Posted by mageworlder [ 67.168.123.96 ] on August 17, 2004 at 17:38:35:
I recently dug up my parents' old (1979?) Harman Kardon HK-450 receiver. When I plugged it in and listened to the FM and AM tuners through headphones, I was amazed at the musical warmth of the preamplfier, with its vintage vibe and much better radio reception sound than its new digital counterparts. However, when I tried to drive speakers, it seemed as if the right channel in the power stage was blown. I looked inside and tested both channels' fuses with a multimeter, which said they were OK, and they weren't obviously blackened or broken. I then closed it up and hooked up the speakers and cranked the amp. I got a loud and clear sound from the left channel, but the right channel was heavily distorted and frightened my pets. It almost sounded like a faulty transistor somewhere in the power amp stage, with extreme breakup and odd-order harmonic distortion. I was wondering if anyone has experience with this sort of thing (IE- is it fixable, and for what cost), and if it's a common problem with amplifiers this old. I was also wondering what used and/or vintage receivers have a tuner and sound of this caliber for below US$100.
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