H/K 730 or 930

[TommyC]

Hi guys. I have found a H/K 730 in Very good condition for $120 and a 930 that I have been told is functionally in Very good condition but has "some cosmetic (sp?) issues" that I haven't seen in person for $225. Which sounds like the better deal to you? I am leaning towards the 730, but I will probably look at the 930 first.

[Bill H.]

Tom,

I have had the 730, and enjoyed it alot..........120.00 is a little high, but if its in good condition-I would just go with this Model...........Plus it sounds like you don't have to mess with shipping costs.

Here is a link on classicaudio.com site for a 930 at only 190.00 ,,,,,,if your so inclined. Bottom line, you can't go wrong with either one good Luck!

http://www.classicaudio.com/forsale/hk930.html

[HDBRbuilder]

Somebody got a great deal on a 930 on eBay over the weekend at around 140 bucks. The 930 has the best tuner of the "X"30 twin-powered receivers...that is its biggest advantage over a 730...other than the 5 extra wpc you get with the 930.

[TommyC]

Thanks for the info guys. I went and checked out the 930 in person and the "cosmetic issues" he mentioned were more like major external damage! The thing looked like it was dropped out of a moving truck! I went back to the guy with the 730 with $100 cash in my pocket and much to my delight, he took it! SO... Now I am the proud owner of a very nice H/K 730 in amazing condition. The inside is Very dusty and the volume pot is a little noisy, but I bet I can take care of that pretty easily! TommyC is a happy man! Now all I need to do is decide between a new Cartridge or a AU-300 stepup transformer and I will be listening to vinyl again!! My TT is in the shop now being checked over and having the arm repaird, so Soon, I hope! Thanks for putting up with all the questions, I'm sure there are more to come!

[Colin]

should be very sweet with the herersy in your profile!

[TommyC]

I sure hope so! One more question. What should I do before I fire it up? I'm thinking cleanup and new fuses... Anything else?

Thanks,

TommyC

[Chris Robinson]

Here's some guidance from HDBR Builder just a few weeks ago:

For the volume pot put some kinda folded up paper towel or something like that under the pot to catch the excess cleaner lube so that it doesn't run all over the bottom of the unit. Then pull off the volume knob. There are some openings on the pots where the rear part is crimped to the main part; you can use these to more easily get the cleaner lube inside of them, but you also need to give them a few squirts through the hole that the knob comes through so as to get the bearing surface there lubed. Use the tube supplied with the cleaner lube so that you don't get any on the front "smoked" glass/plastic panel of the unit...it will cause it to permanently turn "milky". Ok now that you are all ready, give it the squirts where I said to do it...two or three...then rapidly work the pot back and forth to loosen up the grunge so that it will mix with the cleaner and drain out in solution. You wil notice that the control tends to eventually turn much easier...that is how you know you are getting it clean. It may take more than one treatment...often does...to get it completely clean ans smoothly operating. It is a good idea to clean the function switch and the tone and balance control pots too...also the tape monitor switches, which are harder to get to...and the speaker switches...once these are clean then the receiver will also SOUND much better due to better electrical contacts being made in those places. Let me know how this works out for you. I also recommend changing the fuses under the hood to new fast blow ones after cleaning the fuse holder contacts...same for the fuses on the rear. Normally all a 430 needs is a good cleaning to really make it sing!

Andy

[HDBRbuilder]

Remove the "hood" and take some compressed air and blow the dust and crap out of the unit BEFORE using the cleaner lube on the controls. It is easier to get that stuff out of there beforehand. Just be sure not to use TOO much air pressure...know what I mean, Vern?

[bdc]

so wait, I'm guessing we take the "hood" off the 430 when we spray the pots with tuner cleaner, right? I took off the volume knob and it doesn't look like spraying through there would be too effective...

[HDBRbuilder]

You get to the pots' innards from "under the hood," but it is also a good idea to give the BEARING surface at the FRONT of the pots a good squirt or two or three, in order to loosen up grunge at that point (by pulling the knobs to get to them there).

In order to get cleaner lube THORUOGHLY into the push buttons for the tape monitor switches and the speaker switches and such, it is also a good idea to give them a few squirts from the rear upper part of the switches AND the front of them around the button itself. Sometimes intermittent problems of "cutting-out" of the sound from one channel is directly due to the tape monitor or speaker switches needing a good cleaning/lube!

Also, on the rotary FUNCTION switches, as you clean/lube them, they will actually do the OPPOSITE of what the volume/balance/tone pots do (those POTS will begin to turn more smoothly)...BUT, the function controls will begin to have MORE POSITIVE "stop-clicks", IOW they will become a BIT harder to switch from one FUNCTION source to another, as they become cleaner.

Be sure to remove the fuses under the hood and on the rear of the unit and thoroughly clean their contact points of their holders (I use Q-tips doused in cleaner/lube for this procedure). I also always just replace the fuses with NEW fast-blow ones of the marked values...as an additional precaution (fuses are cheap, anyway!).

Also, it never hurts to take a new clean piece of green scrub pad (like you use in the kitchen for cleaning pots and such), douse it with some cleaner/lube, and give it a twirl or two or three around the outside connections of RCA connectors on the rear of the unit..and take a few pipe-cleaners doused with cleaner/lube and get to the inside contacts of those RCA connectors...CLEAN connections can make a WORLD of difference in what you get out of a vintage unit!

Clean it, let it dry, and then fire it up...be sure to use the age-old "fire-it-up" procedure on this older equipment:

Ensure the speaker switches are in the OFF position, and the volume control is all the way down...then turn on the power...give it a few seconds (5 or so), then turn on the desired speaker switch/switches...give it a few more seconds, then turn the volume up to wherever you want it.

NEVER change the FUNCTION switch without AT LEAST turning the volume all the way down(this does NOT apply to using tape monitor switches or filters and such)...AND it is ALSO PREFERABLE to turn the speaker switch off after turning the volume down...BEFORE changing the FUNCTION (it MAY cause damage to the unit and/or speakers due to power surges).

To power-down the unit...turn the volume all the way down, wait about 5 or so seconds, turn the speakers off, wait about 5 or so seconds, turn off the power (this allows caps to drain and eliminates the often-heard "whump-whump" through the speakers when the unit is powered down INCORRECTLY. Doing things this way on older solid-state units adds to THEIR life-expectancy AND the life-expectancy of your speakers!!

If your H/K "X"30 unit is functioning properly, and has CLEAN connections, then I believe you are in for a real surprise listening to those Heresys! Just leave the tone controls set "flat"...and give yourself some time to get used to the sound before making any adjustments...normally you won't feel a need to make ANY adjustments, except, in some cases, backing off on the bass tone control a tad...ESPECIALLY if you aren't used to having an "ultra-wide-band" frequency response with twin-powering thrown into the equation! I would start out with the volume contol all the way down and then you'll find that those receivers don't need to have the volume control turned up very much to really shake the dust off the drivers in those Heresys!...somewhere around 8-10'oclock should have your neighbors complaining!...DEFINITELY so at 11 o'clock to high-noon!!

ALSO, a simple bi-pole wire "T" type FM antenna (a couple of bucks at Rat Shack) is all you will really need for the FM tuner section...and you are likely gonna be surprised using IT, too!