Official Harman Kardon AVR 254 & 354 Owners Thread - Page 80

The HKTS-18 uses the HKS 9 speakers as satellites. The frequency response is 105-20khz -6db. You should set your crossover for all of the satellites to 120hz so that you send all of the other bass info to your sub. You can set the sub to 10" as that is what it is, although to be honest I don't know what that setting does.

For the level settings just listen to the test tone and try and make the volume the same for each speaker including the sub. Good luck.

I have been tracking the sale price of the 254 refurb on ebay (since they first started selling) and the price is no longer fluctuating. It looks like some one is bidding the price up. I suspect that some one from H/K is bidding the price up. Can you contact Ebay and have them check if the same bidder is bidding on all of them?

Added:
I checked and I have contacted Ebay regarding Shill biding.

That is a very serious accusation.

I would not have accused Harman Kardon of illegal activities in an open forum like this without more evidence, but that's just me.

I did not say that they were doing that. I said that I suspect that and would like for Ebay to check.

I have been watching the prices for over a week now and just bought one last night.

When I first started watching them, they were going for ~$220, I saw them get up to $260-280, then they came down a bit again. I ended up buying one last night for $241.

I figured the prices were going up since more people were finding out about this model and because the new firmware is coming out soon.

Hi everyone -
This is my first post, though I have done a lot of reading in the forum. I purchsed an H/K AVR 354 about 3 months ago, and am reletively happy with the unit (Audio is Wonderful!).

My frustration is with the video processing from this unit. Connected to my 354 is a 52" Samsung LCD (LN62A650) a sony DVD player, and a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 HD Cable/DVR box.

Particularly when playing back any HD recording from the DVR, I experience alot of frame jitter. This is particulalrly noticeable when there is alot of camera movement, such as when a camera is panning. My wife was watching a recent episode of Jon & Kate, and the constant camera panning caused jittering which drive me nuts (almost as much as the show itself!) I have the 95 firmware update, and have realized like everyone else that the video processing is never "off" with the AVR354. Again, I really like the unit, and would like some type of workaround for this behaviour. Thanks in advance.

Cheers.

I'm not sure if it will work but you could send one signal to the TV and the other to the HK.

4X2 True Matrix HDMI 1.3a Powered Switch w/ Remote Controller (Rev. 3.0)

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...=2#description

I searched the thread, saw someone ask once but never saw an answer.

Does anyone know if the RS-232 can accept command control codes? Or is it strictly limited to being used for firmware updates. It's so hard to find an affordable receiver that uses an RS-232 for control, that I was hoping the 254/354's did.

HK's are generally found to be higher tested watts vs the stated specs. Like the HK7200 I have was HK rated 100watts per channel but tested out as 140watts 5 channels driven at 0.1 distortion. I'd guess the HK354 75watts tests out at 100watts. I have both of these receivers and the HK354 is a excellent receiver with plenty of clean power for a large room setups and all the bells and whistles you'd want from a modern day receiver. The low price is just stupid but I'll take it. Thanks HK/JBL

Note that if you want the AVR to decode a proprietary audio bitstream, you still need to connect the AVR to the TV via HDMI. So you need to have atleast two HDMI inputs on your TV. Otherwise, you will get an HDCP error and a down-mixed stereo sound. Also, the item mentioned is a switch-splitter. I believe you only need a splitter, which Monoprice also carries.

I don't believe that they can accept command codes over RS-232... emailing HK would be the quickest way to confirm this...

We've had our 254 for about a month. Hid it in the closet of a bedroom that backs to the living room so that all we have coming out of the wall is 1 HDMI cable. Very clean. I love everything about this receiver except for this, which I hope is fixable with some help from you guys . . . when switching from blue ray or other component to cable (motorola box) it drops the video. I have to reboot the motorola box and it is a total whip. It's also happened going the opposit way - cable to blue ray. Any suggestions?

i bought an open box avr 254 from bb but it had no accesories. all i want is the remote but i can find one at a resonable price. anybody know where i can get one?

EDIT :: Oops, didn't realize there was a Problems and Solution thread for the AVR 254. Post moved

The more that auction site gets posted about on here the higher the bids go ha ha.
Experienced Ebay bidders know all kinda tricks to win auctions. The reason items go for a certain price is because someone is willing to pay that much for it! Many times I have seen used items (anywhere on Ebay) go for more than a new one ha ha.

will a remote for another avr work for my avr 254?

Question for the experts here. Should I allow the receiver (AVR-254) to process the video signal or my lcd (Sony XBR4)?

And is it me or does this thing run incredibly hot? I have about 2 inches of space to vent the top in a cabinet. There is also 6-8 inches of space behind the receiver with some air holes. Should I do more?

The remote sucks anyway. Buy yourself a Harmony.

I found more about this topic.

"Example of incorrect setup: some user connects blu-ray to the splitter input, and then connects one output to TV, and the other output to surround receiver, then complains that the splitter doesn't support advanced audio. This is not the fault of the splitter, this is what you suppose to get. Because in such configuration, the audio format is limited by TV, because both TV and the receiver has to understand the same audio stream, the blu-ray will provide the basic audio stream understood by the TV, regardless how advanced the audio of your receiver and blu-ray disc are capable of. All the decisions are made by the HDMI unit at the splitter input, the HDMI splitter has nothing to do with A/V format received by TV or receiver."

Just picked up a 254 refurb on ebay. Wee. I wanted to buy a usb to rs232 adapter so that i'll be able to update the firmware if need be when it arrives. I'm running windows 7 x64, which i know can play havoc with drivers sometimes. Has anyone had any success updating the firmware with a particular adapter from win7 or vista x64? Thanks!

I purchased an AVR 247 and had a lot of problems with it. I called Harman Kardon and asked about upgrading to the 254. I offered to pay the difference. The guy at Harman Kardon told me that he could not do that. I sent the 247 back and asked (email and letter enclosed with 247) for a full refund since I had not had the 247 for 30 days. A received an email from harman Kardon Saturday saying that they had sent me a replacement 247. That was a big problem since we (my family) are not going to be home for a month. I sent an email to Harman Kardon telling them this and Ken with Harman Kardon redirected the 247 back to Harman. Ken apologized and also asked me if I wanted the credit or be upgraded to the 254. I asked him how much for the upgrade and he told me no additional cost. Though I was not happy with the 247, I will have to say that Harman takes care of their customers very well. So I guess that I am a soon to be owner (Harman is holding the 254 until I get back home) of a AVR 254. I hope it works better for me than the 247. The 247 did not play nice with my Planar PD7130 (projector).

Hello

I have my Digital cable running through my AVR 254 to my TV via HDMI. Simple connection from my Comcast box to my AVR, then AVR to my TV. When I switch between DVR and Live Cable on the cable box the video feed from the AVR to the TV goes out. If I hit another source button on the AVR and then back to the HDMI 1 the picture comes back.

Anybody else had this issue?

Thanks

Cheers!

If it is running that hot, you really need more airflow. I recommend doing whatever is necessary to make sure it stays cool... for instance if you don't have a lot of room on the sides, then you may not have enough air flowing through the receiver for adequate, and you should find some way to increase the empty space around in in every direction. Also, do not operate the unit with the door on your cabinet (if you have one) closed, as this will basically stop all airflow in and around the unit...

I've had the same issue and HK replied to my message; their instructions were to do exactly what you said. . . switch inputs and then go back to cable. Poor answer in my opinion. I'd prefer for the avr NOT to drop the signal. Love the receiver but this is a major negative; probably would've picked another unit if I had to deal with this.

Can someone help answer this question.

Can the HK 254 process HD audio from the PS3 sent via LPCM and matrix from 5.1 to 7.1? The manual indicates that it can but I'd like to confirm with someone who owns this receiver and has tried this.

-MJ

This is not correct. No receiver can get 5.1 LPCM over optical or coax. It can only get 2 channel LPCM.

I've been following this thread for awhile and I'm finally ready to take the plunge on the 354 (although it looks like a number of places are clearing out the 354 to focus on the 3550HD, it looks like the latter doesn't really offer any advantage other than integrated A-Bus).

I'm having a hard time choosing speakers and was hoping for some recommendations. While I acknowledge that this can be highly subjective, I can't find any local retailers that have both alternatives set-up, which makes it difficult to choose.

My choices are either the JBL ES series (with the ES90 towers and the ES10 rear surrounds) or the Canton GLE series. Although I've seen some glowing reviews about the Cantons (and far less online about the JBLs), I'm expecting that the JBLs might be a better sonic match due to the same corporate lineage as the 354. Anyone have experience pairing the 354 with either? They seem to be fairly comparable in price, but the Cantons are maybe another $300-400.

As for sub, the online consensus seems to be to stay away from the ES250. Instead, the JBL L8400 and Infinity PS212 seem to get nods in online forums; any recommendations as to which is better.

Thanks in advance.

Dallas, use component video and Tos Link from your Cable Box to the AVR to avoid the HDMI handshake issues. Since your cable isn't 1080p and doesn't provide any HD Audio you won't miss anything.

I'm curious about this also.

TrueHD/DTS-MA 5.1 decoded to LPCM at the PS3, passed to the AVR and output matrix 7.1 still lossless?

True, but you can get 5.1 Dolby Digital over coax... maybe that is what the original poster meant to say?