Invidiosulus Posted February 27, 2003 Share Posted February 27, 2003 Honestly I think the H/K 430 sounds great. I do however think that one of it's strengths is also the basis for one of it's possible weaknesses. The warmth which makes it so pleasurable to listen to is wonderful. To my ears this same warmth and the roundness to the bass also sounds not quite as well defined as I would like it to. Certain songs have a softness to them that is not experienced on my yamaha receiver. The softness is not entirely appreciated, the yamaha HTR-5540 reciever gives as has been noted by others a sound that tends toward bright and perhaps not particularly smooth on the top end. At this point while a hard choice, I have switched the yamaha back as my main amp with the H/K in my bedroom on my jbl's. I have very little experience with different amplifiers and do not have a great pile of other amplifiers on hand to compare with the H/K. The only other stereo amp that I have is a NAD 3150 integrated that I picked up the other day at a yard sale for $3, the reason it was so cheap is that one channel of the power section cuts out after about five minutes apperently due to two resistors overheating. Because of this I am cautious of thinking that it sounds up to par even in those first five minutes. Btw, the NAD has twin transformers as well. These are just some of my thoughts on the amplifiers I have at hand so please take them as such. Peace, Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted February 27, 2003 Share Posted February 27, 2003 Interesting. I have that same NAD amplifier. It can actually sound pretty nice via the 4 ohm taps. Give it a try. Too bad about the overheating. Is it protection circuitry? The older NADs from that time tend to have cap problems and develop hum. The best thing I have found with the NAD is to turn them on and LEAVE them on. They actually do much better this way. kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invidiosulus Posted February 27, 2003 Share Posted February 27, 2003 Kelly, I'm not sure if this is quite the same amp as you have in mind. The one I have does not have seperate taps for different impedences. It has two sets of speaker outputs and a switch on the back that is for 8ohms and lower or High impedence(always over 8ohms). When it stops working the protection led does not come on. The led does work however because it is on during power up to keep from sending a pop to the speakers I would guess. I opened the case and their were two resistors that had visably darkened a small portion of the surrounding curcuit board and were considerably warmer than the other components. I'm not really worried about having it fixed since it was only a few bucks. Peace, Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted February 27, 2003 Share Posted February 27, 2003 You are entirely correct. I mistyped here. What I meant to say was to run your Heresy or other 8 ohm speaker in NAD's equivalent to the 4ohm tap which would be with teh selector switch set to NORMAL. I have tried running the amp with it optmized for the 8ohm position and almost always felt it sounded better in the normal mode, even if the speakers didnt dip down too much below 6 ohm. Also, turn off the soft clipping protection as well (I believe this switch is below the impedance switch). Contrary to NAD, I felt the sound better with the soft clipping circuitry out of the equation. This was actually a pretty nice amp for NAD and one of my favorites after the 3020. They do not work as well bridged in my opinion sounding far better in stereo. These were nice little 50w amps. kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invidiosulus Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 With some sensitive speakers I guess you wouldn't have to worry that much about driving the amp into clipping. Even on the less sensitive heresies 50 watts is mighty loud. Peace, Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Kelly, Any experience with NAD CD players (specifically, the 5170, w/6-disc cartridges)? Seems like a pretty nice unit, although mechanically a bit loud, when accessing discs. fini Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mace Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 I'll chime in on the NAD. I have the 3240 and I too have found it to sound better with the 4 Ohm setting (a little fuller sounding). This weekend I get to have a shoot-out with the 3240 and H/K 430. So far, I've found the H/K 430 a very good buy. I've never heard tubes so I can't compare. The 430 does sound very full and solid and provides punch. I'll give it a very good listen this weekend. Mace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Fini, I used to help people set up systems, rounding up gear that was compatible, making the purchase, and doing the 2 Channel setup. For a time, I got some good deals on NAD gear and liked their little low power amps as well as their CD players, at least for the money. OF the two, the integrated amps were better but their CD players avoid being harsh and had a relatively musical sound for CD. The 502 was a good sounding little CD player and even received some decent reviews. Unfortunately, they displays went out after a year or so and there were other reliability problems. The players were a bit soft sound but still sounded a lot better than being too harsh. I have not had any personal experience with the multi-disc players at all. All in all, besides a few reliability problems, most of the later NADs are not bad (the Monitor series was more reliable but not as dimensional sound). I have heard their CDP have better reliability now. As for the integrateds and amps, I was never a fan of the PE series. kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Cornell Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 HI Is it ok to say anything here? On my other post, conrad Vs the 430, you all have to understand, i like the Klipschorns no matter what i use on them! Sure a bit bright on this, a bit less bass on that, its trully hard to adjust to different units with KLIPSCHORNS! I have backed out on comments, i went to fast, i need to listen to the 430 a bit more, i work 52 hours Mon thru Fri! Regards Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 I could set-up family members with some awesome 2-channel systems, from the deals I've made. Unfortunately, none of my relatives give a hoot about clean audio. Oh, well, there's always eBay... fini Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Fini...you ever get your 430 up and running? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Andy, I got it cleaned, and will fire it up later today, with the Cornwalls! fini Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Fini - Thanks for the invitation to my house! Mi casa es su casa!! Or is it, su casa es mi casa? Anywho, the Giants spring training opener was rained out yesterday, so we're not exactly bragging about our weather. We've had more rain so far in 2003 than we had all year last year, I believe, and that's not saying much. DD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heresy2guy Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 "You are entirely correct. I mistyped here. What I meant to say was..." ***************************** Seems to happen to the best of us, eh Mobile?! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Fini, I hope all that moisture damage in your 430 is not gonna adversely affect its performance...from your pic, it seemed to have quite a bit....hopefully no permanent damage was done and it was all just surface corrosion! I would like to see a pic of its guts after your cleaning when you get a chance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Well, I hooked it up just a bit ago. Power off, volume at zero, set on FM, hooked up to Cornwalls. I hit the power button, and get the most horriffic sound, loud, scratchy, popping. Immediately I shut down the power, fearing I've blown the Cornwalls. This popped Corn I don't desire. Re-attaching them to the Nak SR-3A, they seem to have survived. Now, how do I proceed to check the 430 (i.e. with a meter vs. the speakers)? I'll tell you, I almost crapped my pants! (Don't worry...no photos of this.) fini Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Fini, You left the speaker A button on when you powered it up? OOPS!! Have you printed-out a copy of the service/technical manual for it yet? Procedures for testing are in that manual. Web address is: http://manuals.harman.com/hk/Service%20Manual/hk430%20sm.pdf You will need adobe acrobat reader to download this. Hope this helps some, and that moisture damage was not fatal on that thing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Andy, Are you saying that one is supposed to power-up a (this) receiver with the speakers in the "off" position? I've never been concerned with this before, just making sure the volume is at zero. That being said, with volume at zero, aux input (CD player off) I'm getting voltage out of the left speaker terminal (not consistent, the needle's bouncing around), I do believe this puppy's screwed up. I think I'll need a bit of instruction for the service manual to be of use to me. Thanks! fini Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Fini, judging from the amount of moisture damage it seemimgly had sometime before you got it...in those cases, I never initially power one up with anything other than the speakers switch off and a pair of resistors across the speaker terminals in order to test it first. I actually make it a point on S/S amps of that era to never have the speaker switch on when powering it up, anyway...volume all the way down. Then I give it a few seconds...20 or so...turn the speaker switch on...20 or so more seconds...gradually turn up the volume. I was raised up on components from that era...and that was always the recommended procedure in those days. Reverse the procedure when powering down. These units are first of all old, and secondly are not integrated circuits...and they act in many ways like tube equipment in that time...they need a bit of warm-up time to charge the caps, and such(though not nearly as much time as tubes)! Early S/S stuff was for the most part tough and had good longetivity, IF it was always powered-up and down in is manner. I have a bad feeling about that moisture damage on yours...as I have previously mentioned! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 This one may be going back to Sally's...the 30-day warranty is almost up! I'm listening at the moment to a Kenwood KR-8050. Sounds nice to me! fini Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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