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4.0 stars
"Great System"
Pros: Positively magical sound under $1000!
Cons: Somewhat confusing setup. You actually have to read the manual to set up video switching. AVR135 suns on the warm side. I might need to add a fan to my cabinet.
Summary: System looks and sounds great. I like the sound much better than any of the other <$1K home theater in a box systems (Bose, Sony Onkyo, etc.). I bought my system as a reconditioned / remanufacturerd system from Harmon on ebay for a lot less. It looks and sounds brand new.
I suspect that Harman may have a lot of open box returns with these systems because they are complicated to install. As far as I can tell, they are only being retailed at Circuit City. This is pure conjecture, but I doubt most Circuit City shoppers have the technical savvy to make it work. You really do need to read the whole manual - make that all three manuals- in their entirty to make it work right.
I did notice that the DVD player had a radically better immage with my new plasma hdtv than my old dvd player. I don't know if that has to do with Harman's pixel by pixel decoding, but it is great.
As far as the sound goes - everything I have listened to sounds great. From Grateful Dead's "The Closing of Winterland Theater" to "The Incredibles", the sound fantastic. Much 5.1 stuff seems to float in the air - you forget there are speakers.
As I indicated - the video switching is complicated. I ended up bypassing the video switching. I run HDMI from my cable box to my Plasma, and component video from the DVD to the set, bypassing the AVR135. I'll probably get it sorted, by it isn't that big of a priority for me.
The system does seem to run on the hot side. It is going into a built in wall cabinet. I'll probably have to add a vent fan. The wall mounts are merely adequate (but they are included with the system)
The subwoofer is unreal. I didn't think that 10" and 100 watts could do that.
If you want the best sound for under $1000, and are not afraid of technical stuff, this is the way to go.
