Night Football
. In at least one case —
the title music to
The West Wing
, which
inherently sounds a bit “pumpy” due to
recorded compression — Logic 7’s
presentation was dynamically a tiny
shade smoother than DPL II’s. A bit
surprisingly, the AVR 330 doesn’t
offer access to any of DPL II’s ad-
justable parameters, such as Center
Width or Panorama.
The AVR 330 was generally
easy to use, though in this respect
it didn’t quite match the high
standard of its sonic performance.
Menus and controls are logically
ordered, and the extensive setup
choices allow about as much
customization as you could
want. However, the remote has
no learning capability and is
densely packed with micro-la-
beled, nonbacklit keys. Five of
them (including the power button)
can be programmed with macros
— a string of related commands
like: turn on the receiver, DVD
player, and TV, switch the receiver
to its DVD input, and commence
playback.
In every important respect, the
Harman Kardon AVR 330 is a very fine re-
ceiver. True, if you were content to look
only at watts per dollar on spec sheets, the
conservatively rated AVR 330 might not
make the top of your list. But if you look
beyond the easy numbers to sonic refine-
ment, configurability, and overall capabili-
ties — as well as actual measured power
— the AVR 330 should climb very high on
your list indeed.
S&V
P L U S
Generous power, fine sound.
Logic 7 processing for 2-channel
material is useful option.
Extremely flexible speaker/
crossover-setup options.
Impressive multiroom facilities for price.
M I N U S
Remote control could be easier to use,
can’t learn codes for other brands.
Abundance of setup memories could
confuse some users.
No parameter settings for DPL II.
