The new Harman Kardon AVR1700

Hi jtenn, I was also at best buy and was wondering the same thing about the weight. It my be all digital amps like the older pannys and kenwood receivers. They also had an avr 700 next to the 1700, and the 700 was about two hundred dollars cheaper but was about twice as heavy.I tried a search but came up empty.

I thought it was a typo when the specs said the HK 1700 was only 12.8 lbs. The cheaper HK 700 weighs 20lbs. What's up with that?

The HK 1700 is a class D amp and the HK 700 is a class AB amplifier?

Well that's explains it! I also was at best buy and as soon as I picked That receiver up I knew it had to be a class d amp...it was soooo light. My current avr254 is very heavy... I'm not to sure about class d amps..guess I will have to listen to it..very nice looking receiver..but its almost like a toy! Lol
I'm just using my 254 ad a preamp cause I have parasound amps hooked up to it...but I have always owned h/k products..there heads above the current mass marketed receivers out there...always very detailed dynamic sound..I think this is there first class d amp...guess I will have to go listen...just out ta curiosity!

Reason is that the 1700 uses a SMPS (Switch Mode Power Supply) similar to a PC. The amplifiers is their typical Class-AB design, as used by HK for the last 12 years....

Just my $0.02...

Don't know how it sounds..
The major advantage of the SMPS is 120V-240V compatibility for worldwide sales..
Just switch out the detachable IEC power cord with the local AC plug.


Just my $0.02..

Crown, Harman's division that builds power amplifiers for professional use, has been building class AB and H (linear, not switchmode or class D) power amps with switchmode power supplies for years with IME good results.

One interesting line of amps (XTi series) range from 275 to 650 WPC @ 8 ohms, are all the same size and weight (18.5 pounds) and superficially appear to be identical to each other if you look at their interiors.

Past models with traditional designs and power output similar to the higher power rated member of this group weighed over 60 pounds. The lowest power rated model compares to a traditional amp that weighs 30-35 pounds.

Being to meet specs while running on power line running from 120 to 230-250 volts is obviously quite an advantage in international markets. Amps in the XTi line do have a little more punch when run on 230 volts but IME they meet spec on 120 volt lines.

? They've also been making switchmode models for years.

Correcto...
Crown has been designing/building good-sounding, reliable power amplifiers for pro appplications including the mentioned technologies..
However the AVRs are designed off-shore and the Crown engineers based in the USA have nada to do with AVRs..

Though there may be some overlap between the engineering teams in pro and consumer groups sometime in the future but not @ present...
Note that there was some common engineering (amplifiers, DSP) efforts in past AVR generations both for HK and Lexicon, but that all came to an end when the AVR design team based in Northridge, CA was cancelled and moved to Shenzen China in 2009....

Just my $0.02...

I had the 1700 for a few days and it was very light, but one thing I can say is it sounded really nice with plenty of power. The only reason I returned it was it doesn't have hdmi standby pass through. Not a big deal to some but for me it was a deal breaker. Other than that one thing I would have kept it and been very happy.

I picked one of these at BestBuy's Black Friday price of $200.00. I bought it to replace a Denon AVR3300, mainly for the HDMI uses. The Denon still sounds great, but for 200 bucks I figure this lightweight is worth a shot. The only non-HDMI source I have is a laserdisc player, and I haven't played one in a year.

I think this is there first class d amp...guess I will have to go listen.

I just bought one of these too for the Best Buy Cyber Monday price of $200.. It was quite an upgrade for me (coming from a 5-6 year old Pioneer), but I really like it.. It is feature packed, and it sounds great...

Surprisingly, I just kicked it into "network upgrade" mode, and it launched a little web server that I can connect to from my PC... I haven't found any documentation for it, and happened to guess what it was doing because it is displaying an IP address..

Firmware Date: 2012-06-05
Firmware Version: s9133.0200.0

Turns out the box always runs a HTTP server under its network address.. Has some basic network config settings there...

Also, this receiver looks like it is sold in Germany under the model "AVR 170"
Edited by NetCoder - 11/27/12 at 4:23am

I was doing some Google searching looking for firmware updates and discovered the service manual: http://www.harmankardon.com/resources/Brands/harmankardon/Products/ProductRelatedDocuments/en-US/ServiceManual/AVR1700%20sm.pdf Not sure if this helps someone more knowledgeable, gain any insight to the quality.

I looked at the service manual schematics.

It is *not* Class D but rather plain old class AB.

You may be mislead by comments that it has a swtich mode power supply which eliminates a lot of unnecessary weight and some heat.

It is a 95 wpc x 5 receiver that weighs under 13 pounds. A receiver with similar power ratings and a conventional power supply might weigh 5 pounds more.

Read the front end of this thread, and my previous posts of last week the tech info is there..

Just my $0.02...

I am new to this AV receiver thing.

I recently bought a AVR1700 to setup a basement Home threater and Karaoke syetem. I have been pleased with the sound quality. But, one setup problem is still bothering me: It seems that I can't get HDMI video output from the composite video input.

I don't know this is a function limitation or I just have a bad unit. I have a low end Pioneer receiver (DVR 531) whose manual clearly states that analog video cannot be convert to HDMI in that model. A call to HK tech support was very disappointing, they can't answer this simple question. Nothing is mentioned in their manual as well.

Any one can give me some insight on that. Is that a common limitation on receivers? Should I tried another one or switch to a different model. Any recommendations (not necessary HK, but better <$350)? I only run one video output cable (HDMI) to my ceiling mount projector. So, this function is kind of important to me.

I found the answer this model is not able to do analog to digital conversion. So, I am out of the luck. Also, although from the manual, it is said that the receiver is able to convert from component to hdmi, this is not sure. There are no component input on this device.

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

I was looking at a Yamaha 5.1 reciever at costco and i saw this on Cyber monday for a deal at bestbuy for $200.00. I'm using KLH surround sound speakers from the mid 90's with a passive subwoofer that runs between the fonrt speakers and the reciever, that worked great iwth my old Pioneer vsx 454 reciever. Unfotunatley the passive subwoofer doesnt seem to work too well with this receiver, I plan to get a BIC F12 powered sub in the near future. I can still return this reciever and get the yamaha, or perhaps one of the AVS fourm's top picks under $300.00, maybe the pssive sub wiould work better. Any adivce?

I am using this receiver with a bose 5.1 speaker set, it has a passive sub (non amplified) and the small bose speakers, I did set all speakers to "large" in the AVR which should drive both the sub and the small cubes correctly (I think). For the bose system all the speaker wires go from the amp to the sub and next to the small speakers. I bought the amp at BestBuy for $200, so far it works fine, I am able to use airplay from my iphone, but the remote app from HK does not detect the amp on the network. Airplay works very nice the AVR turns on once I select it on the iPhone to airplay to.

I had trouble with the Android cell phone remote for the AVR 1700 as well. Remember that this is a network driven device so your network has to see it to work. It appears that Itunes Airplay can connect with less fuss likely due to permissions on your network. With a Windows 7 device make sure that all of your sharing options are set accordingly. Also make sure that devices are "discoverable". Once my computer finally detected the AVR 1700 I had to right click on the icon, go to properties and click on the "device webpage". Then click network configuration. I then clicked the DHCP box and my PC immediately began to download device software for the AVR. I was then able use the remote.

I realize that my description was a bit vague but the general idea is that you have to play with your network setting and sharing permissions. Once you get it set you can use many different DLNA servers to "push" music to your AVR. I just started using BubbleUPn for Android which works pretty slick and is free. I have only been using it for a day, so I will let you know if I find anything else.

I will say that Itunes Airplay seems to have the best sound quality. The DLNA pushed music seems far away for some reason which I have not really played with yet. I also sent an email to Harmon for information on their Media Manager which is supposedly a free software upgrade for the PC to push and organize music via DLNA. I will let you know about that as well.

Good luck.

No longer relevant
Edited by Ephraker - 11/29/12 at 5:25pm

The 1700 uses the BridgeCo/SMSC DM860 processor, which also is used by Onkyo, Integra, Yamaha, Denon and Marantz..
It has a multitude of capabilities...
Here is a link to its product brief...

http://www.smsc.com/media/Downloads_Public/Data_Briefs/dm860db.pdf

Note that HK 1st used the 860 in their 7550HD/760/660 AVRs released in 2009...


Just my $0.02..

You must download the free application BubbleUPNnP for this receiver!!! The standalone android app for the AVR 1700 is so lacking. The BubbleUPNnP allows you to stream not only audio from your android but from any of your networked devices to the AVR. It you play with the settings it will also allow you to control the volume with your phones controls! Incredible and free. I think I might pay the 4.99 just so I support the product and also get a couple of other features along with ad free use.

The wait for a review might take too long especially if the receiver is on sale at a good price. Plus if you're purchasing from Best Buy you get 30 days to return it anyway. That should be plenty of time for someone to test in their own home.

I decided to go with a Denon 1713 with Audyssey. It doesn't have Logic 7, not sure if that matters.