Harman Kardon - why are their AVR so less powered?

[midnitefreakin]

Most of us love HK for its look and sq. HK is def a front runner in the race for best AVRs today but I am not able to understand why are they so less powered? I was checking their 7.1 255 AVR which gives only 50rms/channel whereas in the same category other brands like marantz, onkyo, yamaha, denon giv atleast 90rms/channel.

I hope i am not missing something. Can any of our member/experts tell us why so?:sad:

 

[avidyarthy]

Technically, for a 200-250 sq ft. room, 50 rms per channel is more than sufficient, thats why.
And, for some companies, 50 rms per channel MEANS 50 rms for each channel.

HK 255 was the first AVR I had auditioned. I was a noob then, still am ... Unfortunately, the sales guy at the store was a noob himself, and had made the mistake of matching the AVR with HKTS satellite speakers. That broke the deal, as music experience was bad. Had he used better speakers like the JBL Controls as satellites, maybe, I would have been possessing the 255 today!

 

[Vinod.R]

Hi ,

As far as I know HK uses a very conservative rating scale (20-20 Khz) for all channels and a stricter measuring rating, that is why a 50w RMS can easily power floors.

Some companies specialize in Dynamic volume rating, so dont be impressed or depressed by it.

I am not an expert, but I guess 20-20Khz,all channels driven, discrete amp circuitry etc makes a difference and THD etc all make a diff.

The only problem I have is that their remotes are very difficult to understand and operate, other than that no issues at all.

Take care

 

[KalyanVizag]

I have also heard in some forums that HK are conservative about projecting their wattage ratings as well.

 

[hemant0285]

HKs give actual rating instead of others who rate Dynamic-Wattage...

 

[rupy]

Harman Kardon used to be a great name in hi-fi,but sadly their new products have lost out in sq,may be due to change in circuitry keeping in mind the economics.Their previous gen stereos/AVRs were rugged,powerful and had a very cheerful sound.I am also using a stereo HK amp(HK670),which is rated as 85 wrms/pc but is definitely under-rated.It is very good ,but somehow it sounds unenthusiastic when compared to their previous models.
-Cheers.

 

[deba]

Power expressed in terms of Watt is very misleading and sometimes bigger numbers are expressed by manufacturers to make it more attractive to consumers.

Look at the wattage expressed for HTIBs in Sony India Website, they are misleading since they dont play that loud in reality.It is sometimes tricky to see manufacturers giving fancy numbers in terms of RMS Wattage at 4 or 8 Ohms load.

Best is to go for demo if possible before buying.Take your own Audio/ Video disc which you have played few times before and see for yourself how loud it plays.

 

[midnitefreakin]

All the AVR makers disclose their wattage in RMS and per channel only.

Yamaha 667 has 90rms/channel...

Incase of Harman Kardon, all i can guess is that they report their lower range of rms/channel...whereas other would be reporting the higher range.

Talking about SQ harman kardon is way above any other brands and still sound better than many of its competitor...it loses only to Marantz...

Talking about Sony, they report their output in PMPO and not rms, which is derived by multiplying RMS wattage by 10...so their output always seems so loud and powerful.

I went through HK manual to see if they reprot the lower range but no mention of that.

 

[NetFreak]

All the AVR makers disclose their wattage in RMS and per channel only.

They have other variables to play with. For example look at Yamaha 665.

Yamaha 665 Specs :

RX-V665 - RX - AV Receivers - Audio & Visual - Products - Yamaha United States

Yamaha 667 Specs :

RX-V667 - RX - AV Receivers - Audio & Visual - Products - Yamaha United States

Both of these specify 90W RMS.

655 is a Weaker model and specifies 90 W at 1KHz.

667 is a better model and specifies 90W at full spectrum (20 Hz to 20 KHz)

So, even RMS power can be reported in multiple ways to make it look more powerful.

 

[NetFreak]

Duplicate post

 

[spirovious]

All the AVR makers disclose their wattage in RMS and per channel only.

Yamaha 667 has 90rms/channel...

Eventhough they write,it cant output 90w all ch at a time as its max power consumption is 400w.Where as some companies like HK,marantz gives true/continuous power ratings which can actually powerful than 90w of Yamaha.
http://www.hifivision.com/amplifier...de-side-feature-comparision-3.html#post229500

 

[hemantwaghe]

Doc your another kenwoofd ( 48+48 W) beat the onkyo avr hands down right?

 

[avidyarthy]

@ midnite ....

Why don't you go ahead and buy the HK 255 with suitable speakers (JBL Controls)? At least, now (early 2011) we are blatantly discussing everything threadbare. This was'nt so in Jan 2010 ... or, maybe, I was too impatient ... The topics being discussed and shared openly is 'pure' cream and 'gold' for newbies and noobs.

Remember .... no risk, no glory ..... applies to 'everything' ..

 

[mpw]

50W per channel HK is punchy enough for my room of 400 sq ft. I have a 5.1 system. ( more details about it on another thread )

I own the HK 255 since March 2009 and have no complaints whatsoever.

The power ratings mentioned are for ALL channels driven in 7.1 mode. Many other manufacturers mentions power rating with ONLY 1 or @ chanels driven.

HK and NAD etc.. state the power ratings as it is. Others choose to interpret and present ( or distort ?) accordingly.

Please ask the salesman to hook up a nice floor stander or a good quality bookshelf to hear the HK255.

In stereo mode ( 2 ch ) the HK 255 does 65W - 70 W i think.. which is very good too.

Rest is up to your ear & wallet.. what to buy..

Regards,
mpw

 

[ravi_d]

I don't think there is a point in comparing rms wattages between two amps. Wattage figures are always confusing.
A 750 Roksan Kandy K2 amp puts out 125 W/ch @8 ohms.e a But their higher model Roksan Caspian M2 at more than double the price of about 1600 puts out 85W/ch @ 8ohms. But they say the later higher flagship model at 85W/ch amp sounds more powerful than their 125 W/ch lower variant.
My NAD amp puts out 80W/ch at 8ohms. So upgrading to 85W/ch costing 4 times its price may bring a huge improvement in sound quality or a 30W class A amp costing 8 times its price may be miles ahead of my 80W/ch amp.

Wattage figure shouldn't be a deciding criteria.

 

[spirovious]

Doc your another kenwoofd ( 48+48 W) beat the onkyo avr hands down right?

Very true,Kenwood 48w sounds bigger than Onkyo 100w.