Harman Kardon AVR 7550HD (2008 announcement)

It's shown on the "New Products" page of the December issue of Sound & Vision. Still nothing on the H-K website though...

http://www.dolby.com/consumer/techno...an-kardon.html

Here is information from Dolby on the receiver and the Dolby Volume technology

And here are the links to the upcoming Harman/Kardon AVR-7550 HD Audio/Video Receiver.

THE FRONT!!!!

http://bitstream.soundandvisionmag.c...imgp2823_2.jpg

AND.......


THE REAR!!!!!!

http://bitstream.soundandvisionmag.c...8/imgp2824.jpg

From what I understand, the Harman/Kardon AVR-7550 HD will be available come January 2009 (and I hope they don't play the delay game like they did the Harman/Kardon AVR-354 back during the summer), and will be priced at $2800.00.

I love the product, but it's a LITTLE too rich for my blood.

Anyone wants to check out this puppy when it finally hits the market in another month and a half or so???

--Charles--

I have my sites set on buying this receiver when it comes out. Several years ago I bought an HK AVR-7200 and loved it. I still have it and it works like new but it does not support HDMI or any of the HD audio formats. Since HK was in between receiver lines last June I bought an Onkyo 875 against my better judgment. It has all the fancy bells and whistles but it just does not have that warm and rich HK sound I desire. Kind of hard to trade up after just buying the Onkyo but if it does not sound the way I want it will drive me nuts forever. I bought the 875 at such a discount its not a huge loss anyway. Plus I can recoup some loss by reselling it.

"I love the product, but it's a LITTLE too rich for my blood."

Then you're fine; HK can typically be had for at least 25% off MSRP

Instead of licensing for dolby volume, thx2 or dynamic eq would be better money spent. Dolby kinda limit yourself to certain sources, considering many blurays are PCM and DTS.

Goatse - Depending on how HK have implemented it, Dolby Volume isn't limited to processing DD+ and TrueHD bitstreams. You should be able to process all of your sources - TV, Blu-Ray, etc.

Dolby Volume is an IP that can applied to any incoming source stream, analog or digital, stereo or multi-channel. Its primary function is to balance the dynamic range, a source could be:
a. A compressed stream from Satellite Radio be it XM or Sirius
b. A compressed stream from an iPod or Internet
c. A stream from a TV set-top box be it cable, Sat or off-air, think about when surfing the channels some may be loud while others are lower in volume level
d. Can be used as a nite mode as well

There are 2 parts of Dolby Volume, 1st part is for controlling the source's dynamic range (volume) and the 2nd part is for frequency response tailoring. Also it works independently for each channel. The Dolby demos done @ CEDIA were incredible.

Just my $0.02..

Any sitings in retail on this yet? There is still nothing on HK's site, nor retailers. Jan 09 release wasnt pushed was it?
~RM

I am interested, just as long as it is not as buggy as the 745 Anyway, they will screw the buyers in the first year with an excessive MSRP, and then you will be able to buy it after a 1.5 year for around or under 1k.

I wish my AVR7300 had the Warm Sound By the way, I have never seen you ask for help on the Audyssey thread. I have seen allot of people complain about the sound of their receiver with Audyssey. Then after going to the thread for help they end up really liking it and state they would never go back to a receiver that didn't have Audyssey room correction I would give it a try before making statements like you did

We're in the second half of January already - anybody has seen the 7550HD for sale yet ?
It also seems that it will have a slightly less complete and considerably less costly companion with the 6550HD.

Thank you for contacting Harman Kardon. Please note that the AVR7550HD is scheduled to be available in the early summer of 2009. It will appear on our website within a few months, closer to the release date of the product.

oh well, the yamaha is looking better by the minute.

I talked to Harman Germany today and here the new models are scheduled for a mid May to End of May release.

And - I had a hard time not to laugh out loud on the phone - the new models are now called AVR 660 and AVR 760 here in Europe Here is a link to the Harman Russia site that already lists them with their new names (and the old European names, too):
http://www.harmansound.ru/catalog/40-1.html

I think this is going to be a nice rcvr. I cant wait til summer though.
the logic 7 is a nice dsp option.

I have used the 745 and the 645 and they are nice but they also have several problems with HDMI audio and do not accept 1080p 24 either.

I would prefer for Harman to stick to a 2 year product cycle in the price bracket of the 660/ 6550HD. To release new models only every 2 1/2 years is problematic.

RSWELTER, where did you get this information from? I have seen two different news releases from Harman... one says January 2009, then other winter 2009...

email from harman cs last week

The 3550HD is identical to the 7550HD, or so it would seem, but with only 75wpc and a lot less money, I've seen $699. If anyone is using a separate power amp, as I am, then paying for the 110w version is a waste of cash.

Hi All,

guess what? the HK AVR 655 and 755 will not be released in US,UK nor Australia.

They are bringing in a another model "HK AVR 660 and 760" and the price will be over $3000 Aus for the AVR 660.
Harmon Kardon US released this announcement in the December 2008 season.
I had a chat to the HK rep and he mentioned provided the above information to me.
the new products AVR 660 and 760 will be on market by May or June 2009.

on their HK site they have listed the release dates as Feb 09 2009. http://www.mediaaudio.hr/site/upload...20.10.2008.pdf

good luck guys, I have to wait for this new model till June now.

As per HK rep, AVR 7550 HD will be released in late spring 2009. Keep your fingers crossed :-)

Yea...lets keep are fingers crossed that it comes out under $1999. So the loyal HK fans don't get as hosed for when you can buy it under $1k a year later. H/k sell it for what it is worth

Still nothing from Harman Kardons Website ... who knows when this is actually going to come out ... giving HK HDMI issues and other kinks in the past I am curious as to when exactly this will be released. You can't put out a 2 Grand flagship AVR with any issues. I guess Harman has finally decided to follow everyone elses strategy of high end AVRs with the latest tech and then have everything eventually trickle down. Its far easier to get things to work right when you have a huge budget to do it with the first time i suppose.

Anyway, hopefully this can all put Harman Kardon on the right track and catch up to everyone else.

I just purchased a new AVR 3550HD, I tried it with my NAD power amp, I gotta say I feel the straight 3550HD amp sounds warmer even at 75 watts (35 amps) compared to 150 watts of the power amp offers. It is just a differnent kind of sound it was clean with the power amp onboard but the AVR's amp is cleaner to me. I plan to purchase the 7550HD when it drops below $1300, probabally in 2010 I can't see it dropping any sooner, if you want to see large images of the 7550HD goto my website: JG HK Fan

HK receivers and amps are some of the best at taming speakers to the warm side.
I'm not familar with NAD's sound, but I find Parasound amps to be very close to HK, as I run a HCA 2205 amp with HK AVR 635.

I see on the H/K website that it will be shutting down today, Friday, April 17 and coming back live on Thursday, April 23. I think we will then see the new AVR 7550 and specs at that time. Seems like a long time to get a web site updated.

I just purchased the H/K AVR 354 and sold my Denon 5308Ci. I moved from a dedicated home theater set up to an apartment due to a relocation for work and I must say that the differences between the Denon and the H/K are very close. The H/K does give off a very warm and detailed sound that is very pleasing.

The EQ is no where near as well thought out as the Audyssey but the Audyssey in my opinion was different as well. I still think you can customize the sound to your liking with either it just takes time.

Ted

From: HCG Customer Support 2
To: Jg ,,,,
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2009 8:55:31 PM
Subject: AVR3550HD - issues (7550HD?)


Hi J,
Our system is now showing an arrival date of 6/15 for our initial shipment.

Sincerely,
James Pagano
Internet Support Specialist
Harman Consumer Group
Woodbury, NY

Hopefully the wait means all the bugs of the 3550HD will not be in the 7550HD.
From what I've read, the 3550 will not overlay L7 7.1 on a 5.1 source.