Harman Kardon AVR 7000 Test Report

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Contents

key features

48 STEREO REVIEW’S SOUND & VISIONinclude speaker size, surround mode, anddigital or analog source (the four digital in-puts can each be assigned to any source).The remaining key parameters — crossov-er frequency (80, 90, or 100 Hz), relativechannel levels, and center- and surround-channel delays — are also individually setand remembered, but in this case by sur-round mode, not source. In other words,the parameters stay the same whether youuse, say, the Pro Logic surround mode fora CD or a videotape program, though thespeaker-size setting might change betweeninputs.This arrangement provides tremendousflexibility in setting up and fine-tuningyour system, but in all honesty, I found itmore than a little confusing at first, and themanual didn’t help too much. And whilethe AVR 7000 deserves kudos for storingrelative channel levels independently bysurround mode, it loses points for not hav-ing separate “user trims” for each channel.When you tweak the center-channel levelby a couple of decibels, this change is add-ed to or subtracted from the setup level forthat mode, making it more difficult to re-turn to your calibrated defaults.All that aside, the AVR 7000’s sonic per-formance was rarely anything less than su-perb. The amount of clean output powerwas exemplary in both stereo and surroundplayback, and Dolby Digital and DTSsoundtracks both yielded top-shelf perfor-mance. Even the densest mixes of music,sound effects, and dialogue, such as thosethroughout the elaborate Dolby Digitalsoundtrack of Jumanji, failed to trip up thisreceiver. It always produced detailed, clear,and effortless sound, even when I drove thesystem to cinemalike levels — and evenwithout the aid of a powered subwoofer.Full-range (no subwoofer) playback ofstereo CDs over my low-sensitivity left/right front speakers was open and dynam-ic, especially with obsessively detailedproductions like Steely Dan’s Two AgainstNature. This receiver delivered perfor-mance that I would have expected onlyfrom a separate preamp and power amp.Like many A/V receivers these days, theAVR 7000 includes a virtual surroundmode meant to simulate the effect of multi-channel playback with just two speakers.But unlike most such processing, HarmanKardon’s VMAx worked stunningly well.It’s the first virtual surround system I’veused that actually had me getting up tomake sure the surround speakers reallyweren’t producing any sound. In my room,to hear the effect I had to sit precisely cen-tered between the front left/right speakersand keep my head steady — even turning itto one side caused the surround sound tocollapse. But at its best it was nothing lessthan astonishing. The final audio vortex inJumanji’spenultimatesequence real-ly spun three-di-mensionally. Eventougher, the multi-lingual five-speaker“cocktail-party effect”from the original DolbyLabs test/demo DVD hon-estly seemed to be comingfrom five distinct originationpoints.Nevertheless, since anyone whobuys a $1,799 receiver is presumablyplanning to buy (or already has) a good5.1-channel speaker system as well, themind-blowing VMAx processing counts asmore of a “because we could” gesture thana “because you need it” one.The AVR 7000 does feature a handful of“extra” ambience modes using digital sig-nal processing, including one Theater andtwo Hall modes, but the headliner is calledLogic 7, which comes in two flavors, Cine-ma and Music. Derived from Lexicon’simpressive 7.1-channel surround programof the same name (Lexicon is also ownedby Harman International), the AVR 7000’sLogic 7 is a 5.1-channel program that “. . .extracts the maximum surround informa-tion from either surround-encoded pro-grams or conventional stereo material.”Plenty of manufacturers have made thesame claim for their proprietary DSP proc-essing, but Logic 7 delivers. Most stereomusic recordings I listened to with it en-gaged opened up and sounded solidly three-dimensional. There was far less of themono dominance that Pro Logic process-ing often imposes on stereo recordings andlittle or none of the timbral shifts that toomany other DSP modes induce.test reportThe Harman Kardon AVR 7000capably handledJumanji ’s elaborateDolby Digital soundtrack —stampeding elephants and all.key featuresl Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby Pro Logic,and HDCD decodingl 5 DSP ambience modes, includingCinema and Musicl VMAx virtual surround and Logic 7 model Component-video switchingl 5.1-channel direct inputl 5-channel pre-out/main-in jacksl 2 coaxial, 2 optical digital audio inputsl 5 A/V inputs (front-panel set can beswitched to output)l 2 audio-only analog inputsl 1 optical, 1 coaxial digital audio outputl Multiroom/multisource A/V outputs andfunctionsl Backlit preprogrammed/learning remotel 30 AM/FM tuner presets

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