Harman-Kardon AV amps support 4K and Spotify Connect but not Dolby Atmos

By Andy Madden
published

Harman Kardon has announced three new surround sound amps, the AVR 151S, 161S and 171S, which all go on sale 9th September...

All the new models feature 4K pass through, Spotify Connect, VTuner internet radio and DLNA compatibility as standard. There's Dolby True HD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding, but Harman has followed Sony and Yamaha in leaving Dolby Atmos off its budget range of receivers.

As you'd expect, power and connections and features increase as you go further up the range.

MORE: Dolby Atmos: What is it? How can you get it?

It kicks off with the Harman-Kardon AVR 151S (£350), a 5.1-channel surround sound amp with 75W per channel and four HDMI inputs.

Next comes the £400 AVR 161S, also a 5.1-channel amp, with 85W per channel and five HDMI 2.0 inputs. This model also comes equipped with wireless Bluetooth streaming.

The third model is the AVR 171S (£500), which gives you more channels for your money. It's a 7.2 channel amp with 100W per channel. There are six HDMI 2.0 inputs, twin HDMI outputs, Bluetooth, Apple AirPlay and all the streaming features of the other models.

The new Harman-Kardon amps are due out next week.

See all our Harman-Kardon news and reviews

MORE: IFA 2015 highlights - Samsung, Sony, Technics and more

Andy Madden
Andy Madden

Andy is Deputy Editor of What Hi-Fi? and a consumer electronics journalist with nearly 20 years of experience writing news, reviews and features. Over the years he's also contributed to a number of other outlets, including The Sunday Times, the BBC, Stuff, and BA High Life Magazine. Premium wireless earbuds are his passion but he's also keen on car tech and in-car audio systems and can often be found cruising the countryside testing the latest set-ups. In his spare time Andy is a keen golfer and gamer.