alsterfan Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Though being a fan of HK 930 for about 35 years I wondered what other brands had to offer. Having read quite a lot of praises concerning the Tandberg TR 2075 I finally decided to get one. So I have had the opportunity for a few weeks now to compare both receivers. Regarding the technical data, sheer power is in favour of the Tandberg (2x75W vs 2x45W). But what a surprise to find out that the HK 930 is the better choice concerning the sound. The Tandberg, sounding more analytic, at first impressed me revealing maybe a bit more details in the mid-frequencies but overall it lacks warmth of sound and what is even more in this comparison it sounds a bit flat, the music (especially vocals) is very much in the foreground. The HK 930 however has "body" around the vocals and solo instruments which is pure joy to listen to. The reason for this seems to be the impressing way the HK 930 provides for bass (now I know what HBDRbuilder is talking about). At this point I want to mention another surprise concerning the HK 150+. Although being stronger than the 930 its sound is much nearer to the Tandberg than to the 930. To be fair, in one aspect the Tandberg 2075 seems to sound slightly better: Listening to FM the tuner has a bit more warmth and body than the HK 930. The last surprise I want to bring home to you concerns the speakers I made this comparison with. Since using the HK only when surfing in the internet (and not when concentrating on music alone) I was looking for bookshelf-speakers not needing much space. The guy servicing my receivers ( http://www.huether-net.de/ak-index.shtml) showed me tiny but ugly RFT B 4124 boxes, produced in the former GDR at the end of the 80s. These sound excellent with an overwhelming transparency you would not expect from loudspeakers of that size (5L) and simple built quality. What is even more: At the moment the price on ebay ranges from 15-30€! You simply can´t go wrong giving them a try. If you want to know what they look like and to have some technical data, here´s a link for you: http://www.rft-hifigeraete.de/9465.html http://www.peppermint-guido.de/rftboxen.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksonbart Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Top Notch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrestonTom Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 The Tanderg TR receivers sound quite nice (I have the little brother to the 2075). They have very nice tuner sections on them also. There were two series. The series with the blue lights are the preferred ones, IIRC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alsterfan Posted April 7, 2009 Author Share Posted April 7, 2009 Hi Preston Tom, you are right with the two lines. Those having white lights are of a slightly more modern built. This does not necessarily mean they sound better. If you search on scandinavian forums (especially those from Norway, where Tandberg came from) you will find many Tandberg fans saying the older the better, i.e. Tandberg Huldra 10, Tandberg solvsuper 12. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 alsterfan, thanks for the review. most interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alsterfan Posted December 2, 2010 Author Share Posted December 2, 2010 Here is an addendum to my notesfrom Apr 09 2009. After separating the preamp andmain amp sections I put my 30 year old Yamaha C-2A preamp in between, i.e.using the HK tuner and main amp. And what shall I say, I now understand whyquite a few people are using the HK 930 as an amp alone! With this combinationthis Harman Kardon sounds a lot better - and it wasn´t bad at all before themod. And what is even more, the impressing improvement of the musical detailsand the soundstage can be experienced even with the above mentioned (stillugly) RFT B 4124 boxes, which I`m still using. Before I made this step, I wassort of sceptical, if these very simple boxes could benefit at all from thereference Yamaha C-2A (vintage stuffreally belonging to two different worlds). Now I know better and am glad that Ihave made this experiment. For those of you who, like me, areinterested in technical aspects of vintage high fidelity, but don´t know verymuch what it´s all about, here is a German address of a very talented, skillfulrestorer of vintage stuff, showing in pictures and mostly understandable wordswhat he is working on at the moment and how he "cures the babies": http://hifi.harald-muss-bleiben.de/thread-958.html I´m sure you will like thisaddress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djk Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 The Tandberg as a tuner-pre is incredible, the power amp sounds a bit thin. While the tuner sounds great, it is not the most sensitive on weak stations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muel Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Sehr gut! [Y] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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