Harman-Kardon SIR-TS160, HD-SAT520, SAT-HD200 manual Digital 5.1 Diana Krall Live

		G E A R G U I D E
		Harman/Kardon AVR 325 A/V Receiver
								orchestra and main surround
		61- and 73-minute marks when var-						effects. Only when the extrater-
		ious demons attack Frodo. Peter						restrial spaceship lifted off did
		Jackson’s epic is a textbook exam-						the Dolby EX track provide a dis-
		ple of how to use rear effects; I						cernible pan from front to side to
		never felt that they were anything						rear. For added hilarity, I played
		less than appropriate.						the soundtrack in French.
			In the opening scene of E.T.					The highlight of the Dolby
		(the 2002 version), for the most						Digital 5.1 Diana Krall: Live in
		part, the rear channels just pro-						Paris DVD was “Cry Me a River,”
		vided a little more fullness to the						with the velvet smoothness of the
								jazz band and string orchestra
Harman/Kardon AVR 325 A/V Receiver								emerging against an inky back-
								ground of absolute silence. No
10								trace of noise haloed Krall’s piano,
5
2								her voice, or the strings. Having
1								learned to respect the AVR 325’s
0.5
0.2								neutrality, I played through the per-
0.1
0.05								formances of Tchaikovsky’s first
0.02
%
0.01								and Rachmaninoff’s third piano
0.005
0.002								concertos in The Cliburn: Playing
0.001								on the Edge, also in Dolby Digital
0.0005
0.0002								5.1. The AVR 325 didn’t push the
0.0001
25	50	75	100	125	150	175	200
			W					dynamic envelope quite as far as my
HT Labs Measures: Harman/Kardon AVR 325 A/V Receiver								reference piece, the Rotel RSX-106,
This graph shows that the AVR 325’s left channel, from CD input to								does; but then, the Rotel costs
speaker output with two channels driving 8-ohm loads, reaches 0.1% dis-								more than twice as much (and
tortion at 90.4 watts and 1% distortion at 107.2 watts. Into 4 ohms, the
amplifier reaches 0.1% distortion at 135.2 watts and 1% distortion at								weighs an additional 5 pounds).
156.9 watts. With five channels driving 8-ohm loads, the amplifier reaches								Of course, the majority of
0.1% distortion at 73.8 watts and 1% distortion at 84.5 watts.
								music isn’t recorded in surround
The analog frequency response measures –0.15 decibels at 20 hertz
and –0.09 dB at 20 kilohertz. Looking at a broader bandwidth, the								but in stereo, and I logged quite a
response measures –0.51 dB at 10 Hz and –0.49 dB at 50 kHz. In
								few hours of two-channel listening
modes that involve signal processing, the response is –0.45 dB at 10 Hz,
+0.16 dB at 20 Hz, –0.48 dB at 20 kHz, and –22.56 dB at 50 kHz.								with this receiver simply because
Response from the multichannel input to the speaker output measures								it sounded so natural and allur-
–0.37 dB at 10 Hz, –0.11 dB at 20 Hz, –0.10 dB at 20 kHz, and –0.51 dB
at 50 kHz. THD+N from the amplifier was less than 0.012% at 1 kHz when								ing. Richard Thompson’s new CD
driving 2.83 volts into an 8-ohm load. Crosstalk at 1 kHz driving 2.83 volts								The Old Kit Bag turned the old
into an 8-ohm load was –84.89 dB left to right and –87.56 dB right to left.
The signal-to-noise ratio with 2.83 volts driving an 8-ohm load from 10 Hz								master’s impassioned voice, elo-
to 24 kHz with “A” weighting was –98.39 dBrA.								quent guitar, and ace rhythm
From the Dolby Digital input to the loudspeaker output, the left channel
								section into a kaleidoscope of
measures –0.28 dB at 20 Hz and –0.30 dB at 20 kHz. The center channel
measures –0.24 dB at 20 Hz and –0.27 dB at 20 kHz, and the left sur-								textures that shifted with each
round channel measures –0.23 dB at 20 Hz and –0.28 dB at 20 kHz. From
								track. The recording was so good
the Dolby Digital input to the line-level output, the LFE channel is +0.09 dB
at 20 Hz when referenced to the level at 40 Hz and reaches the upper 3-dB								that I hated to play it in any of the
down point at 82 Hz and the upper 6-dB down point at 102 Hz.—AJ								surround-enhancement modes,
	Harman/Kardon AVR 325 A/V Receiver							which made some of
								the subtle, phasey
								guitar notes sound
								too prominent.
								The toughest
								test for any piece of
								audio gear is the
		58	Home Theater / June 2003 •			www.hometheatermag.com

human voice. We know what it’s supposed to sound like, and we instinctively react to the slightest unintentional coloration. Seven voices—two female and five male—form the folk-singing chorus of Blue Murder’s No One Stands Alone, and the AVR 325 nailed them with just the right balance between vocal separa- tion and blending. Each voice’s timbre, the earthy harmonies, and the modest chiaroscuro of reverb were in perfect proportion. This album makes my heart run riot: I can never listen to it without get- ting sucker-punched into a blissful emotional state. Thank God it’s a stereo CD, not some weird multi- channel mix that places each voice in a different speaker. By the time I got through it, I needed no more convincing that the AVR 325 could do no wrong with a well-recorded piece of breathtaking music.

With the AVR 325, Harman/ Kardon has come up with a mod- erately priced receiver for the

AVR 325 A/V Receiver $899

Harman/Kardon

(800)422-8027 www.harmankardon.com Dealer Locator Code HAR

surround sophisticate. I wouldn’t recommend it for a very large room; and, for the home theater buff who’s just getting started, the learning curve may prove to be a bit steep. If you take the trouble to set it up right, though, it will pay healthy dividends on an invest- ment of well under $1,000.

*Mark Fleischmann is the author of Practical Home Theater, now in its second edition, available through www.practicalhometheater.com (or 800/839-8640).