h/k Chorale.

[spaceman]

Well, I just took posession of an old h/k Chorale (A260) integrated amp, along with an EICO MX99 MPX adaptor & HFT-92 tuner. I still haven't found a lot of info on the Chorale yet, but it's a PP 6L6GC, with the outputs sitting at an angle for heat dissipation. The chassis isn't as clean as I'd like, but the faceplate's very good, & more importantly, the trannies are in great shape, not even scratched up or anything. I'll get pics up later, but here's a pic of a VERY clean one I found online. From what I read, these trannies were made special for h/k for these amps, but I don't remember the source of that. :scratch2:

 

[Tinkerbelle]

Nice find, congrats. If you need it, the instruction manual with schematic is available from the harmankardon.com website.

 

[spaceman]

Thanx, I already downloaded the OM a couple days ago. :thmbsp: The seller lives a ways out of town, but was coming in on business today. I didn't want to post about it till I actually had it though.

 

[spartanmanor]

Do the tubes mount like that?

 

[spaceman]

Yep, there's a little rectangular piece of sheetmetal, screwed into a recess, that the sockets are mounted on. I'll get some pics up pretty soon, so you guys can see it better. :yes:

 

[mhardy6647]

http://manuals.harman.com/HK/HOM/Owner's Manual/ChoraleOM.pdf

 

[spaceman]

Here ya go. Like I said, the chassis isn't as nice as I'd "like", but I really can't complain about the faceplate at all. I thought to put a quarter on the last pic, for scale. One thing I really like, is the switches to change speaker impedance for each channel.

 

[spaceman]

Hey WopOnTour, I hope you don't mind if I borrow your "money shot". When I found this, I just had to grab the pic, & share it here.

 

[jaymanaa]

I've never see one of those before, it looks to be well thought out. So, how does she sound?

 

[spaceman]

So, how does she sound?

It'll be a good while before I know, I definitely want to recap her. Especially when one of the cans' mounting tabs are broken. :sigh:

 

[gogofast]

they look great, spaceman!
good grab. i like 6L6 sound.

 

[sloober]

That thing looks just like my a230 Ballad, except with bigger tubes. I bet it sounds pretty good.
John

 

[spaceman]

Thanx guys. gogofast, I wasn't ignoring you, my cable modem wanted me to learn how to reset it.

 

[jaymanaa]

That thing looks just like my a230 Ballad, except with bigger tubes. I bet it sounds pretty good.
John

I thought it looked a lot like Bell tube stuff, but not HK. I bet it will sound good too.

 

[NYListens]

Hey WopOnTour, I hope you don't mind if I borrow your "money shot". When I found this, I just had to grab the pic, & share it here.

Wow, that is a "money shot." How was it taken? Spaceman, I like the look of those HK tube amps and receivers. I also like their older copper faced ones too.

 

[gogofast]

Wow, that is a "money shot." How was it taken? Spaceman, I like the look of those HK tube amps and receivers. I also like their older copper faced ones too.

i have the H/K trio that has the copper face with EL84 tubes. spaceman's 6L6 should sound much more beefier.

 

[vinylkid58]

i have the H/K trio that has the copper face with EL84 tubes.

I picked up an A224 (Trio) recently, just haven't had much time to play around with it. I'd never seen one before, so I decided to snag it.

The Chorale looks like a nice amp, good score spaceman.:thmbsp:

Jeff

 

[NYListens]

i have the H/K trio that has the copper face with EL84 tubes. spaceman's 6L6 should sound much more beefier.

One of these days I may buy one of the early mono copper faced HKs for a mono system.

 

[spaceman]

Yep, the copper units are VERY cool. :yes: My first tubed h/k was a mono Rondo tuner with the copper chassis & faceplate. I still have it, & finally have a standalone MPX adaptor now to go with it.

 

[WopOnTour]

Hey WopOnTour, I hope you don't mind if I borrow your "money shot". When I found this, I just had to grab the pic, & share it here.

LOL, no I dont mind. (The first photo you posted is my amp as well)
You have the version 2 of the Harman Kardon A260 (which is a good thing) If you compare my "money shot" with your amp you'll notice you have an "extra" top-side can capacitor. This also means you have slightly better transformers (version 1 used the same transfomers as the H/K A250 -but with the A260 topology)

I'd love to see an up-the-skirt shot! (but I know how hard it is to flip many amps without damage)

I build a wood frame for working on these old amps out of some 3/4" x6" hardwood plank (and 3/4x1.5" for the cross braces) so it can be easily flip-flopped around, layed on it's side etc.In the photo below you can make out how to lay the front brace across of the black controls shield (I used self-adhesive foam weatherstrip to protect the finish) then another across the back sitting directly ontop of the speaker impedance switch box and screwed them together using threaded inserts. (plus the 4 original screws to the chasiss, just using longer thread fasteners)
HTH
WOT