OT: Not surprised, but saddened

It was already a lot worse than that. There are high end, tube based system for the iPod.

Harman/Kardon is owned by Harman International, which also owns a huge assortment of other audio-related brands. http://www.harman.com Under the HI banner, HK has lost a lot of the prestige, having been diluted over the years in an effort to lend that prestige to more and more products. But everyone has iPod docks. Krell has one, too. I guess it's how people listen to music these days, and everyone has to consider it, if they're doing consumer audio gear.

ORIGINAL: krizrox

Yeah I've seen all sorts of strangeness for that thing. Harmon Kardon has been making low-endish stuff for the PC market for years. I haven't used or listened to much of that but I assume HK products are of a better quality compared to Soundblasters or something on that level. I might be wrong though. I bought my daughter a Soundblaster surround sound system for her desktop PC a couple of years ago. She didn't need anything real fancy for her dorm room and it seemed, or had the appearance of being a well-made product. But it didn't even last a year. I think the subwoofer crapped out first. This was one of those refurb deals through Creative. Probably should have known better.

I guess it goes to show that it's a real crap shoot with Creative - I picked up set of Creative refurb speakers (a 4-way quasi-surround system) for $30 4 years ago. It's still doing well, even with little kids in the house.

Back to higher-end stereo stuff of the past... there were a couple guys in my dorm who had enough money for better equipment, always one-upping each other. H-K, Bang & Olafson, it was a veritable candy store in their rooms for a while. But, for all that flash... I was happy with my JC Penney "MCS" component system.

Cheers,

Russ

ORIGINAL: Frank Haas

Denon is coming strong, at least from what I heard..
I still use my old stuff, and it still works great.. (when I have the time to listen to a CD, which is 99.9% not the case)
Harman Kardon 870 Poweramp, small Tascam mixer, JBL L80 speakers, AKG Headphones.. Denon CD player,..
I was keen on having some of the "good" stuff back then.. now I don't care too much about "qualtity" when it comes down to my home-stereo.. I'm getting old I guess.. so they have to see where they can get new customers.. just a natural process I guess

Harman Kardon has made consumer grade stuff for a long time now, this is not new.

By the way... when was the last time you saw a stereo store ? The HiFi fad is over for the most part. To stay in business you have to sell a large number of something... anything. Young folks don't buy big stereos at all.. I don't know a single person under 40 who has one or spends time just listening to music at home. Muisc is still played in cars and on iPods but that's about it. Even the folks I know who have big stereos don't get to use them unless they live alone. They just sit there and take up most of a wall that could be used for something else. I know... I'm one of them. My stereo gets used about an hour or two a year now... and it's taking up a lot of space. TV is the home entertainment of choice now.

Don't even get me started on the software. It's very clear that loudness and hype replaced HiFi and musical content years ago.

ORIGINAL: ohhey

Even the folks I know who have big stereos don't get to use them unless they live alone. They just sit there and take up most of a wall that could be used for something else. I know... I'm one of them.

Yeah, we only get to crank it when the wife and kids are gone somewhere, huh? Either that or headphones. Which can be fun, watching some random television program in combination with the music, like that 'Wizard of Oz'/'Dark Side of the Moon' thing a while back.

ORIGINAL: marcos69

I still use my Harman Kardon stereo hooked up to my pioneer 3 way speakers with the 15" woofers. At half volume it's so loud it hurts the ears. It's never been turned all the way up. I'm afraid my widows would blow out.

There was a guy in the next block up from me who had a pair of those particular Pioneer speakers. We'd listen to the first Boston albums and even on vinyl it seemed that you could hear every harmonic up to the limits of human hearing. Ah, the memories. Wish I could hear that well now...