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The Official Harman Kardon H/K Citation Owners Thread

Greg Nal said:
You're right, Bartertown is for members. I'm sure the thread will blow up with those interested shortly. If you want something more meaningful, try the auctions for audiokarma forum where people post stuff that is auctioned like ebay for a week or so, and the winner pays the fee directly to audiokarma, and pays you for the packing/shipping. AK, as a non-profit, benefits from the auction, you reach a broader audience for your gear, and its no harder than giving it away for nothing. Not sure as a non-member if you can see that site...There's also craigslist locally or leaving the gear on the curb and making someone's week as they drive by and get gear free! I've never been that lucky but there are plenty of posts on Reddit's vintage audio page or Facebook vintage audio forums for this kind of thing.
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Thanks for the other ideas Greg. Pretty embarrassing I didn't think to put them on local Craigslist or FB Marketplace since I scan them daily for guitars. I'll rectify that in a minute.
 
fred soop said:
Whatever you do, DO NOT scrap these units.
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Hey Fred. Yeah, I've been under pressure from the wife for some time to rid myself of these. But there is sentimental value since they were the first quality stereo components I ever owned and the thought of them in a landfill would make me lose sleep. If I was a betting man I'd put some money on the 2 amps working. Tried borrowing a pre-amp from some friends but everyone's gone to A/V receivers or integrated. I'm going to put them out locally and I found a 10 band BSR EQ and a Yamaha tuner to entice the locals. I used to be the guy in the old Maxell ad - all I needed was a chair. Now I'm just the old guy with an A/V receiver and too much furniture.:D

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dak55 said:
I've been under pressure from the wife for some time to rid myself of these.
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bring them over and I'll help you get them working. This isn't rocket science. if you are not close, plan a canoe trip in BWCA and swing by.
 
Hi, I purchased my Citation back in late 80's, I think. The store had sold me a Nakamichi Receiver and a tape deck and set of Polks previously but now was closing . I picked this up at a reduced price and it really opened the Polk 8T's up. Here are a few nudies.I have done a recapping still has original big ones. Gone over the pcb's and touched up solder joint issues. Love the sound and its powerful enough for the neighbors to enjoy also.:rolleyes:20200126_145209_resized.jpg 20200126_145230_resized.jpg 20200126_145238_resized.jpg 20200126_145754_resized.jpg 20200126_155531_resized.jpg
 

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So, a little story...

for the last 3 years any birthday or whatever I would just have people get PayPal cards...eventually I figured I would use it for something ridiculous... that time has come...

I have a recapped citation 17 but it’s silver, most of them are...my amp is a B&K 4420 which is black...they work well together and never thought the different colors would bother me..well, it does, kind of....my set up is in the living room, first room you walk into, middle of house..

so I used my stupid money on a rare black one that was on eBay...

should be here Wednesday ...anyway, I figured I would just pop out the recapped boards from the silver one and put them in the black unit...

should be pretty easy, right..? Anything I should look out for when swapping these boards...?

BK
 
FIY, as far as stand alone H/K tuners-I was never impressed with any of them, sound wise or reception.
Frankly, unless you have serious adjacent channel issues -get a Proton 440 tuner.
Beats my moded TU-717 tuner in everyway, except for strong adjacent channel rejection.
Very sensitive and sounds awesome.
For DXing, etc if switches are great-but narrow always sound eh....at that point use Iheart!
 
fred soop said:
Could you possibly swap front panels instead of all the circuit boards?
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sure, but overall the black one seems to be in nicer shape....it’s Wednesday’s job, evaluate both pieces then either swap front plates or swap all the boards...

my wife just shakes her head, “you guys are crazy”
 
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I just came across this very interesting thread with all kinds of great info on some of the best Citation gear HK ever produced. I just hooked up a Cit 11 with both a HK 770 and also a pair of HK 775 mono amps, I've had tucked away. Both setups sound very good after all these years, and plan on further testing with various speakers and sources.

One of the questions asked a couple pages back "Of the solid state HK preamps would you guys consider the 17s to be the high water mark...?"

One member answered the "regular 17 is the one". Which brings me to something not yet mentioned in twelve pages so far. That is the first solid state HK preamp, the Citation A. From my limited research, it was designed by Stu Hegeman, the man behind the development of the Citation I and II, among other great designs. What is the consensus , if any, on this early HK SS pre? Does it compare favorably with the venerable Cit I, or even the IV?
 
I don’t see a S/N on the rear panel (no label, at least.)

Does anyone know where I could source two correct replacement knobs for the (inexplicably) smaller ones depicted?
 
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