Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater H/K troubles

I've pretty much accepted the fact that with most receivers you're better off with banana plugs. So much easier to use in the teeny tiny space they give you.

Folks: this does not sound like a binding post problem. I really am sad to hear that another so called "refurb" is not performing as factory fresh.

I just bought a refurb HK 7300....the first one was disturbingly horrific. The door wouldnt close, the osd was dead, and forget about rear surround. I called them and complained...they were quick to have a call tag issued to pick it up and they shipped me a new one 2nd day air. The 2nd unit was a little closer to NEW....I am so far satisfied until it explodes.

Now as for MY BACK...its hating this new 7300. 72lbs everytime you move it....OUCH.!!1

Well I am sure that it is the Harman and not the DVD player or cables or anything else.

I switched the input cables going to the center and front left speaker to see if the crackling would come out of the front speaker instead of the center. . . . .NOPE. The crackling still came out of the center which would mean that the problem is farther downstream in the receiver. Just to be doubley sure I rehooked up the Onkyo receiver and sure enough there was no crackling whatsoever.

I rehooked up the harman and at first it seemed to be ok.. . . but then I let it sit for a while and it heated up to its normal boiling temperature. WOW then it was REALLY bad crackling through the center and left surround. So it seems to have something to do with the heat level inside the receiver.

I then immediately switched the mode from 5.1 DVD audio to a regular dvd with surround sound. Absolutely no crackling. So it is just with the 6.1/8.1 inputs.

I am in the process of trying to get a hold of h/k to have them ship a replacement.

Will update more as it comes.

Well I think that is it. I am going to get rid of this h/k and go back to my Onkyo for now. It is as if I am trying to like this h/k because of the name and reputation, but in the end it has this problem with the 6.1/8/.1 channel and it gets so freaking hot that it is affecting my DVD player that rests on the shelf above it. I had the receiver on for a couple of hours without playing anything and it was so hot that you could not touch the top of it for more than a tenth of a second without burning your hand. This is ridiculous. The onkyo might get so that you can tell it is warm when not playing anything but never, even playing at reference levels through 5 channels, has it gotten anywhere near as hot as the h/k. I don't want to have to set up an external fan just to make up for it. That seems ridiculous.

I made the upgrade mainly to have the ability of preamp outputs for all channels and 7.1. But it just doesn't seem worth it at this point. Perhaps I will go for the Onkyo tx-sr702 someday in the future when the price drops a bit or just wait to see what else might come out in the next 6 months or so.

Side note: I was really looking forward to the ability to set the crossover levels at different settings for front, center and surrounds. I had them set at 40hz, 80hz, and 60hz respectively. When I ran my test disc my bass frequency response curve went south. There were large fluctuations in the bass curve as much as 12db. When I went back and set everything to 60 hz everything smoothed back out to within +/- 3db. So at least in my room the multiple adjustable crossovers are not going to do me any good anyway. So oh well. . .I hope h/k doesn't make the return a pain in the butt.

Just got off of the phone with h/k. (finally got through). The phone call only lasted about 2 min. After summing up the problem with the 6.1 inputs the representative stated that it would be no problem to send out a replacement. I asked if I could just do a refund. He stated that it would be no problem and they will ship out a prepaid shipping label for return. He also stated his suprise that it was not working properly and appologized for the inconvinience.

Very glad the call went this way. Good job on the customer service h/k.

Customer service is actually a strong point at HK. However, that doesnt change that fact that now two board memebers have gotten bad refurbs from HK....

Buyers be CAUTIOUS.

How many of us have good refurbs thou?

Not saying there is anything wrong with our friends that have faulty units, but its more likely you will hear from them than the satisfied users because its upsetting to buy something and have it not work correctly.

I've got 3 refurbs, all from eCOST.com. Haven't had a problem with any of them.

I had one from J&R for a year or so,no troubles at all.I gave it to my brother and it is still running good.