HK 235 Sound...First Real Listen
Mike682
Posts: 2,074
After setting everything up and calibrating, I finally got in a real listening period. This is the first time I was able to really get a good critical listen with an assortment of sources.
I listened to 2ch TV broadcasts, surround broadcasts, DVDs and CDs.
My overall conclusion:
The 235 is slightly brighter than I expected, not overly bright, but a tad brighter than what I am used to. I always use a very slight increase in the treble and with the 235 I found myself lowering it. The midrange is slighty boomy but not bad at all. The low end is nice and punchy and tight.
Overall, the 235 has very good power and drive my speaks very easily, Although with a slightly different sound than I am used to.
Is there a break-in period with receivers?
I listened to 2ch TV broadcasts, surround broadcasts, DVDs and CDs.
My overall conclusion:
The 235 is slightly brighter than I expected, not overly bright, but a tad brighter than what I am used to. I always use a very slight increase in the treble and with the 235 I found myself lowering it. The midrange is slighty boomy but not bad at all. The low end is nice and punchy and tight.
Overall, the 235 has very good power and drive my speaks very easily, Although with a slightly different sound than I am used to.
Is there a break-in period with receivers?
Receiver: harmankardon AVR235
Mains: polk R30
Center: polk CSi3
Rear Surrounds: polk R20
Subwoofer: polk PSW404
DVD: Panasonic DVD-S29
Mains: polk R30
Center: polk CSi3
Rear Surrounds: polk R20
Subwoofer: polk PSW404
DVD: Panasonic DVD-S29
Post edited by Mike682 on
Comments
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Wow. I'm not getting that kind of sound at all mike. Considering the only speaker we have in common is the CSI-3, it might just be your Rspeakers. Or maybe not. As far as break-in time for receivers, i'm totally in the dark on that one.
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Mike682 wrote:
The 235 is slightly brighter than I expected, not overly bright, but a tad brighter than what I am used to.
What were you using before Mike? I didnt find my 230 bright at all....as to break in, not too sure about amps but as to preamps, (and correspondingly, pre-amp section), I think I've experienced softening of the sound out of the Rotel. When I first got it, the unit hasn't been run for a very long time as in months...the unit was extremely bright sounding. It started to mellow out a bit. I switched out some cables and voila...pretty neutral sound.
Not sure what you are using as CD source but try the DACs in the HK by feeding a digital signal....IMO, they sound wonderful.....you just need to get used to the 0.5 second drop in sound at the beginning of songs...System 1: Martin Logan Vantage, Rotel RC 1070, B&K Reference 200.2, Music Hall DAC 15.2, Yamaha 2300
System 2: LSi15 w/db840, Marantz SR8400, Rotel 1080, RM6800 (C&S), Sony X2020ES
System 3: LSi7, Yamaha SW215, Music Hall Maven, Music Hall MMF CD25 w/627opamps
System 4: RTi100, Harman Kardon AVR 230, Panasonic DVD -
So the HKs are still having the issues with the processing and missing the first half second of a song?
Wow, I thought they'd have that worked out by now. I love the HK sound, but that's one of the main reasons I chose my 3801 over the 525 for the main listening area. It's not a big deal for most people, but it's very distracting to me, especially on albums like Scenes From A Memory or 2112 where there's no pause between songs... -
That was also the same reason I chose to keep the Denon 3803 over the HK525. I have the HK 230 in the bedroom set up. For analog connection, no problem. For the digital connection, same .30 second drop out on the first note. You would think HK would have fixed this bug by now. Other than this issue, the HK230 sounds wonderful w/warm, detailed yet non-bright sounds.
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I don't know guys, but I think my ears are playing tricks on me...
I fired up the 235 today and it did not sound bright at all; Typical HK sound which is what I love..
2+2, I am using my panny dvd player hooked through dig coax to play cds. Maybe I should get a dedicated CD player??
Thanks for the responses guys
MikeReceiver: harmankardon AVR235
Mains: polk R30
Center: polk CSi3
Rear Surrounds: polk R20
Subwoofer: polk PSW404
DVD: Panasonic DVD-S29 -
Mike682 wrote:Maybe I should get a dedicated CD player?? Mike
look on ebay- god knows I struck gold this past week. -
aaharvel wrote:look on ebay- god knows I struck gold this past week.
I saw that, great pick-up
MikeReceiver: harmankardon AVR235
Mains: polk R30
Center: polk CSi3
Rear Surrounds: polk R20
Subwoofer: polk PSW404
DVD: Panasonic DVD-S29 -
aaharvel wrote:Wow. I'm not getting that kind of sound at all mike. Considering the only speaker we have in common is the CSI-3, it might just be your Rspeakers. Or maybe not. As far as break-in time for receivers, i'm totally in the dark on that one.
Aren't you just using your HK as a pre? Those seperate Adcom's will certainly sound diff than the HK by itself. Just wondering....."Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul! -
heiney9 wrote:Aren't you just using your HK as a pre? Those seperate Adcom's will certainly sound diff than the HK by itself. Just wondering.....
not really. actually the sound from the Adcoms are surprisingly neutral. Sure, they're not as warm sounding as the H/K for sure- but definitely a neutral, dry sound. I like both types, with the amplification of the Adcoms making the difference. :cool:
