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131K views 877 replies 153 participants last post by  papatoony2 
#1 ·
So I was in Best Buy today and they had a H/K AVR1700 out on display. It doesn't look too bad. I like the look of my 2600 better. The volume knob seemed kind of flimsy. I went to pick it up and it is light!! It could have been a demo shell it was so light but it wasn't because it was powered on. I know they say weight isn't everything but this thing only weighs 12.8 lbs!! They only had it plugged in and didn't have any speakers hooked up so I couldn't listen to it. I hope the rest of their upcoming lineup has more heft to it. It just seems low quality.
 
#53 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by hunterbuck  /t/1429194/the-new-harman-kardon-avr1700/30#post_22689088


Does anybody know how the sound quality of the avr 1700 would compair with that of the avr 1650? Just curious. Thanks.
Sound quality should be similar.

Amp section is essentially identical. Same amplifier topology used for past several generations of H/K 1,2,3 series AVRs.


Differences are the power supply (now using a SMPS for the 1700) and change in secondary/filter/storage/reserve capacitance (total 6600uf 2/63v caps for 1700, total 16400uf 2/50v caps for 1650)

For comparison, secondary capacitance for AVR 1565 13600uf 2/50v caps, AVR 1600 (preceded 1650/1565) 20000uf 2/50v caps, AVR 154 (preceded 1600) 27200uf 4/50v caps (x54/x550HD series last generation with dual secondary power supply)



If you are using very efficient speakers crossed over, unlikely you will notice a difference in power between the 1700 vs 1650. How the new switch mode power supply impacts the sound quality has yet to be established, though IMO I don't expect any appreciable difference. I don't have any hands-on time with the new 1700 driving familiar speakers, however.

If you have less efficient, power hungry speakers (especially if they will be running full-range) any shortcomings will become apparent more readily. These receivers are best suited for smaller bookshelf/sub or sat/sub configurations.
 
#55 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by sinkdrain  /t/1429194/the-new-harman-kardon-avr1700/30#post_22695170


I'm about to replace my hk avr330 with a 1700. Hk advertised the 330 as 55 watts per channel and the new 1700 as 100 watts per channel.

I know advertising changes but will the 1700 be an upgrade in power over my old hk avr330?

The 1700 and 330 use different methods for measuring power, but suffice it to say they are both about the same power output in real terms. Though the 1700 is pretty new all indications are that it is an excellent value, one thing to note is that its unit net weight is very light as it uses a digital power supply like a computer. Also its features and warranty are excellent...


Just my $0.02...
 
#59 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by hunterbuck  /t/1429194/the-new-harman-kardon-avr1700/30#post_22699989


Does the avr 1650 or the 1700 have a compressed audio restorer like some denon models? For an ipod? Thanks for the quick reply @dRockHK

Note the 1700 connects to the iPod through its USB port using the SMSC processor. So the audio streamed from the iPod is digital whereas much of the competition can only handle analog iPod audio, the digital audio allows the higher quality DAC in the 1700 to do the audio decoding versus the lower performance DAC in the iPod..


Also note that the majority of audio restorer modes are more fluff than real sonic improvement, if one wants higher performance from an iPod than rip the content @ a higher bit rate...


Just my $0.02...
 
#60 ·
I am looking at getting some Infinity Kappa 6.1 towers with the AVR 1700. I really like the sound of Infinity and hear that these are really good speakers. Asking price is $150.00 from a private local seller. My setup will be for music and movies and I will have likely have Episode ceiling mounted directional rears. I do not have a center channel yet and am hoping for suggestions and I know that there is no "matching" center for these speakers. I have heard that the Kappas are power hungry, do you think that the AVR will push enough?
 
#61 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by arnyk  /t/1429194/the-new-harman-kardon-avr1700#post_22635854


The fine print in my AVR's manual says that it doesn't do video format conversions. It just switches among each type of video input and produces a video output in just the same type.

HDMI->HDMI

S-video -> s-video

etc.

I'll bet yours is made the same way.

Yes.

There are such things as analog video to HDMI converters.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10114&cs_id=1011406&p_id=7111

Thanks for the suggestion. This morning I struggled to connect my laptop to AVR. My plan was to use a DVI to hdmi cable for the video, and to use analog L/R cable for audio. Their manual seems to suggests that you can do that. But, the reality seems not so. When I tried to set that up thought the OSD's input selector. It will switch my video input to analog whenever I picked any audio input other than hdmi. It seems that I will have to get an dvi+audio to hdmi converter. One more device needs power source. Just hate that! I like the sound of this receiver a lot though.
 
#68 ·
QGU999, I think that you may be missing a solution that you may have overlooked. You can utilize your television's HDMI input directly from your computer and run the audio into the receiver via the analog, optical or coaxial. Why even bother using the receiver for the video signal? On a different but similar note, my television actually takes any source input and sends the audio out via analog so I can run HDMI video to the tv and send the analog audio to an old receiver that has no HDMI input. Of course now that I have the AVR 1700 I will no longer have to do that.
 
#69 ·
The Wii has composite out so there will be no problem hooking it up directly to the AVR 1700 if you need to. However If your TV has component in, I would utilize that input for the video signal directly from the Wii as it is of higher quality and then use the audio cables directly to the receiver. I must be missing something because people seem adamant on utilizing the receiver as a video switch. Perhaps it is because of a lack of inputs on their television which would make sense.
 
#70 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ephraker  /t/1429194/the-new-harman-kardon-avr1700/60#post_22712845


The Wii has composite out so there will be no problem hooking it up directly to the AVR 1700 if you need to. However If your TV has component in, I would utilize that input for the video signal directly from the Wii as it is of higher quality and then use the audio cables directly to the receiver. I must be missing something because people seem adamant on utilizing the receiver as a video switch. Perhaps it is because of a lack of inputs on their television which would make sense.

Yes, great points... I do have component in on my tv. I got the 1700 because i love my hk avr 330 but its lack of hdmi and hd audio decoding does not work well with the new rokus. Roku only has hdmi out and my tv only outputs analog stereo to my receiver. Now I'll finally get to stream dolby digital plus, etc...


I saw that the avr 1650 used to be advertised as 65 watts per channel. And then started advertising 95 or so. Assuming the 65 watts rating was the older rating system, the 1700 would still be more powerful than my 330 rated at 55 watts. My guess is that the advertised 100 watts of the 1700 would equate to 65-70 watts in the older hk rating system.
 
#71 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by sinkdrain  /t/1429194/the-new-harman-kardon-avr1700/60#post_22715759


I saw that the avr 1650 used to be advertised as 65 watts per channel. And then started advertising 95 or so. Assuming the 65 watts rating was the older rating system, the 1700 would still be more powerful than my 330 rated at 55 watts. My guess is that the advertised 100 watts of the 1700 would equate to 65-70 watts in the older hk rating system.

With only two channels driven, yes it is probably about the same as the old 65-70 watt rated system. With 5 channels driven, the 1650 is a little weaker. The power supply just does not have enough oomph to drive that many channels as high as the older machines. Probably looking at best around 50 watts for five channels driven. I doubt that twith a 260 watt power supply, the AVR 1700 is putting out much more than 40 watts per channel with all channels driven. For kicks here's bench results of the 3650 which had much more power than the 1650 and a 480 watt power supply. http://www.hometheater.com/content/harman-kardon-avr-3650-av-receiver-ht-labs-measures


The old H/Ks could easily put the rated watts into all channels. Here's one for an old AVR 340, which H/K listed at 70x2, 55x7:
http://www.hometheater.com/content/paradigm-cinema-330-speaker-system-and-harmankardon-avr-340-av-receiver-ht-labs-measures-har


And one of the most amazing is the test for an old 147, which H/K listed at 50x2, 40x5:
http://www.hometheater.com/content/three-ways-fill-rack-ht-labs-measures-harman-kardon


With that said, the output of the 1650 or 1700 is not bad. Most products of Yamaha, Sony, and the like at that price level do about the same. It's just these new H/Ks don't have the power with all channels driven of the old ones, although for two channel power they are right there and in some cases better. Also, most people aren't going to notice the difference. It takes twice the power to get a mere 3db increase in volume.
 
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