Harman Kardon FL8385 5-Disc CD Changer

Rating:
Summary: Should have believed the reviews
Review: Great unit - great sound and easy to use. Too bad IT DOESN'T WORK!! This unit has the same problems reported in other reviews. I will return it for a refund.

Rating:
Summary: Works for a while, but breaks after 2 months!
Review: I had the unit for about 2 months, it starts with this non-recognition problem on certain CDs. Then it will progress to not being able to see any CD inserted at all, including brand new CDs just bought and not yet played. These CDs are all perfectly playable on my SONY CD player. What is crazy is, sometimes it would work perfectly as if nothing had been a problem! There's got to be some kind of weakness in the electrical circuitry inside... Keeping the power on all the time seems to help somewhat but not 100%. Customer support says unless it is purchased from an "Authorized" dealer, they refuse to repair/replace under warranty.

Off to the dumpster it goes... Visually a nice design though, too bad it kinda have to also play CDs for it to be useful. Total POS, not recommended.

Rating:
Summary: HK FL-8385 a great deal and a steal at this price.
Review: I have had, and been using, the HK FL-8385 for approximately a month now and I am thoroughly pleased. The music is exceptionally clear, clean and crisp. I have had no problems whatsoever with this product. Of note however, I have noticed that the FL-8385 will skip if the CD is scratched, dirty or dusty. Office Depot sells a 3M manual disk cleaner for $9.95, that works great. If you are going to invest in CD's, then exert the minor effort required to take proper care of them. Computer people have a saying, "garbage in, garbage out". Invest the $10 or so and get a disk cleaner.

By the way, forget those CD sleeves, that it seems everyone is selling, for CD storage. If you use the CD sleeves, beware that dust, grit, pet dander, oil from your fingertips, etc. can get into the sleeves, be deposited on the CD, and cause problems with playback. Also invest the necessary $ and get a CD disk storage carousel, Dacal's is great, it is the best and only effective way to store CDs.

Of further note, I have noticed that the sound quality of the HK FL-8385 is enhanced if the digital cable connection is used, rather than the analog connection. And, while there are some minor motor sounds when changing disks, I find that this is not unacceptable or much more noticable than what is heard on other CD changers. Finally, the picture above is not of the HK FL-8385, it is the FL-8380, a previous model, that did have some problems. If you want a great CD changer for an incredible price, then regardless of what others may say, (you do not know if the unit was set up properly, used properly or the condition of the CDs), you can not beat the HK FL8385 CD changer.

All of my audio/video electronics are HK, except for the HDTV, which HK does not manufacture and if they did I would buy one: I have never had any problems with the quality, service or reliability of HK products. Buy your HK from Amazon, an authorized HK dealer or HK direct and get a 30 day money back, no questions asked guarantee. Amazon is one of the few authorized online dealers for HK products; be very weary of unauthorized sellers, you do not know where they got their product from: "Caveat emptor" (buyer beware). HK suports their dealers, their products and their customer service is second to none!!!



Rating:
Summary: What a terrible disappointment!!!
Review: I've just got this player last friday. I must say that I was quite happy with the way it sounds but, after just five days of very light use (I hardly played more than 15 CDs since friday) it's already refusing to work properly! It just wont play discs that my 15 year old Sony CD-player had no trouble playing!

I read some alarming reviews about the former version of this model but I was confident that the mechanical bugs described in those reviews had been fixed on this newer version! Apparently I was wrong!!!

Last night I wrote a review about the wonders of the Harman Kardon receiver (HK-3480) that I bought along this CD-player. I guess that Harman Kardon still has a lot of homework to do with their CD-players!

I'll ask for my money back and will start looking again for a decent CD-player!!!

Rating:
Summary: Jammed after playing 3 CDs
Review: My wife bought me one of these for Christmas. I played 3 CDs, then tried to add another disk while playing Bela Fleck in the 3rd location. Unfortunately, the drawer would not close after. I pulled out all the CDs, recycled power, etceteras - but to no avail. Bela Fleck was captured in the unit! I took it back to Circuit City and they used screwdrivers to get my CD out. Needless to say, I'll be getting a different unit.....

Rating:
Summary: audio great; changer grinds
Review: the audio quality of the HK is wonderful, and it does have nifty programming features.
But--the carousel grinds very loudly. louder than the music, and loud enough to hear from 2 rooms away. opening the tray is also very loud, and sounds like an old chevy motor. This is why it isn't a 5 star. i expected much better.

Rating:
Summary: Great sound - when it feels like working!
Review: This unit has great, clear sound, especially with HDCD discs. But it will often choose not to play them, and absolutely will NOT play CDr's. Also, I found I had to leave the power on at all times, or else it would have to "warm up" for twenty minutes or so to play the CDs it did happen to like without skipping. I got sucked in by the name. After suffering through 3 different crappy Sony Cd changers one would think I would have learned that lesson.

A friend just gave me a free, dusty, abused CD jukebox changer, and while the sound quality is not as clear, at least it works! It hasn't missed a track yet, even with the home-made CDr's. Off to the trash with the Harman Kardon!