Foo - audiophiles - question:

The movers may have "lost" my AVR unit (Harmon Kardon AVR 500) along with a whole bunch of other stuff, including my center channel speaker, a Miller & Kreisel S85C. I have both L/R and rear speakers, just not the center.

Should they not be able to find my missing crate (there's so much stuff that didn't show up, it has to be a whole crate, so I'm guessing they'll find it but just in case), do any of you audiophiles have any suggestions on replacement units?

Thanks!

If you liked your HK, then I would look at picking up a receiver from the same vintage or a Denon of similar vintage. They can be had for pennies on the dollar on ebay and are wonderful products.

My kid brother was recently shopping for an AVR and was set to drop $1500 on a new Yamaha when I convinced him that most of the "features" he would be paying for (video up-conversion & HDMI switching) he already had between his TV and DVD player. He wound up buying a used Denon on ebay for about $500-600 (I forget the exact model) that was a top of the line unit a few years ago, but isn't as shiny or flashy as a new unit so the price went down. It didn't make sense for him to pay for all the latest tech, since there haven't been any appreciable advances on the audio side of things for quite some time now.

As far as the center channel, I would keep an eye out on Audiogon and ebay for a replacement, since the timbre matched M&K will definitely compliment the remainder of your setup much better than some other unit. You could also bump up to the S125-c, which should be pretty close in terms of acoustics. If that doesn't go well, look into selling what you have and picking up a complete five speaker set. Its a bit more extreme of a solution, but those M&K speakers are well regarded and you shouldn't have trouble moving them if you choose to go this route.

Good luck

Thanks. Let me clarify one point. When replacing the AVR, if the movers don't find it, they pay FULL REPLACEMENT for an equivalent one. I have no intention of letting them off the hook by going for ebay or something; they lost it (again, assuming they don't find it), they're going to pay 'cause I'm pissed.

I'm not usually vindictive, but as you might have guessed, I'm really pissed. These bozos lost a whole moving/storage crate of my stuff (they're about 8' tall, by 4ish feet wide by 6 or 7 feet deep)!! They promised they'd spend the day yesterday going through their warehouse to see if they could find it. I stopped by there at about 1 and, of course, it was locked up tight with no one in sight.

I left a message with the general manager saying I thought a week was reasonable and next weekend I was going to start replacing stuff. The AVR being of mid-priority... my bed rails are the first one so I can get my bed set up! Then I'll go from there.

I'm with you that they should pay for the full replacement cost, but that should be in the form of a check made out to you, with which you can do as you please. If they are given the option of purchasing a replacement, who knows what you'll get as an "equivalent" piece.

The one and only time I fell into a similar situation (renter's insurance claim on a fried computer), I was asked to get a quote from a local store for the replacement cost of an "equivalent" new piece. I did that and got a check, which I proceeded to cash and spend online for a replacement that was better than my original and still came out a few bucks ahead.

Well, they did find my missing stuff and after spending quite a few hours getting all the stuff rigged up, I almost wish they HAD lost it so I could get an update one that works with HDMI and the like. I've now got it jury rigged so I control sound with the AVR and the picture with either the satellite or DVD remotes. But, since I have no video signal going through the AVR, I had to put in fake connection in so I could get the on screen display to set up speakers, levels, inputs etc. Arghh!

Oh, well, it all works as far as I can tell, but I'm about this close to getting a new one just to only have 3 wires and one, maybe two, remotes. Sheesh!

Let me rephrase the original question:
"Why do you suck?"

Huh?

WTF is your problem?

http://www.stereophile.com/thinkpieces/165/

Typically "audiophiles" is reserved for those that are beyond the scope of reality in terms of how to deal with audio setups.

Uhhh, OK. Glad to see you living up to your name.

paging bwnc! paging bwnc!

paging bwnc! paging bwnc!

Hey. I really don't know very much about HT receivers. AVS Forum is a good resource. I have an older Denon 3802 and it has worked fine. Many like the Onkyo receivers but is Denon good too. That's about all I know.

I use yamaha recievers with klipsch speakers, and love the set up. The one prob with klipsch is the need to be cranked to really get the feel from them. Hence, not so good in the condo situation. But thats my set up anyway. There are so many, just spend a day listening to all different set ups and find what ya like.

Thanks guys. I'll check out the AVS forum.

Uhhh, OK. Glad to see you living up to your name.

If I didn't Foo would be boring.