A Little Praise For Harmon Kardon

[luckyduck]

Last Thursday my new Harmon Kardon HK3490 arrived! I'm using four Model 1 Vibrapods (ordered from Guitar Center) placed on playing cards between my CD player and my new two chanel receiver.

On Friday, I received a Belden 1694A coaxial digital audio cable and Belden 5000UE 12-guage speaker cable. These items have made a huge difference in the sound quality of my stereo system! The HK3490 provides my Forte IIs with 120 watts at 8 ohms and 150 watts at 4 ohms. I thought adding the Vibrapods was a good idea, to help out with any potential heat issues. The products from Blue Jeans Cable are of better quality than what I had been using.

Now I know how wuzzer felt after switching to his Emotiva UPA-2 amp! I realize the HK is far from being an audiophile grade component, but what it does do, it does very well.

[Fish]

Congrats,all the HK'S I've owned have been very musical,one of the best avrs for music.

[fini]

Hey, looks nice! I'm wondering what's the deal with the playing cards. Does it matter if they're face cards or numbered, or is it whatever suits you?

[luckyduck]

Ha! LOL. The directions included with the Vibrapods say to add either a playing card or felt under the base to keep from ruining the paint finish of what the vibrapod is sitting on. Personally, I hate the look...it cheapens the whole presentation. I'll buy a nice glass rack soon, this was a short term fix to keep from harming my HK. Do you guys think I would be OK removing them?

[Fish]

If it were me I don't think I would put anything on the HK.The ones I owned tend to run very warm,maybe shortin' the life of a component on it,or the HK's life?

[wuzzzer]

I second Fish's comment. If anything set the H/K on top of the CD player.

[kdcarroll]

wuzzer is dead on - set the H/K directly on the CD player. There are threads here and other forums that support the idea of adding mass to the top of transports to reduce vibration (not to be confused with jitter, etc.).

I have 3380, and I doubt you can do any better FOR THE MONEY. They sound great and have all the necessary features - I'll buy another when I need it!!

My best!

[George in Georgia]

I'm using a HK-590i receiver dating back to the mid '80s. It has the advantage of defeatable tone controls with two different hinge points, plus a low frequency cut off filter so my Fortes won't be overloaded by footfalls, etc. A mono switch is nice for my oldest vinyl; the 590's phono stage handles the AR ES-1 with Shure V15 micro ridge very nicely. HK has a nice sound, and is reliable. Fortunately the Fortes are happy with 45 wpc, and I suspect that HK's happiness with low impedance loads and more than ample power reserves helps its ability to drive the Fortes as loud as I want. You made a good choice.

[Par2]

I'll sing the praises of HK. I've been driving my HT system with a lil' PA-5800 5-channel amp for years now. Never let's me down. Popped the top off yesterday and blew it out, should be good for a few more. I love the trigger function that allows me to turn it on with a touch of the system remote. Made in the good old USA.

[clermontcop]

I will getting my HK 3490 in a couple of days, I look forward to getting it set up and posting some result's.

[normalnorman]

I am impressed with the 3490 too. I bought one for my Cornwalls a couple months ago and I cant expect it to perform any better than it does for the price. Congratulations!

[Vital]

I realize the HK is far from being an audiophile grade component, but what it does do, it does very well.

I try not to get too caught up in that word "audiophile" and I live by a simple concept - the proof is in the pudding and HK delivers.

[T.H.E. Droid]

Can't agree more. I wanted to update my CD player to one with balanced outputs and a good DAC. HK was selling HD990 refurbs for $420 on their web site. Big bonus with the HD990 is DAC inputs so you can use the CD player's DAC with lesser components. Unit is well built, looks nice, and sounds great. The DAC noticably improves the sound of my old Sony CD400 player.