews that called for comment. If I could take off a half star for the instructions, I would, but the machine itself is fabulous. It indeed plays CDs so they sound better than on "ordinary" CD players. I used to be skeptical of claims that some CD players were better than others, figuring they were all basically the same, but this one is clearly more "musical" than the others I've owned. The copies I've made are identical to the originals, and I found them easy to make. The understated design is very classy. Now, as to my criticisms about the instruction manual: It is well-written, but omits certain critical information. For example, I was not clear on how to make a compilation from different disks. The instructions made it seem as if you had to pre-program your selections to do so, but I didn't see how you could do this with more than one source disk. Therefore, I plunged right in, recording one track at a time from various disks, and it turned out fine. My other issue was that the instructions say (as does a previous reviewer) that you can record up to 20 tracks on a disk. The Beatles compilation I was making only came to 50 minutes or so after 20 songs, so I experimented to see what would happen if I tried to put another on. It worked, so I was up to 21 with no problem. Anyway, I probably have a lot to learn about recording CDs, and if anyone who read the instructions more carefully than I finds that my questions were covered there, I welcome your corrections. For prospective buyers, I would not let my criticisms deter you from ordering the CDR-2, because I am very happy with it and only regret waiting to buy it.

There's no need to reiterate the praises of this fine machine. Everyone agrees it sounds superb and you can burn music onto a CD just about any way that you could possibly want. Sometimes, to get it just the way you want it, takes a little bit of extra time and effort. I wanted to combine my favorite songs by an artist from several CD's onto one CD. My major difficulty was that the audio levels on the various CD's were different. I especially noticed this if the artist recorded for different labels during his or her career. If I did a straight dub of the tracks, I had to keep adjusting the volume level on the playback equipment, in this case my car stereo, when I played my finalized CD. To get around this, I had to record each track as an analog source from my multi-tray CD player. I had to press the record button which put the recorder in a pause mode, adjust the input level as I watched the input lights (making sure that I had gotten to the loudest sections of the song), go back to the beginning of the song, and then press the select button to start my recording. Naturally, I had to advance the track numbering manually. I tried the automatic numbering and sometimes I ended up with either two songs on one recorded track number or the machine shut off recording because it was taking too long for the next song to begin playing. Anyway, doing everything manually worked, it just took longer to complete recording my CD. When I did manage to complete it, it was marvelous. Finally, I have all my favorite songs by an artist together on one CD and I don't have to keep skipping over songs I don't like while I am driving and listening to music. Thanks Harman Kardon for a wonderful machine. If only CD manufacturers made every CD at some standard audio level, my job would have been easier. I wonder if other people experienced the same difficulties.

This device plays & records cds BEAUTIFULLY! The sound that this machine makes when a cd is played is incredible However I was disheartened with a couple of features. First, the only way you can record a single track from a cd is through the remote controller. If you should by any chance LOSE the remote, you're outta luck! Second, every time you stop recording, the recorder automatically puts a 3-4 sec. space at the end of your song. For me, that can be really annoying. If you're not as anal as I am about recording specifics, then this is a wonderful cd recorder for you. The cds are recorded superbly & the sound is great!

The Harman Kardon CDR-2 is an excellent added compliment to any stereo! The details and instructions are easy reading and setting up this unit is very easy. All your old albums collecting dust can now be converted over to CD. If you're converting an old album and the signal quality isn't that strong, you can record the album to tape and increase the levels thus, increasing the signal and then record it to CD. I rate this product a total of 5 stars. The only draw back is the 3 second wait time. Other than that, it's a remarkable product. You can use either the remote or the front panel to record your music. Someone had wrote that you needed the remote to record and if lost, you would be unable to do any recording. This is wrong! I did it with both remote and manually with my hands. The playback was excellent and a CD is included for practicing. Just don't finalize the CD until you've used all the time allowed to record. Once it's finalized, that's it. Enjoy this remarkable product, you can't go wrong.

My main objective was to be able to record old vinyl albums onto CD's to play in my car. Just got the CDR-2 yesterday and am already VERY pleased. The instructions were thorough and easy to follow, and I've been very impressed with the sound quality. I did make a few false starts when I started recording, but that was because I read the instructions too quickly and missed little details (like pushing "select" after you push "finalize"). I do agree with their recommendation to practice a bit with rewritable disks until you get the hang of it.

Don't be intimidated by how high-tech the unit sounds - it's very user friendly.

Burning CDs in this machine is quite easy. Just read the instructions and you cant go wrong. The CDs sound just equal to the original. However, i am shocked with the quality sound of this machine in play back. It is a real huge improvement over my top rated X brand cd player.