Harman Kardon AVR 7000 Dolby Digital/DTS Audio/Video Receiver (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

And while sound quality is definitely a priority here--we're talking about Harman Kardon, after all--a lot of circuit-design and digital signal processing know-how went into this receiver.

Most significantly, the receiver offers Harman's exclusive Logic 7 and VMAx surround modes (intelligent 5.1- and two-channel surround matrices for any sound source--stereo or otherwise) and onboard decoding of Dolby Digital and DTS surround formats in addition to HDCD. Throw in 30 FM/AM station presets alongside S-video and component-video switching, and you're looking at your key to top-flight music and home-theater enjoyment for well under $2,000.

The AVR 7000 can also supply sound for two rooms (with the use of an external infrared remote sensor), and the receiver comes with one set of stereo RCA outputs, composite- and S-video outputs, and a separate, limited-function remote control for this purpose.

With all of its features, however, nothing gets in the way of sound performance. The tone controls--the AVR 7000 offers actual bass and treble knobs--can be taken out of the audio circuit to keep the audio signal path as short and clean as possible. In listening to CDs through either the analog or digital inputs, we found that the AVR 7000 opens a big, natural window on the music. (We recommend using your CD player's analog outputs only if it has no digital outputs or if it's a player with extremely high-quality analog circuitry.)

With the AVR 7000, the qualities we expect from separates (preamplifier and amplifier components) but don't usually get from integrated receivers abound: a wonderful sense of air and ambiance; complex layers of rich harmonics; a beautiful nuance in vocal delivery; wide dynamics and subtle microdynamics; smooth, extended high frequencies; and a bottom end that is at once powerful and well defined but never muddy.

Surround decoding of Dolby Digital- and DTS-encoded discs, performed by 24-bit, 96 kHz Crystal DSP (digital signal processing) circuits, is just as impressively clear and dynamic.

The AVR 7000's biggest drawback is that you can't adjust the speaker delays for surround formats other than Dolby Digital. Because most living rooms do not lend themselves to optimal home-theater speaker placement, it's standard for receivers to let you input and store the distance (in either feet or meters) from your various speakers to your primary listening position. This ensures that the sounds from your speakers arrive at your ears simultaneously, as if you were equidistant from all speakers. You can, however, adjust the relative volume levels of each channel, which is actually more important than adjusting the delay times.

In practice, the AVR 7000's surround sound coherence is excellent, even with DTS-encoded multichannel music CDs (though the presentation in one of our less ideal rooms was not as seamless as it might have been).

The AVR 7000 also lets you toggle between a given component's analog and digital outputs from the remote control--a function that few receivers offer. Granted, this feature will appeal mainly to audiophiles who are interested in comparing, for instance, the sound of a component's analog outputs to its digital output, or the effect that different analog audio interconnects have on the sound (using the digital output as a reference). But Harman excels in this kind of detail-oriented feature, and it's good to know it's available here.

Unlike most of the overhyped proprietary DSP modes out there, Harman Kardon's own Logic 7 (multichannel) and VMAx (two-channel) surround modes work extremely well, in most cases audibly improving over regularly decoded, discrete source material (like Dolby Digital and DTS)--no small feat. Logic 7 also instantaneously generates 5.1-channel information from two-channel material such as CDs, television, VHS tapes, and other sources, letting you take full advantage of your surround system without the annoying artifacts that often accompany such faux-surround algorithms.

Setting up the AVR 7000 is, not surprisingly, a complex and time-consuming effort, but one that pays off. To its credit, the unit boasts a terrific onscreen setup display (though it does reset your settings when you revisit a given parameter), one of the best owner's manuals we've seen, and an uncluttered, illuminated, full-function remote control capable of operating up to eight devices (choose from 17 brands of DVD players and over 80 brands of televisions).

The only other drawback worth mentioning is that the system often takes a few seconds to lock onto a new sound format, whether it's DTS or an HDCD-encoded CD. This means that you'll occasionally miss the first couple seconds of sound, but you can always preselect the format or simply start the track anew. This was not an issue in DVD video titles, where the surround format is usually triggered long before you actually need to hear sound.

When it's all configured and set to go, you'll have most of the home theater world at your remote-clicking fingertips, from full future-ready capabilities in the receiver's 5.1-channel analog inputs (perfect for DVD audio) to component-video switching for videophile DVD video performance.

If you're hankering for top-of-the-line audio performance and highest-level video switching, the AVR 7000 is a real bargain. --Michael Mikesell

Pros:

• Sound quality rivals separates
• Excellent build quality
• Loaded with features
• Converts S-video to composite-video
• Remote control lets you toggle between analog and digital inputs for a given component
• Controls easy to navigate
• Defeatable tone controls
• Future ready with 5.1-channel analog inputs

Cons:

• Lengthy setup procedure
• No speaker-delay settings for DTS surround sound
• No phono input
• System can take a few seconds to catch up with a new sound source