Harman FL8385 5-Disc CD Changer

Earlier this year when I decided to upgrade my component system to H-K (All I wanted for my birthday was a 120W Harman... http://www.epinions.com/content_232581992068), not only did I get the fabulous Harmon Kardon Digital Path Receiver (DPR 2005), but also the matching H-K FL8385 CD changer. I did so with a fair amount of trepidation, given the fairly significant amounts of strong, negative feedback both in ePinions as well as elsewhere. However, in checking into Denon and others, found that most of the CD changer systems ranked pretty poorly in general other than Sony, and I didn't wanna go there again. Sony makes durable players with decent sound, but I wanted more than decent. So... what the heck, I'll give the full H-K system a chance; couldn't find one locally to listen to, so got it online at OneCall.com for a steal. Interestingly enough, you can find new equipment on OneCall for about the same price, if not less, than refurbished, much less used equipment on eBay; go figure.

In any case, a full Harman Kardon system is visually compelling; marvelous styling and clean lines with the adjustable rich glowing blue... very cool, vs. the current all-black or all-brushed silver, Harman combined them long ago and has stuck with it. Regardless of how it looks though, the usability and most importantly, the sound is what counts. Installation-wise, the FL8385 was straightforward to connect, and simple to use; given that I also have an H-K receiver, I used the component controller once (it does work), but set it aside in favor of the integrated, programmable system controller, and haven't used it since.

The sound (when it works) is fabulous! Just to ensure it wasn't just the new receiver, I swapped in 2 other CD players; muddy. I could pick out lines I'd not heard previously on some of my favourites. According to the specs (http://harmankardon.com/product_detail.aspx?Region=USA&Country=US&Language=ENG&cat=DVD&prod=FL%208385&sType=C) the FL8385 will play HDCD discs. Having found no HDCD discs of music I wanted to listen to, I can only speak (type) to the point that playing either standard CDs or my own CD burns, it sounds absolutely lovely. The primary gap is that it will not play MP3 format. Given that Harman has some really cool iPod dock capabilities, and that their AVR and DPR receivers can directly decode MP3 directly from an iPod, it doesn't make much sense that their CD player won't play MP3. Oh well; viva la iPod. Secondary desire would've been to have had optical digital vs. co-ax digital, simply due to the point that everything else I have is connected via optical, it'd make cable purchase/management a bit more straightforward. Not really significant though, as Monster cable component or co-ax digital both deliver very high quality sound.

As noted above, as well as from the other fine ePinions contributors, my first FL 8385 took the slippery slope to oblivion. I LOVED it for the first week. Then... it started only sporadically playing certain discs; sometimes they'd work, sometimes not. Then it'd play for a while and then stop and just look pretty. Then it got to the point where it'd work fine, then other times, it'd just cycle through disks. Then it got to the point where it would only open up when it jolly well felt like it. Then, once it finally felt like opening up, it would not close. Terribly annoying and frustrating. I hadn't even taken the time to register my stuff on Harmon's website!! sigh...

So... it was now time to engage with the Harman Kardon customer support team. Given other angst filled messages, I'd presumed that the H-K support team would not be terribly responsive or helpful or... So three weeks or so after getting the system, I logged onto the Harman site late at night, registered my equipment, found that their troubleshooting FAQ's didn't help, so submitted an e-mail to their helpdesk detailing the issues. I got an e-mail response from James the next morning suggesting to replace the FL8385. No silly troubleshooting steps (is it plugged in? is it right side up? Did you buy it from an unauthorized dealer? blablabla); straightforward, 'we'll replace it for you', and here's an RMA number and here's the information to use to ship it. NICE!! Our e-mail exchanges were very responsive, and even intelligible and grammatically correct. That's worth paying extra for. So, I payed to box it up, send it in and so on via UPS. Getting there, turnaround time, and shipment back was ~2 or 2 1/2 weeks. I'd expected that even with the player only being 1 month old, they'd send me a refurb. Nope; June 2006, I got a nice, shiny new FL8385 manufactured in May 2006.

Given the bulk of other feedback and my own experience, I chose to wait a while to see what happened next prior to writing this up. Presumably, given the high number of returns, HK has figured out fixes for the issues many have noted separately. To date, the 2nd unit has performed flawlessly. My other CD player has now been formally relegated to the tack shed for outdoor listening by the pool or the horse barn.

Summarily, when the player works, I love the sound; the system is visually compelling. The matched receiver and player are a great combination that exceed my expectations. We'll see how the long term reliability goes.