Harman/Kardon AVR 2600 7.1-Channel A/V Receiver Harman/Kardon AVR 2600 7.1-Channel A/V Receiver

Pros: Lots of hookups
On Screen Menu
Plenty of Wattage
Looks nice

Cons: After about eight months of daily usage it decided to make a series of hideous 120 decibel snap, crackle, and pop sounds, and the screen said, "PROTECT." After calming my wife and children that it indeed was NOT the end of the world, I turned it back on and all was fine. I figured it must be dust. About two weeks later the same thing happened again. I removed all the speakers from the back to test for shorts, and it seemed to be ok, but after a few minutes it goes into protect mode. It is outside of the newegg RMA timeline, and I cannot seem to find where to mail this thing for warranty work. I was hoping posting here might wake up a Harmon Kardon troll to email me.

Other Thoughts: I would love to have this thing fixed or replaced, and I would definitely buy it again. I just want to know what is wrong, my guess is a dirty board.

Pros: nice clean sound - good looking
internal cooling fan - solid construction

Cons: interface/set-up GUI is confusing - remote is frekin' HUGE!
no HDMI passthrough - had to buy a 3D splitter to get the signal to my Samsung 3D LED & from the Direct TV box
everything on the front panel is tiny & hard to read except the volume knob which is HUGE

Other Thoughts: I will never ever get another receiver without HDMI passthough
had to buy2 splitter/matrix devices just so I could get the signal to the receiver & TV Without the receiver on all the time!

Pros: Easy to setup. Sounds great! Ability to mix and match audio and video sources(HDMI/Optical etc) On screen interface.

Cons: Remote does not have a code for my Samsung HDTV. Sometimes there is a delay switching between inputs(Blu-ray/Sat/Cable)

Pros: This thing looks so much better than the competition. No dumb stickers that needed to be removed and the buttons on the unit are designed not to be noticed. It uses white lighting which looks so much classier than green, blue or red I've seen on other receivers. The bottom half isn't plastic its metal Pictures don't do it justice.


So many features, I'm still reading up on this thing finding out new stuff every few moments.

The 2 zone feature is great. I using it to run 2 speakers to my Desktop.

Normal operation is 5.1 for my TV viewing. The thing works great, so many options and settings.

Cons: The price is a bit high (even on sale). Doesn't have any network features like Pandora or Network music, that you might get from another vendor.

The remote and IR stink. You really need to point the remote directly at the device. Get a Logitech Harmony for better control, it's slimmer, lighter and has better options for all your equipment.

Other Thoughts: The wattage seems low but it actually better than the other companies. H/K rates their stuff differently, and even with the lower wattage it will out perform units with twice the rating. I only purchased this because a friend of mine said it was an amazing deal, and I can't agree more.

Pros: Great sound & video capability.
Flexible in that you can customize source settings, speaker settings & audio processing or let the receiver determine what's "best".
Appearance is more up scale vs the other brands.

Cons: Auto set up for speakers isn't 100% accurate on mine. Not a huge con, as it only takes a few extra minutes to make manual corrections to get it perfect & you shouldn't have to do it again. Maybe the options to customize the settings is what one of the other reviewers finds confusing? Minor con for New Egg in that mine was built 22 month ago. HK doesn't redo their receivers every year anyway, so not a big deal to me that it's not fresh from HK.

Other Thoughts: The AVR 2600 is a nice upgrade from my HK AVR230. Same great HK sound quality & power, but with the latest connections like HDMI plus older types to allow connection of non-digital sources like standard def satellite boxes. The on screen user interface is great & makes setting up easy once you play around with it. The clean, sleek design and makes it look very expensive. At under $350, it's a bargain.

Pros: It powers on. It spits out music and video.

Cons: Odd lag in sound and video when you switch sources, turn it on. Clunky on-screen GUI. Handles video very poorly, audio performance was just so-so.

Other Thoughts: Always heard good things about Harmon stuff, but this thing just sucks. It is clunky, counter-intuitive, and just way more complicated that it has to be. I am sending it back, going to look into Yamaha or Onkyo.

Pros: It really is an incredible receiver. I go in and out of nice houses all the timeand I still feel like my surround setup sounds nicer than ANY OTHER system I have heard! I have the 2600 with 6 Dayton's, a center Polk, and a 12" Polk sub. It is amazing. Even when I go to the movies, I compare the theater's sound with mine at home...they are almost identical! To get the sound I'm bragging about, trust me, buy a Harman Kardon receiver!

Cons: I paid $500.

Pros: A great receiver for a great price. Loaded with features that really work to help you customize the picture and sound, along with user friendly on-screen menu's. The sound and video "upgrade" features really are noticeable and the microphone fine tuning of the surround system is very sensitive and won"t need much self customizing. It is awesome for a theater system and just as great for a stereo system. It's MP3 enhancement works well to balance the weak highs to the middle and bass so your i-pod type device will sound better.

Cons: The power button is very bright and does not dim as does the panel - Picky - Picky - Picky.

Other Thoughts: Harman Kardon is the beginning of High-Fi then Stereo (along with McIntosh Labs) and set the power ratings to keep the competing honest. Harmon Kardon has maintained their Watts per channel ratings over the sound spectrum from 20hz to 20,000hz which tends to show lower wattage. Others rate their power at 1,000hz only which yield higher watt numbers - keep this in mind when shopping and hold the others to their claims. Harman Kardon set the standard and won't let you down. I don't know what the AVR 2600 would put out at only 1,000hz but I wouldn't trade my 65watt/channel for an 85-90watt anything else. It sounds awesome loud and just as well defined at lower volume with overall balance between all speakers - even sub-woofer is evident at lower overall volume. I am amazed so few others have sent in reviews - It is a remarkably fine piece of equipment.

Pros: On screen setup, HDMI bypass to tv, 2 options for speaker hookups, 4 hdmi input for a tv that lacks. Headphone jack included which configures your speakers by HZ, distance, and Power. Power should be manually configured by user in some cases due to room acoustics. Doesnt have a lot of "fake" tweaks for tuning the sound so it seems more true than other models rather than messing with the mids. VERY high current compared to other models of same price. This system works with almost all audio codecs ive thrown at it. Recent firmware upgrade made it 3d compatible!! I love future proof. On screen setup allows any video to mate with any audio. HDMI has SOME exceptions but only because HDMI would be best option. I THINK it goes HDMI video ONLY when HDMI audio from that source is used. However you can use optical audio with HDMI video. Another example is; able to use cable box with component video and optical, coax OR rca. Pick your poison options.

Cons: No optical output; has coax output. Receiver needs a remote IR sensor because it can be hard to aim @ the box. Doesnt easily receive signals all the time. Does not have cable coax in; looks like it but this is for AM antenna.

Other Thoughts: Best buy didnt believe i bought a reciever for 650 (different website) with 35 amps of current. Said it was a trick. I bent my HDMI output and so it does not output any input but the sound and on screen display still work. Going to get it repaired. Depending on the design of the circutry, considering poping the housing and (if a socket) will replace the HDMI ports/card with OEM from HK.

I believe the dolby volume options are static to the peripheral you choose.