# Harman Kardon or Marantz



## kennypc (Sep 4, 2009)

Why don't I hear much about H/K or Marantz avr,s? All I hear about is Denon, Onkyo, Pioneer and Yamaha avrs I've own both and they both sound excellent with lots of amp power (headroom). As a matter of fact H/K underrate their amps power. Is my opinion wrong if so, will someone correct me on this? THX in advancelddude:


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## yoda13 (Feb 14, 2012)

*Re: Harman kardon or Marantz*

I'll take a stab at this, for example, the Denon AVR-3313, can be had for around $1100 vs the equivalent Marantz SR7007 would cost you $1800 (Amazon.com). That's $700 extra for essentially the same AVR.

H/K is losing ground feature wise. Unfortunately, today's buyer are more interested in apps, networking ability, fancy GUIs, streaming capabilities and "stuff" like that (I'm not in that group). H/K is behind on those features. Also, H/K's EzSET is not up to par with Audyssey for instance.

cheers


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## kennypc (Sep 4, 2009)

*Re: Harman kardon or Marantz*

Thank you Yoda, H/K only good for SQ and Marantz are overpriced other than that they're equal to the others!!!


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## kennypc (Sep 4, 2009)

*Re: Harman kardon or Marantz*

Any other opinions? Where are all the experts???:wave::wave::wave:


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Moved this thread to the Home Theater Receivers / Processors / Amps forum.


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## selden (Nov 15, 2009)

Don't forget that you need to speak directly with resellers to get the best price. Often substantial discounts are available. Marantz, for example, does not allow discounted prices to be published publicly.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

The bottom line is that H/K has not been in the same league as Onkyo, Yamaha or Denon, Yes they do "under rate" their amp sections but still dont have the output that Onkyo has for the same price. Not saying that they are no good but these days price and features is what people look at and Audyssey is much better than EZset.


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## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

Seems to me these things are cyclical as companies gain and lose talented designers, technological advantages, market share etc. Right now Onkyo seems to be the all around leader, 7 - 8 years ago Denon was at the top of the heap. Back in the late 1970's Harmon Kardon had the excellent Citation series of products and the Marantz model 19 was a great piece of gear in the early 1970's.


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## vann_d (Apr 7, 2009)

I have a HK receiver that I bought at a severe discount and it treated me well. However, in today's market (and for the last five years frankly) their feature set is just not on par at all to be considered a viable option for the informed consumer. Price for price, their receivers have significantly fewer features and their supposedly underrated amp section does not make up the difference.


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## Ryan8886 (Nov 22, 2012)

I bought an H/K AVR 330 back around 2005 and started building he rest of my rig around it for a couple years. I found both the sound and it's power to be more than pleasing. Later I added an Emo LPA-1 amp an continued to use the 330 as a pre/pro. I just sold it to someone on one of the other boards as I recently scooped up a Newcastle R972. The older H/K's are quality equipment. Mine served me well for a lot of years. That said, I agree that they're lacking in the "goodies" department and I've read that their new current line is just not up to snuff compared to the previous generations in regards to sound and amp quality.


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## 86eldel68-deactivated (Nov 30, 2010)

As much as I like my Marantz SR6003 - and I really do like it! - if I had to buy another AVR tomorrow I'd go with either a Denon or an Onkyo. Both brands make good-quality, well-equipped and competitively-priced AVRs.


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

Hello,
Since Denon and Marantz merged, their AVR and SSP's are pretty much only superficially different. This has been especially so since Bain Capital purchased D&M Holdings and massively restructured them.

The biggest thing I have noticed since Bain took over is more and more series no longer being made in Japan (now China) and the AVR's pulling a Jenny Craig. For instance, the pre merger $1699 7 Channel Denon AVR-3808 weighed 39.2 pounds whereas the $2499 9 Channel AVR-4520CI weighs 36 pounds.

I do like H/K and am a huge fan of Logic 7. However, as has been pointed out above, they just have not seemed as relevant in the HDMI era.
Cheers,
JJ


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

I would choose Marantz over HK, based on historical quality and support. I am not sure what is happening with Marantz in the last few years as I have not been involved in the business of service and sales directly any more. 

Overall, for receivers, I would choose Onkyo for raw value, Yamaha for quality and support.


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## 8086 (Aug 4, 2009)

*Re: Harman kardon or Marantz*



yoda13 said:


> I'll take a stab at this, for example, the Denon AVR-3313, can be had for around $1100 vs the equivalent Marantz SR7007 would cost you $1800 (Amazon.com). That's $700 extra for essentially the same AVR.
> 
> H/K is losing ground feature wise. Unfortunately, today's buyer are more interested in apps, networking ability, fancy GUIs, streaming capabilities and "stuff" like that (I'm not in that group). H/K is behind on those features. Also, H/K's EzSET is not up to par with Audyssey for instance.
> 
> cheers



Jay Leno said it best (in reference to some of his cars): 

_ People just don't want to pay for engineering they cannot see._

The same is true for most of today's high end electronics. The mass market just doesn't want to pay for what they don't immediately see when they walk in to a store (uninformed). Harmon stuff is usually very well designed and the compromise for that HK quality comes at the expense of cost (price point).


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## PT800 (Feb 19, 2008)

Jungle Jack said:


> Hello,
> Since Denon and Marantz merged, their AVR and SSP's are pretty much only superficially different. This has been especially so since Bain Capital purchased D&M Holdings and massively restructured them.
> 
> The biggest thing I have noticed since Bain took over is more and more series no longer being made in Japan (now China) and the AVR's pulling a Jenny Craig. For instance, the pre merger $1699 7 Channel Denon AVR-3808 weighed 39.2 pounds whereas the $2499 9 Channel AVR-4520CI weighs 36 pounds.
> ...


I just picked up a HK 3600, that was manufactured in Jan 2012. It has HDMI v1.4a. So it is up to date HDMI.
For streaming I use iTunes on my macbook. And it does have a dock for iPhone/Pad.
When it comes to processing stereo sources into MC, Logic7 has it all over the rest. And the 3600 has full set of pre-outs, which allows me to use my Parasound power amp and also P7 pre. 
I wish it had dual sub outs, but I daisy chain my two subs, so not huge problem. 
The next choice would be a Marantz, then Denon...I would never buy Onkyo.


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## kennypc (Sep 4, 2009)

Thank you all for the info. The next avr I purchase wont be from either one of of these companies. I will go the separate route from Emotiva:clap:


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

kennypc said:


> Thank you all for the info. The next avr I purchase wont be from either one of of these companies. I will go the separate route from Emotiva:clap:


Hello,
Please let us know your impressions. I am not a huge fan of Emotiva SSP's, but hopefully the latest with TACT RoomEQ will be a different story.
Cheers,
JJ


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