HK 3390 and Snell K

Just retired a JVC executive stereo (FSD9) and put in HK3390.

Bought from Amazon for $219 shipped. The latest HK refurb ebay auction ended yesterday for $162 plus plus. So I paid maybe $35 extra for virgin equipment with free 2 day shipping.

Large Florida "great room" living room. 1970s construction- concrete floors (no basement), low ceilings (not cathedral), room is about 25x25 with carpet and little furniture.

Snell K (not Mk II these are old); about 5 years ago I replaced foam with Parts express generic foam surrounds, that was my first look at PE. The Snells are up on PE $99 metal stands. Sounded truly awful on floor.

The HK is obviously going from weak to strong from the JVC. It was maybe unfair to the JVC. Those little things sounded surprisingly good with their little 3" cone long throw jewel speakers back in their day, up close.

The HK made me laugh like a loon and I just went from station to station, enjoying the new dynamic range and stereo separation and reduced midrange grainy honk from those speakers.

The HK tone controls do swing the sound a lot, they are not somehow vague or muted or ineffective. Want extra 10 db at 100hz, its there. Sounds best flat.

Next step open up the Snells. Their nicely oak veneered knuckle-knock-silent cabinets are flexing heavily at medium volumes. I will put in a few dowel braces and damping goo material. Lose some mid bass boom. Likely recap them too. After the refoam they were hopeless as "original" Snells so I am OK to continue the mod journey with them.

The HK is a pretty piece of gear. Nice large heat slits and large heat sink under the cover. The remote is big and nice and well laid out unlike so many.

The HK seems to have some minor AV functionality, lost on me, the TV is hooked up to dedicated stuff and the TV feeds AV audio to the HK via stereo RCA cables.

Not the same receiver, but i have a 3490 and love it. Although, it seems pretty bright to me (sound wise). Love the styling and volume wheel!

Modifying Snell K's is not something that I'd consider. Why not just sell them and get something that you are happy-with rather than butchering some very rare and desirable speakers? I'm pretty sure that these used 100% film caps, so its not like you'd be replacing some lousy electrolytics.

Personally I'd love to find a set of Snell Ks to match my Snell CIIs so that I would have a snell center channel that blends really well with my mains on my home theatre setup (that's not an offer, I'm just sayin).

snell k no mod

goldear said:

Modifying Snell K's is not something that I'd consider. Why not just sell them and get something that you are happy-with rather than butchering some very rare and desirable speakers? I'm pretty sure that these used 100% film caps, so its not like you'd be replacing some lousy electrolytics.

Personally I'd love to find a set of Snell Ks to match my Snell CIIs so that I would have a snell center channel that blends really well with my mains on my home theatre setup (that's not an offer, I'm just sayin).

Click to expand...

I did pass on opening them up. I will buy sister (its her house in Florida) new speakers sometime next year, then these Ks will be surplus.

I've had an HK-3480 since 2006, I got it refurbished and have been using it as my primary receiver, on 8+ hours every day, ever since. It's even on the bottom of my audio stack which I know is a no-no, but since half the height of the receiver seems to be simply to accommodate the utterly massive heat sink and it has plentiful vents, I'm not too worried. It runs warm, not hot to the touch, but then again living in an apartment I'm not able to really utilize the unit's full 120wpc.

I'd love to get a vintage receiver with some analog VU meters and chrome knobs and switches, but I'm finding it hard to find something really worth replacing the HK. It isn't built nearly as solidly as most vintage gear, but I think it's probably among the best consumer 2-channel gear you can buy new today, before you start getting into the really expensive, esoteric gear from McIntosh and the like, of course.

I am glad you are enjoying your gear so much. I have a 3490 hooked to Klipsch Heresy II speakers and get a lot of smiles per dollar from them.

Same with the 3490 on the tone controls. I get the db gain I need at low volumes and the Heresy IIs never sounded any better.

Great bang for the buck gear.

I currently have an HK 3485 (120 wpc) hooked up to some modified Forte's...:yes:

Welcome to the wonderful world of HK, a place I'll never leave :yes:

Also just bought a HK 3390 from the Zon, and the best part is the FM tuner. For not being HD FM the sound is real clear and open with lots of detail. The amp sounds totally neutral to me. It does sound best set flat. But I still believe in equalizers, and the preout-main in jacks was a factor in my decision to purchase. Hope this works as long as my 20 year old Optimus.

Nice.
It seems that HK gets more respect here than basically ignored on some forums.
I acquired a HK 6950 Int amp and tuner on a trade for a cdp. I had no idea how good it was and went for the deal on trust. Honestly, all my speaker sets are mid range so my use is limited. It has way more power than needed. I use it for my wife's 2 channel HT. I have switched between Castle Severn speakers and Quad 11L with an NHT sub. It is not bright sounding it through those speakers. I think it does use a lot of electricity though.

I know that HK gets a lot of respect on the Polk forum as well.

I have Snell K/II's and they are one of the best bookshelf speakers I've ever heard. Too bad about the Snell K's- maybe you can find some K/II's or Snell J's somewhere...