Harman AVR 1610S AVR

The Harman Kardon AVR 1610S boasts decent sonic performance, but it's still outdone by its competitors.

The 10-pound Harman Kardon AVR 1610S won't warp your furniture or shelving, and it's got the requisite basic feature set including Bluetooth audio and five HDMI inputs. Sound quality is decent considering the price.

There's no built-in Wi-Fi. The remote's teensy volume control buttons might be a challenge to find in a darkened home theater. The user interface is severely outdated. And the identically priced Yamaha trounces it on features and sound quality.

The Harman Kardon AVR 1610S is a decent AV receiver, but it pales in comparison to plenty of far better alternatives at the same price.