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"Excellent upgrade" on by Damon Biggins
Pros: Ease of set up, incredible sound
Cons: Slow remote
Summary: Great power for my 5.1 speaker set up. The sound is very clean, crisp - bluray takes it to another level!. The Bridge II is a great feature but the on screen menu is very slow to respond - still get to crank the tunes, though.
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"Very impressed with the 354" on by Leemsimmons
Pros: Easy set up, great sound and great video, this is one very nice AVR.
Cons: I was able to manually adjust the room EQ and liked that a little better than the auto setup, but I don't know if that could really be considered a 'con'.
Summary: This is our second H/K AVR as we previously owned the AVR 247. With the 247, we had some issues primarily with the on/off control and when selecting an HD channel, it would like to 'hunt' and the channel would momentarily bounce in and out, sometimes 10 times before locking in on that channel. To try and get this resolved, I contacted the technical support people at H/K and the walked through all of the issues and possible fixes a great many times (patiently) until it was decided that the 247 should be replaced. Since we had 'The Bridge' option, they replaced the 247 with the AVR 354 (the 254 doesn't have it). All we paid for was the return shipping on the 247 (about $30.00). Since receiving the 354, I am very impressed with the receiver. The setup was easier, the audio and video options offer more choices and the menu screens are very easy to navigate, including 'The Bridge II', which comes with the 354. The audio is very good and although we can only get Dolby Digital via cable broadcast, even that sounds great, especially for HD channels with 5.1 sound. It plays our iPod with a slick onscreen menu and with simulated 5-channel stereo and even the compressed audio sounds good. Our Blu-ray player never sounded better, with either DVD's or CD's in Dolby True HD or PCM. The 354 will upscale video content to 1080p, but we have it set to 720p output for our Sony TV's native resolution, but you can choose input and output resolution easily. Needless to say, the 'hunting' issues we had on HD channels don't exist with the 354. We have everything (except The Bridge) connected via HDMI to the 354 and it has one output to the television, so it's our 'media center'. Before purchasing our first Harmon Kardon receiver, I had reservations about the spec's, primarily the watts per channel being lower on average, than their competition. Believe me, that is not an issue. We haven't come close to using the 354's audio capabilities and this receiver maybe has the sweetest sound that I've ever heard and that's at low or high volume levels.
For performance, for value and for the absolute best technical support I've ever heard of, I couldn't imagine looking for another receiver in the future and not choosing a Harmon Kardon. -
"horrible receiver" on by kaizersosay
Pros: High Def GUI and Easy Speaker Calibration
Cons: Not Compatible with PS3 or XBox 360 and switching between High Def and regular tv is the worst.
Summary: this receiver gave me problems from the first time I opened the box. don't get me wrong HK makes very good products. Their speakers are top of the line. When it comes to the complete package for a receiver that is meant to deal with cable, blu-ray, multiple gaming, HDMI inputs for a reasonable price this is NOT IT.
The AVR 354 cannot process info from a 360 or a PS3 clearly. It will pass through HDMI well until you go from a High Def channel to a regular channel (that's when the trouble begins). Your speakers will static like adding milk to rice krispies. And gaming is another issue all together. The AVR 354 does not handle a PS3 well at all. I had to turn the receiver off just to play games on either the PS3 or the 360 because it would jump from decoder to decoder, and sometimes the sound would just go out. If you want this receiver to just watch regular tv or play music then this is your best choice. If you are a gamer and sports fanatic then stick with Onkyo, Sony, or Yamaha and their line of receivers for superior compatibility. HK should re-think this top line receiver issue before they drop another line of receivers if they expect consumers to be on board their products.
Sincerely,
A real customer in Mississippi and not some hired gun to say bad stuff. -
"super clean and looks great" on by cyyzjvc2007
Pros: lots of power, and very clean sounding amp,
comes with the bridge II docking system.
looks greatCons: like other recievers im hoping hk will stop with the old school RCA outputs
and stick onlt witj HDMI .Summary: first and formost HK generously throws in the bridge II docking system, and it works with the i phone.... as i own one. such clean sound with loads of power, while others like yamaha charges an additional 120.00 for the docking system. a simple reciever to use with ease, easy to understand manual, looks great with its iiluminated volume control knob, it also stays illuminated to show that your i pod or i phone is bieng charged and turns off when fully charged, these small things make a big difference, and not to mention it sounds great in 7.1 surround sound system as i own monster speakers.
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"awesome product!!!!!" on by meluv2game
Pros: great product, so many features and add-ons, it will grow with your audio needs, and i am def impressed with the vid upscaling. watched bourne identity on my bluray upscaled to my sony 52, and i was impressed
Cons: someone made an earlier comment about a slow remote. i agree. . there were a few times when i had to hit a button a few times, only to find the command already went through. . the osd interface is slow to respond, because we are used to instantaneous
Summary: already explained. . . nuf said. . .GREAT PRODUCT !!!! you wont be sorry to purchase. . .
ps . . .and i am NOT a harmon kardon fan-boy
Harman/Kardon AVR 354 user reviews
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