McGowdog
Active Member
Got a 330c, deox'd, lamps replaced and this thing rocks my Pioneer humpem hundreds like you wouldn't believe.
Harman Kardon 330c - what vintage?
- Thread starter mplsbob
- Start date
Got a 330c, deox'd, lamps replaced and this thing rocks my Pioneer humpem hundreds like you wouldn't believe.
McGowdog
Active Member
Pound for pound the 330c kicks my Marantz 2275s ass and doesn't break a sweat.
I guess 20 watts is really all you need.
Spe@kerBox
Addicted Member
Interesting, the ones I have tested (both A and B models) have all been around 21 WPC. I wonder if that one was an outlier.
The HK 330A and 330B, even when replaced by all-modern semiconductors, will start clipping between 21 and 23 watts (12.65 to 13.5 V RMS) outputs into 8 ohms. I have no idea how someone would get 37 watts from the 330A/B main amp board without significant distortion and a very hot input signal. Even if they really did it, it would not sound good.
Doug, thinking about the wattage draw I guess it is electronically improbable. I'll do a search for ancient article I read. I believe it was a 330b and the wattage might have been closer to 27wpc (almost positive it had a 7 in the number). It was a normal, original unit being tested. I'm starting to think the printed wattage draw on the unit might not be 100% accurate.
amateriat
New Member
And now, a bit over a year later, it's my turn to kickstart this thread from the dead. But it's not about h/k's 330 series, but a not-so-distant cousin I happened to stumble across a near-pristine example of last week: a Soundcraftsmen 2000A. I've known Soundcraftsmen for their high bang-for-the-buck separates of the 70s and 80s that seemed to straddle the median between studio and home audio, and generally had a solid rep. Unbeknownst to me up to now, they also offered a few receivers at the same time. Unlike most of their separates it's clear they outsourced the receivers' manufacturing, and just a bit of online sleuthing revealed that the 2000A came off the same production line as the h/k 330B/C.
Which has been a rather happy discovery: bearing a brand name flying under the radar of most people (Soundcraftsmen vanished from the market the better part of two decades ago), I found a beautiful 2000A on the 'bay for a bit over $70, plus shipping. If you'd told me this was some NOS piece in a box gathering dust in some warehouse for the last forty-plus years, I'd have believed you. I plugged it in plugged in all my other gear (turntable, CD, cassette), and…it sounds seriously good, especially for what is a "secondary" hi-fi system for me (main system is newer, but still rather old, with pricier gear, but also tied in with a big-screen TV in the living-room, meaning I don't get as much listening-time in on that system as I'd like). I guess Soundcraftsmen, who likely wouldn't slap their name on just anything, decided that whatever was good enough for the likes of harman/kardon was good enough for them. I concur.
Which has been a rather happy discovery: bearing a brand name flying under the radar of most people (Soundcraftsmen vanished from the market the better part of two decades ago), I found a beautiful 2000A on the 'bay for a bit over $70, plus shipping. If you'd told me this was some NOS piece in a box gathering dust in some warehouse for the last forty-plus years, I'd have believed you. I plugged it in plugged in all my other gear (turntable, CD, cassette), and…it sounds seriously good, especially for what is a "secondary" hi-fi system for me (main system is newer, but still rather old, with pricier gear, but also tied in with a big-screen TV in the living-room, meaning I don't get as much listening-time in on that system as I'd like). I guess Soundcraftsmen, who likely wouldn't slap their name on just anything, decided that whatever was good enough for the likes of harman/kardon was good enough for them. I concur.
sibesrule
Member
It is 20 watts per channel
One of the nicer sounding low wattage vintage integrated amps. In terms of pure sound experience however, I would give the Kenwood KA-4002 the edge. Jiro Kasuga (Accuphase) knew what he was doing with the original Trio-Kenwood KA-4002. One of the most undervalued and underappreciated small integrated vintage amps ever made.
I believe it was Roland (Rotel) who built these units.
Here's my wood cased Soundcraftsmen 3oooA with definite similarities inside and out to the Harman Kardons.
