Interesting HK warranty correspondence from 1962

[diamondsouled]

When I picked up a Cit I manual a while back there was some correspondence between a person who'd bought and assembled Cit I and II kits and Harmon Kardon.

Pretty interesting stuff historically speaking.

Back in the days of 3 cent stamps, typed hand signed letters, and personal service.

The entire correspondence is up in the files section of yahoo citation group for anyone that's interested:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/citationsound/?yguid=200332169

 

[Clmrt]

Cool. I wish it were like that again.

These days it's an auto-generated e-mail.

If the systems work.

 

[spartanmanor]

Customer service still existed. Sounds like you have some nice stuff there diamond. I am currently working on a Citation I. It has been a big project.

 

[jon_s]

Haha, I enjoyed reading those -- the writing style was very different when people had to use typewriters. It does sound like that guy bungled his Citation I, however :yes:

 

[diamondsouled]

Haha, I enjoyed reading those -- the writing style was very different when people had to use typewriters. It does sound like that guy bungled his Citation I, however :yes:

They are not simple preamps by any means. Lots of places to make a simple goof up which is near impossible to find unless you're good with a signal tracer or a scope. Bet HK got lots of those kits in for a work over.

Makes a person wonder if he eventually sussed it out.

Lar

 

[diamondsouled]

Customer service still existed. Sounds like you have some nice stuff there diamond. I am currently working on a Citation I. It has been a big project.

You've got Valencias as well, lol.

Nice speaker. I lucked out and came across a near pristine pair at a local pawn shop for $500. I've added a pair of baby cheeks and have picked up some 077s to A-B. I'm using JBL3105 crossovers right now.

Got enough tube gear to heat my house even when it's 40 below out lol.

Lar

 

[jon_s]

They are not simple preamps by any means. Lots of places to make a simple goof up which is near impossible to find unless you're good with a signal tracer or a scope. Bet HK got lots of those kits in for a work over.

Agreed -- I partially rebuilt mine, which I'd say qualified as a basket case, and
found some amazing mistakes that could have easily gone unnoticed. One was a foot-long wire that snaked through the chassis, and ultimately grounded the filament supply (incorrectly) to a point 1" away from it's source. Big hum, double-voltage across half the phono tubes, zero across the others. And this had been done by a tech paid by the amp's previous owner. :sigh:

 

[radioactive]

cool stuff indeed.i'm a sucker for documentation and find it almost as excting to have as much as the gear.when i bought my mx 110 it came with original manuals etc plus some corrospondence from mcintosh and the original owner.

 

[diamondsouled]

Yep documentation does have it's allure. You almost feel like an archaeologist-anthropologist when reading back on people's impressions of their gear and related performance issues.

Lar