Frustrated with Harman Kardon!

[bjornb17]

I have no experience with HK, but just think the receivers are trying to looks a little too futuristic- like it's from Mercury with the blue light around the volume knob. However, looks really don't matter too much to me since all of my equipment is behind glass doors and it's easy not to notice them too much. I've heard HK are overpriced- is that true?

If you go to the store to buy one brand new, they are pretty expensive. just go to harmanaudio.com and get them cheaper than you would buy a crappy receiver for

[bjornb17]

i had sent off my HK FL8385 about a week ago and got the new one today. It doesnt work. It just stops playing and gets stuck. What IS up with these units???

EDIT: I've just been tinkering around with it for the last 30 minutes and now its functioning normally. Is it normal for CD player to need to get broken in? lol. This one is actually a brand new unit. I had originally bought a remanufactured but went through a couple of those so they sent me a new one.

[kexodusc]

Geez, you're still having problems with these things? Sorry to hear that. At least they're trying to be co-operative. Maybe next time something fails you should ask them to replace it with a competitor's brand that will actually endure regular usuage.
Everynow and then everyone makes a bad model, but it's awefully frustrating to the buyer. Good luck.

[bjornb17]

Geez, you're still having problems with these things? Sorry to hear that. At least they're trying to be co-operative. Maybe next time something fails you should ask them to replace it with a competitor's brand that will actually endure regular usuage.
Everynow and then everyone makes a bad model, but it's awefully frustrating to the buyer. Good luck.

Last night my HK DVD22 died on me (again). This is totally unacceptable from them. 4 defective CD players and now the 2nd or 3rd (i've lost count) defective DVD player. I should have taken everyone's word when they said dont buy HK disc players.

[Eric Z]

Are you kidding me? I've never heard of such a line perform so poorly (or not perform at all). I think that would have been the last straw with me. What are you going to do? Request your money back directly from the place you bought it? Or maybe directly from HK? What about having them send you an upgrade free of charge. I would still be hesitant though with the poor quality you've already been experiencing!

Good luck with whatever route you choose!
Eric

[bjornb17]

Are you kidding me? I've never heard of such a line perform so poorly (or not perform at all). I think that would have been the last straw with me. What are you going to do? Request your money back directly from the place you bought it? Or maybe directly from HK? What about having them send you an upgrade free of charge. I would still be hesitant though with the poor quality you've already been experiencing!

Good luck with whatever route you choose!
Eric

After they send me a new DVD22, i will probably list it and the FL8385 on ebay. The resale value for them is pretty decent so I won't have too much of a loss. I started another thread asking for recommendations for a new DVD player and CD changer Thanks for the support

[GMichael]

After they send me a new DVD22, i will probably list it and the FL8385 on ebay. The resale value for them is pretty decent so I won't have too much of a loss. I started another thread asking for recommendations for a new DVD player and CD changer Thanks for the support

Sorry to hear about your continude problems Bjornb. It sounded lke HK was trying to take care of you, but I guess this model is a lemon. Good luck with your next unit.

[Eric Z]

Good idea about throwing it up on Ebay- I don't know what we would do without that site. So, staying away from HK now? Smart move.

[bjornb17]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! I went to circuit city to play with the onkyos but they didn't seem to be my cup of tea.

Anyway, i got a response back from H/K last night to ship the DVD player back (along with the usual shipping label). This morning they sent me another e-mail saying that they will send me one of their new DVD-27s to replace my DVD-22.

http://www.harmankardon.com/product_...D%2027&sType=C

It looks very slick! I will report back to you on how it works. From the specs it seems to be a DVD-22 with a cosmetic upgrade, but i'll find out if thats true. I'm pleased with how H/K is handling this. I will give them another chance.

H/K is like that special girlfriend that annoys you but you like too much to break up with.

[GMichael]

Good luck. Maybe the -27 is the -22 with the kinks worked out. Good luck with that girlfriend thing. Remember, nothing beats make-up s.x.

[bjornb17]

Good luck. Maybe the -27 is the -22 with the kinks worked out. Good luck with that girlfriend thing. Remember, nothing beats make-up s.x.

hahaha, i wasn't talking about MY girlfriend.

[bjornb17]

Sure you weren't.

Last year she bought me speakers for valentines day and this year she bought me computer games. What's not to like

[GMichael]

hahaha, i wasn't talking about MY girlfriend.

Sure you weren't.

[EdwardGein]

Really curious if you'll notice a difference in sound quality between the 22 & 27. While I've never heard the 22 & Harmon Kardon's people won't give me a straight answer in simple English, I'm convinced there will be a difference in sound quality when listening through an optical set up between the 22 & the 31 & assume there will also be a difference between the 27 & 22. I'm not talkng about DVD-A either. The other day, I hooked up the digital out on a Lite On DVD Recorder that I had to my Denon receiver. The Lite On Recorder was juiced up to play both PAL & NTSC DVD's. Anyway, I bought a set of PAL DVD's from an excellent 70's British Horror-Mystery TV Show called Thriller (Not Boris Karloff's Thriller), and played them on the Lite ON & they sounded fine. Just out of curiosity I tried to play the DVD's on my Harmon Kardon 31 System (which is only NTSC) & for some bizarre reason they played perfectly on them as well. Anyway, the sound from the Harmon Kardon 31 player, also connected by optical cable, was night and day better then that of the Lite On DVD recorder.
This TV series, even though it was recorded in the 70's, was apparently remixed for surround sound. Anyway, I'm curious if you will notice a difference between the two models. I urge anyone who spends over $100 on a DVD player or receiver to get an extended warranty as I think the lasers on all DVD players self destruct over a period of time.

[bjornb17]

Really curious if you'll notice a difference in sound quality between the 22 & 27. While I've never heard the 22 & Harmon Kardon's people won't give me a straight answer in simple English, I'm convinced there will be a difference in sound quality when listening through an optical set up between the 22 & the 31 & assume there will also be a difference between the 27 & 22. I'm not talkng about DVD-A either. The other day, I hooked up the digital out on a Lite On DVD Recorder that I had to my Denon receiver. The Lite On Recorder was juiced up to play both PAL & NTSC DVD's. Anyway, I bought a set of PAL DVD's from an excellent 70's British Horror-Mystery TV Show called Thriller (Not Boris Karloff's Thriller), and played them on the Lite ON & they sounded fine. Just out of curiosity I tried to play the DVD's on my Harmon Kardon 31 System (which is only NTSC) & for some bizarre reason they played perfectly on them as well. Anyway, the sound from the Harmon Kardon 31 player, also connected by optical cable, was night and day better then that of the Lite On DVD recorder.
This TV series, even though it was recorded in the 70's, was apparently remixed for surround sound. Anyway, I'm curious if you will notice a difference between the two models. I urge anyone who spends over $100 on a DVD player or receiver to get an extended warranty as I think the lasers on all DVD players self destruct over a period of time.

Apparantly if you buy a H/K unit from an authorized dealer, they'll go out of their way to help you no matter what, as has happened in my case. I don't really see the value in buying $30-50 extended warranty on a $170 DVD player, because then its suddently a $220 DVD player In addition to that, i used to work at circuit city and i know that their warranty policies are crap as they are at most places.

[Century L100]

This is a real interesting thread, since I'm debating about an HK vs. Yamaha stereo receiver (posted in the General Forum). Suddenly, I think I'm going for the Yamaha RX-497 even though the HK 3380 looks tempting and is priced less.

Sorry to hear about your HK troubles, but thanks for posting all your experiences; it helps the rest of us with our decisions.

[EdwardGein]

Almost every DVD player I've had, will work perfectly and then at some point of time will, without any advance warning, fail to work because the laser is worn out or something. On some DVD player/recorders, unless you power the unit down, the laser is still being used!

The main point is while $150 or so may not seem to be such a great sum, if your happy with the unit & it breaks down after your warranty is used up, that's another $150 or so to spend.
I'd rather pay any extra $40 and be guaranteed that I can replace it for a period of 3 years. Again, I'm assuming from personal experience that all DVD players break down in less then 1 & a 1/2 years.

[bjornb17]

This is a real interesting thread, since I'm debating about an HK vs. Yamaha stereo receiver (posted in the General Forum). Suddenly, I think I'm going for the Yamaha RX-497 even though the HK 3380 looks tempting and is priced less.

Sorry to hear about your HK troubles, but thanks for posting all your experiences; it helps the rest of us with our decisions.

I still wouldn't have any problems recommending their receivers, which for the most part have worked very well (i own 3 HK receivers).

I give a big kudos to HK for really going out of their way to help me. Chances are they've lost a decent chunk of money by sending me so many FL8385s, yet they extended my warantee at no charge to keep me satisfied. This is especially true since i only paid $90 for it when i got it (can't really complain about price). Also, I am getting a newer model DVD player which retails for quite a bit more than i originally paid for my DVD22.

I am the type of person that likes to do business with a company that takes care of its customers, and so far HK has done pretty good.

Keeping that in mind, I am still boycotting a local little ceasers for taking an hour and a half to serve me one of their hot-n-ready pizzas which are supposed to be ready in 5 minutes. In addition to that they double charged me.

[bjornb17]

Almost every DVD player I've had, will work perfectly and then at some point of time will, without any advance warning, fail to work because the laser is worn out or something. On some DVD player/recorders, unless you power the unit down, the laser is still being used!

The main point is while $150 or so may not seem to be such a great sum, if your happy with the unit & it breaks down after your warranty is used up, that's another $150 or so to spend.
I'd rather pay any extra $40 and be guaranteed that I can replace it for a period of 3 years. Again, I'm assuming from personal experience that all DVD players break down in less then 1 & a 1/2 years.

I guess i can definately see your point of view on this. I notice that I am always replacing optical drivers, whether its on a computer or for my audio setup, they have a fairly short lifespan. The good thing about DVD drives on the computer is that they only cost $15-$20.

[Eric Z]

I'm glad to hear HK is taking care of you- a couple DVD players and some shipping costs is a drop in a bucket for them; however, I know many other companies that wouldn't return calls/e-mails, so kudos to HK. Hopefully the 27 serves you well.

Funny story about Little Caesers- I didn't even know those places were around anymore- I think they closed all of them in the Chicago area. Do they still sell the pizzas in pairs? Pizza Pizza!

[EdwardGein]

When I was in Chicago a few years ago for all of a few hours between a layover on a train trip to St. Louis from the Washington DC area- I hated my job so much, I wouldn't fly as I didn't want to take the chance of dying for those cretins, I was by the train station near the Sears Towers & I ate one of the best pizza meals ever at a place call Xchakers (Spelling) or Ex or X something right next to Tower Records there. This was real genuine Chicago Deep Dish pizza & it was huge and excellent.

[bjornb17]

Now i want pizza.

I've been known for downing massive quantities of pizza, the best food ever created.

I was in chicago last summer to visit some people and they ordered something called the "football pizza" It's basically an insanely big pizza cut into probably about 40 squares. I ate more than 3/4 of it in a couple hours with a few breaks inbetween to let it "settle." In addition to that i also ate some burritos, tacos, and what now. I like to eat I will regret it in a few years when i get fat

[Eric Z]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, there's nothing like pizza in Chicago- I know New York has their own claim to fame with pizza, but it's hard to beat Giordono's, Lou Malnatis, Pizzeria Uno, Gino's East, etc. The smaller pizza joints are fantastic as well- thin crust, deep dish, etc.

I travel once in a while for business and I'll be in Orlando and the Houston areas for weeks at a time- there's nothing worse than bad pizza- I still eat it, but just miss Chicago's home cooking.

The deep dish pizza is such a great meal!

Now I'm really hungry!

Okay, that's my argument for Chicago pizza!

Later.
Eric

P.S. Bjorn, once the HK 27 gets going, let us know how it works.

[GMichael]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, there's nothing like pizza in Chicago- I know New York has their own claim to fame with pizza, but it's hard to beat Giordono's, Lou Malnatis, Pizzeria Uno, Gino's East, etc. The smaller pizza joints are fantastic as well- thin crust, deep dish, etc.

I travel once in a while for business and I'll be in Orlando and the Houston areas for weeks at a time- there's nothing worse than bad pizza- I still eat it, but just miss Chicago's home cooking.

The deep dish pizza is such a great meal!

Now I'm really hungry!

Okay, that's my argument for Chicago pizza!

Later.
Eric

P.S. Bjorn, once the HK 27 gets going, let us know how it works.

Guys, you are killing me. I can almost smell the pizza from here. MMMMmmmm good.

I've never had a Chicago pizza, but I have heard good things. I am from NY and have had many good pizzas. But the best I ever had was from a place in Pa. I'll be moving across the street from it this year.

[Century L100]

I see your point. It's kind of like cars: If your local Toyota dealer is a jerk, it might be better to buy some other car, with a less stellar reputation but with from a dealer who will take care of you.

An HK receiver I might go for, but from what I've read about the CD player, no thanks. I'd choose something else, even if it did mean that I'd have to have another remote floating around.