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Harmon Kardon Citation 17

S

steelglam

Super Member
Is the Harmon Kardon Citation 17 a good integrated preamp? A local shop is selling one for $84, and apparently the only issue is that the light indicating that the unit is on is burned out.

I've never heard any Harmon Kardon stuff before, so I'm wondering if folks have any insight as to what kind of sound it has. Also, the quality of the phono stage is of special interest to me.

I'd be matching it with either my Bryston 3B or my Yamaha MX-1000 power amps.
 
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I like the sound and build quality of some HK. I don't have experience with the Citation line, but it was their totl in the day and it usually gets very good reviews, including phono stages. Check out the Vintage Knob for more info on this preamp. Good luck if you get it - price is really fair, most ones I've seen go for more on ebay.
Mike
 
If it has the 5 band equalizer then it is a Citation17, the 17s was the the top of the line and has an excellent phono section btw.
In it's day it was ahead of the pack as far as preamp's, it's fair by today's standard. You'll find after listening for awhile it tends to be grainy, like a lot of SS units of the time. It can really benefit from a power supply rebuild and recapping of the boards. The equalizer you may find helps balance out deficencies in other areas. I paid $45 for mine about 10 years ago but have noticed they have gone up lately, I don't know why because they seem to be plentiful. So what your looking at sounds pretty good.
Also look into a Citation 11, the older iteration of HK preamp with EQ.
 
Thanks for all of the replies. I'm wondering how it would compare to my Onkyo Integra P-3030 in terms of sound quality. The Onkyo has a more diverse set of phono stage functions (takes both MC and MM carts, switchable capacitances), but I'm wondering how the Harman Kardon's phono stage sounds compared to my Onkyo.
 
If you don't like the Citation, send on to me. BTW, if you're listening to either the Onkyo or the Citation in its original form (no recent restoration work), then I'd suggest you're just listening to the sound of old components.

Once restored, that Citation can run rings around the Onkyo, IMHO.

Cheers,

David (yep, that crusty old dude - again)
 
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