Audio Systems: Harmon/Kardon stereo cd player - no sound, dollars to donuts, harmon kardon

Question
I have a Harmon/Kardon Festival 60 Stereo radio/CD player. Not new. Had a power outage while at work. I came home to find the unit on; set on a radio station and no sound. Have checked all external connections including being on a familiar station and tried cd's...they play but no sound of either. I plugged in a headphone and the sound is fine. The speakers have been reconnected; also with a new set from a friend. There isn't even any interference audible. Any help appreciated.

Answer
Dear Carol,

You're not going to like this.

I also own a Festival 60. Mine starting making shrieking noises out of the left channel after I'd had it about 6 months. I had it checked out by an independent (and reliable) hi-fi repair service. Turned out that all of the soldering in the output circuits in the left channel was pretty bad, and the right channel wasn't much better. They resoldered everything, and now the unit works fine. A power outage would be just the event to expose faulty soldering in your unit.

Shortly after I wrote the review of the Festival 60 (and before the shrieking phenomenon started), Harman/Kardon pulled the unit from production. I have a sneaking suspicion that they knew about the faulty soldering, probably an issue with a Pacific rim subcontractor--but that's just a guess.

I highly recommend that you take the unit in to a reputable, qualified repair service and have them check it out. I'll betcha dollars to donuts it's the soldering.

Good luck. And thanks for choosing allexperts.com!

Kindest regards,

Kevin