David Blizzard – Vintage Audio – Home Theater – Movie and Music Reviews

I have owned and used a Harman Kardon AVR-140 and and HK AVR-240.

I currently own and use a Harman Kardon AVR-247.

AVR 140 – While this is an “entry level” receiver I like to think of it as the minimum for anyone that cares about audio in a home theater. You just can’t compare an HK to the low cost AV receivers from Sony, Pioneer or any other name brand AV receivers that are not high current. Start looking at other high current offerings and you will realize that HK is not overpriced. Don’t be afraid of HK receivers with low wattage ratings. They don’t make a low performance amp. They rate their amps honestly. HK tests their amps at full range from both channels at the same time. Believe it or not that’s not the standard. The AVR 140 – 147 has more stereo power (50 watts) than my 1978 Pioneer SX-780 stereo (45 watts per channel). It only has about 5 watts less at 40 watts per channel power than the Pioneer when driving 5 channels. The AVR 140 is obsolete and the current comparable model is the AVR 147. It features the same power but also has 2 HDMI inputs and 1 HDMI output.

AVR 240 – Let’s take it up a notch. 65 watts per channel stereo and 50 Watts to 7 channels, impressive. Like the 140 it too lacked HDMI switching, let’s move on.

AVR 247 – Worth the extra price tag over the competition? Most definitely! Compared to the Onkyo TX-SR605 you get what I feel is cleaner sound. I love the onscreen input assignment. I can’t stand turning on a receiver without custom naming and my DirecTV receiver displays as DVD or VCR. It sure makes it easier for my wife when the display shows the actual device that’s selected. EZ setup works great, it even adjusts equalization. Of course you can always manually tweak the settings.

My Complaints:

1) Remote codes are limited. They should allow any code they support to work on any input selector, but they don’t.

2) Could use more than 2 HDMI inputs.

That’s it, this audio / video receiver is available for under $499 and well worth it.

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