Posted May 2, 02:34 PM in News by Scott Conley

Looks like the poker chips are on deferral again. I am really excited about upgrading my home audio system. The old Harman Kardon AVR 300 (listing today for about $30 on eBay) is out. The old Yamaha fronts (my dad and I picked them up at Montgomery Wards in 1989- Yes, I said Montgomery Ward) have muffled their last recording.

My AVR-300 is dying. The dts decoder is all messed up, sending nasty distortion to my surrounds and sometimes sending no sound at all. The internal battery is dead, meaning a full reprogram after every power hiccup. The front RCA (VID2) jacks are dead, which means having to get behind it for temporary hook ups, and of course it does no HD video switching of any kind, which explains the clunky Radio Shack AV switch hanging around to switch component video.

(This piece is also dying, btw. We have to sometimes smack the switch or even stomp the floor(!) in order to get the signal to quit wigging out).

Up next? The new Harman Kardon flagship AVR-745 Due out this month. Too hot to do justice with a short feature description here. Pricey perhaps, but the NY retailers will discount it some. All you need to know about this thing is expressed in the überhot remote control. It’s a reshaped Logitech Harmony, and in my opinion, for the better.

We’re going (yes- we- no really. Ok, fine.) I’m going to be pairing this workhorse up to a pair of Paradigm Studio 40 s, at long last finishing the speaker system (along with our Atom surrounds, CC-470 and PS-1200).

This is the 2006 birthday plan. I can’t wait to throw in the Rush R30 DVD we bought last month and crank up Subdivisions live!

Geddy Lee still has most of his voice, by the way. Somehow. It must be that hearty Canadian cuisine .

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