Harman Kardon AVR 355 and DVD 39

By Jamie Gemming

April 2009

Harman Kardon AVR 355 ($2499) and DVD 39 ($1099)

Harman Kardon DVD 39 (click for larger image)

Harman Kardon AVR 355 (click for larger image)

Here are the key facts about the Harman Kardon AVR 355. Its HK's top receiver, it upscales video to 1080p, output is a deceptive 65 watts per channel and it looks gorgeous. Good looks have always set the HK products apart from the rest and their current range of receivers is no different. Instead of the front panel being a big slab of metal with numerous ugly buttons, the top half is dark smoked glass that the display shines through. The lower half is brushed magnesium with only a couple of hidden openings for the aux inputs. The combination of the black glass against the gun metal magnesium is sexy as hell.

Nothing more, nothing less

The above heading sums the AVR 355 pretty well. The receiver has plenty of inputs, auto calibration, multiple zone options and some cool features such as its three HDMI 1.3 inputs and its Faroudja 1080p upscaling chip, but for $2500 this is all pretty much standard fare. With each evolution manufacturers seem to add a few more watts to their receivers and it is now at a stage where even the most basic model is claimed to have enough power to momentarily dim the lights in your suburb when the volume is cranked. Harman Kardon is one of the only companies that don't play this game.

HK's receivers have always seemed underpowered, on paper at least. In reality this is not the case; one HK watt must equal two watts from other companies. The AVR 355 is "only" 7x65 watts but no matter how OTT the gun battles in Starship Troopers 3 or terrible the singing in Mamma Mia (wife hired it) the AVR 355 never once lacked control or showed any signs of working hard. It’s a good sounding amp and while not hugely authoritive down low it is warm sounding with a good mid range.

The amp's great looks also bring my only real niggle. Because its lines are so sleek and clean it lacks the majority of buttons you would normally find on the front panel meaning you have to tweak and change things through the onscreen menu. If you're the kind of person who likes to make regular adjustments this could be annoying but as most people will plug it in, set it up and will only ever change the input source and volume, this probably a minor issue.

Supermarket shoppers need not apply

DVD players are easy to review. I have to ask myself: how does the picture look, is the picture great, does it sound good and (most importantly for all the non-bachelors), how does the machine look?

As soon as it was unboxed it was evident that it was no $70 supermarket special. The DVD 39 player has HDMI and upscales to 1080p, shares the same styling as the receiver and it has all the usual outputs connections you’d expect. It does however lack the USB or memory card slot that many players have these days - it’s not something I’d ever use but if you really require it, the next model up (DVD49) has both.

I could have used my whole word allowance describing how much I loved this DVD player. Over the past month we have really thrashed the DVD39. We’ve watched about 12 movies and a whole series of 24 so it has certainly been given the once over and I can’t think of a bad word to say. Picture quality was supreme, offering great contrast especially in the darker colours.

Besides the stunning picture the DVD39 ’s greatest trick is it usability. Its remote is backlit in a way that is actually useful rather than just illuminating the room like so many others. Plus the commonly used buttons such as play, stop, skip, REW, FFW, etc are large and individually shaped for easy navigation. Also to help keep the smooth good looks, all of the buttons have been removed from the front panel and are on the top, along the leading edge of the machine. This is a super cool feature giving you a bird’s eye view saving you the awkwardness of bending down in front of the machine trying to locate the desired button in the dark.

While the last two points might seem a strange thing to rave about, but I watch movies without the lights in a dark theatre so functionality and ease of use is almost important to me as video and audio performance. At $1100 the DVD39 is an expensive creature and certainly won’t be one for the masses but to me it would be money well spent.

If you have a flat panel TV and you are looking for sexiest receiver and DVD player to sit on the stand beneath it, then look no further.

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