Harman Kardon

The Citation series set the standard everyone else chased

History

Key Facts

Legendary Products

Citation II (1959)

330 Series Receivers (1970s)

Festival D1000 (1954)

Citation 16 (1976)

Sound Signature

Harman Kardon's sonic character sits in a clean, transparent space that distinguishes it from the warmer American sound of Marantz or the brighter presentation of many Japanese competitors. The Citation series amplifiers deliver power with exceptional composure — dynamic swings are wide and uncompressed, bass is tight and controlled, and the treble extends smoothly without glare. This is equipment designed for listeners who want to hear exactly what is on the recording.

The 330 series receivers bring this same philosophy to a more accessible package, with the added charm of those iconic green-lit VU meters that give you a visual connection to the music's dynamics. Despite their elegant appearance, these are serious audio components with discrete transistor output stages and modular construction that reflects genuine engineering ambition. The overall presentation is balanced and refined — the kind of sound that rewards careful listening and reveals new details in familiar recordings.

Collecting Harman Kardon

The Citation II monoblock amplifiers from 1959 are the pinnacle Harman Kardon collectible — landmark designs that set new standards for home audio and remain genuinely impressive performers today. These command premium prices, often between $800 and $2,000 for good examples. The 330 series receivers, particularly the 330D, are equally iconic thanks to their distinctive green-lit VU meters and brushed aluminum faceplates — they are among the most visually striking vintage receivers ever made.

The Festival D1000 holds historical significance as the world's first true high-fidelity receiver, and clean examples are rare. When evaluating any 330 series receiver, check that the green meter lights are bright and even — dim or flickering illumination indicates voltage regulator issues that should be addressed. Intact original faceplates are important to value, as replacement panels are difficult to source. The modular board construction of the 330 series makes these receivers more serviceable than many competitors from the same era.

Competitors & Comparisons

Amplifiers

• 730 (1973-1979) — A mid-range solid-state stereo receiver from Harman Kardon’s Twin Powered series, produced during the mid-to-late 1970s.
• A 402 — The Harman Kardon A 402 is a stereo receiver that appears in period equipment databases, but the accessible record on it is thin. What is documented comes
• A-224 — Harman Kardon A-224 stereo amplifier (1958-1959), marketed as the Stereo Tri-Plex amplifier with preamp and two 12-watt power sections at $99.95.
• A-401 — Harman Kardon A-401 — rare 1970s flagship integrated amplifier, 40 WPC, praised for beautiful sound and heavy build with distinctive red/black speaker terminals.
• A660 — Harman Kardon A660 (c. 1981) — Japan-only integrated amplifier designed around Dr. Matti Otala's dynamic distortion theory.
• Citation 16 — Harman Kardon Citation 16 power amplifier: 150W/ch, 24.9 kg, rack-mount, and a spec sheet Studio Sound refused to take at face value.
• Citation 24 (1986-1989) — The Harman Kardon Citation 24 is a 1987 stereo power amplifier from the brand's high-end Citation separates line, rated at 100W/channel into 8Ω with 0.08% THD.
• Citation II (1959) — Harman Kardon Citation II (1958–1960) — the legendary 60W tube power amplifier designed by Stewart Hegeman. Zero negative feedback, KT88 outputs.
• Citation XX (1982-1986) — Harman Kardon Citation XX (1982–1986) — 125W/channel receiver with dual-mono design, toroidal transformer, and discrete circuitry.
• Citation19 — Harman Kardon Citation 19 power amplifier (1975–1980), 100W/ch straight-line design, 34 lbs, the giant killer of late-70s high-end audio.
• Citation22 — Harman Kardon Citation 22 high-current stereo amplifier. Little documented; known specs: 60W/ch into 8Ω, 100W into 4Ω, 15.5 kg, runs very hot per one owner.
• HK 6500 — Harman Kardon HK 6500 integrated amplifier — 2x60W (8Ω), 2x75W (4Ω), phono/CD/tuner/aux inputs, made in Japan. Thin documentation; confirmed by HiFI-Stereo 1992.
• HK503 — Harman Kardon HK503 stereo receiver, 50W/ch into 8 ohms, MM/MC phono inputs, dual tape loops. Production dates conflict (1979 vs 1987-1989).
• HK505 (1976–1977) — Harman Kardon HK505 (1976–1977) integrated amplifier — 45W/ch, DC-coupled ultrawideband design, early Matti Otala influence, phono capacitance switch.
• HK6100 — The Harman Kardon HK6100 is a stereo integrated amplifier, but almost nothing beyond its basic specifications has survived in the accessible record. No
• HK6900 — The Harman Kardon HK6900 is a stereo receiver, and it's one of those models where the surviving documentation is thinner than it deserves to be. What the
• kardon-tube-amplifiers (1975) — High-fidelity tube preamps from Harman Kardon known for ultra-linear design and warm, detailed sound. Find the complete spec table and when it was made here.
• PM635 — The Harman Kardon PM635 is an integrated amplifier released in 1992, built around a fully discrete output stage with 8 FETs and 8 transistors. The parts
• PM640 — Harman Kardon PM640 integrated amplifier, 45W/ch with dual-mono layout and discrete circuitry. A little-documented 1980s model from the high-current era.
• PM640Vxi — Harman Kardon PM640Vxi stereo integrated amplifier, late 1980s–early 1990s. High voltage/current design, ~45W/ch into 8Ω, made in Japan.
• PM645 — Harman Kardon PM645 integrated amplifier (1988–1992), 100W/ch High Current design. Final version of the PM series. Covers production dates.
• PM645Vxi — Harman Kardon PM645Vxi integrated amplifier (1996-97). High-current design with separate preamp/power supplies, 5Hz-200kHz response.
• PM650 (1982) — The Harman Kardon PM650 is a stereo integrated amplifier produced in 1982, described in period sources as a "successful and popular" model. It delivered
• PM655 — Harman Kardon PM655 integrated amplifier, mid-1980s. 100W/ch into 8Ω with high-current capability up to 260W into low-impedance loads.
• PM655Vxi — Harman Kardon PM655Vxi integrated amplifier — 100W/ch into 8Ω, 120W into 4Ω, high-current dual-mono design from the late 1980s.
• PM660 — Harman Kardon PM660 integrated amplifier (1982). 60W/8ohm, 85W/4ohm. Owners report decades of reliable use; period-tested by HiFI-Stereo in 1982.
• PM665 — Harman Kardon PM665 dual-mono integrated amplifier. Built on the PM660 design with a built-in MC head amp. 65W/ch into 8 ohms, dedicated phono power supply.
• PM665Vxi — Harman Kardon PM665Vxi integrated amplifier — 100W/ch dual-mono design with twin toroidal transformers, ±45A current capability, and 5-200kHz bandwidth.
• Prelude PC-200 — Harman Kardon Prelude PC-200 powered desktop speakers — satellite-and-subwoofer system with ring radiator tweeter, wooden cabinets, and built-in amp.
• TWIN-POWERED-SERIES-1970S (1970) — High-performance preamp and amplifier series from the 1970s featuring dual power supplies and renowned for warm, dynamic sound.

Audio Equipment

• Solid State Amplifiers — High-performance solid-state amplifiers from Harman Kardon produced between the 1960s and 1980s, known for robust engineering and benchmark-setting audio fidelity.

Cassette Decks

• CD491 — Harman Kardon CD491 (1991) CD player with 1-bit dual DAC, 100dB S/N, and unusual digital inputs/outputs. Specs well documented; little historical context survives.
• HK-1000 — Harman Kardon HK-1000 — a 3-head stereo cassette deck with closed-loop dual capstan transport and 3 motors, praised by High Fidelity in 1973 as The Best So Far.
• HK-2000 — Harman Kardon HK-2000 (c. 1979) — 100 WPC stereo receiver/amplifier. Little is documented beyond its power rating and a few marketplace listings.
• HK1500 — Harman Kardon HK1500 stereo receiver, 150 watts per channel. Extremely little documented about this model — no production years, price, or design details found.
• HK2500 — Harman Kardon HK2500 integrated amplifier — 75W/ch into 8 ohms, DC-100kHz response, 0.01% THD. A little-documented model known only from a single spec source.
• HK3500 — Harman Kardon HK3500 cassette recorder (c. 1979), documented through a Modern Recording lab report praising its twin-head design, bias trim.
• TC-600 — Harman Kardon TC-600 car audio amplifier, c. 1990. Known only via two magazine ads citing 600W continuous power and Transverse Tunnel cooling.
• TD-392 — Harman Kardon TD-392 cassette deck (c. 1986), covered in a Stereo Review test report; separate record/playback heads. Little else is documented.

Cassette Decks

• kardon-cassette-decks (1975) — High-fidelity cassette decks from Harman Kardon featuring advanced noise reduction and precision transport systems. This page has full specifications.

Cd Players

• CAD-4 — Harman Kardon CAD-4 cassette deck from the late 1960s, praised for extended low-end response that rivaled reel-to-reel machines.
• CAD-5 — Harman Kardon CAD-5 early Dolby cassette deck from 1970-1972; priced at $230 with 55 dB S/N with Dolby. Reviewed in High Fidelity and HiFI/Stereo.
• HD-800 — Harman Kardon HD-800 CD player (circa 1988). Spare front-panel design, superb low-level linearity, and error correction praised in period reviews by High Fidelity and Audio.
• HD7600 — Harman Kardon HD7600 stereo cassette deck from circa 1990 — Dolby B/C, pitch control, 2-motor transport, 72 dB S/N on metal tape. Little else documented.

Power Amplifier

• CH-160 — The Harman Kardon CH-160 is a little-documented mid-1980s in-dash car audio unit; period reviews praised its FM sound but found weak stereo separation.

Power Amplifiers

• 900B — Harman-Kardon SR-900B: the all-transistor 100W FM stereo receiver of 1966. Little documented outside period ads and a brief product note.
• CA-260 — Harman Kardon CA-260 (1984): car amplifier documented mainly through period ads; 60W into 4 ohms, 90W into 2 ohms, 180W bridged mono.
• MA-250 — Harman Kardon MA-250 monoblock power amplifier, little documented; known from a 1975 Studio Sound listing: 41.7 kg, £830, level meter, 16V/µs slew rate.
• PA-5800 — The Harman Kardon PA-5800 is a five-channel home theater power amplifier from the late 1990s, positioned at the higher end of the company’s multichannel.

Preamplifiers

• Citation 11 — Harman Kardon Citation 11 solid-state stereo preamp, 20 transistors, 5 Hz-150 kHz response, paired with Citation 12. Little else documented.
• Citation 21 — Harman Kardon Citation 21 preamplifier. A little-documented model from the Citation line; known specs include line sensitivity of 150mV and inputs for phono.
• Citation XXP — Harman Kardon Citation XXP (1964) — the company's first solid-state preamp, a two-chassis germanium design built to pair with the Citation XX amplifier.

Preamps

• Citation 1 — Harman Kardon Citation 1 tube preamplifier (1964-1969). All-tube design, 1.0V output, 15kg. Part of the Citation series.

Receivers

• 330C — A solid-state AM/FM stereo receiver made in Japan, part of Harman Kardon’s iconic 330 series from the late 1970s to early 1980s.
• 430 — Harman Kardon 430 stereo receiver, late 1970s. Twin Power design, ultrawideband frequency response 4-140,000 Hz. Limited documentation survives.
• 630 (1973) — A solid-state AM/FM stereo receiver from Harman Kardon’s Twin Powered series, produced by Roland with independently regulated power supplies per channel.
• 820 — Harman Kardon 820 stereo FM receiver (Nocturne 820), c. 1970. Featured in Audio and High Fidelity reviews as an under-$300 receiver with strong FM sensitivity. Little else documented.
• 930 (early 1970s) — A top-of-the-line solid-state stereo receiver with a dual power supply for enhanced channel separation and performance. Find the complete spec table here.
• AVR-20 — Harman Kardon AVR-20, a little-documented Dolby Pro Logic A/V receiver from the mid-1990s with at least two revisions. Includes production years.
• CR-151 — Harman Kardon CR-151 car stereo cassette receiver. First car cassette receiver from H/K, 12W/ch, 1988-1989, rare pull-out unit.
• Festival D-1000 (1954) — Harman Kardon Festival D-1000 (1970–1972), a 25W integrated amplifier with FM tuner from the early-70s Festival line. Original price $249.
• Festival D-1100 — Harman Kardon Festival D-1100 (1956) — an early fully-tube AM/FM receiver with 16 tubes, push-pull 5881 outputs, and 30W per channel.
• HK 340 (1978) — Harman Kardon HK 340 receiver (1978-1980), 44W per channel, Twin Power design with toroidal transformer. Thin documentation beyond owner reports and period reviews.
• HK 3770 — Harman Kardon HK 3770 stereo network receiver (c. 2014–2015), 120W/ch, 24-bit/192kHz DAC, Bluetooth, phono input, and network streaming in a 2-channel design.
• HK-3250 — Little is documented about the Harman Kardon HK-3250 beyond a handful of period reviews.
• HK-40 — Harman HK-40 (ca. 1966) — little-documented speaker from the SC-440 modular system; 10-inch acoustic-suspension woofer, smooth ±2 dB response per HiFI-Stereo.
• HK-50 — Harman HK-50 omnidirectional speaker system, ca. 1969. Compact air-suspension design with 8-inch woofer and 2¼ tweeter, 35–18,000 Hz.
• HK-590i (1982) — Harman Kardon HK-590i (1989) — three-head, dual-capstan stereo cassette deck with Dolby B/C and HX Pro. Little-documented Mk III model.
• HK-680i — Harman Kardon HK-680i integrated amplifier, approx. 110W/ch, 1980s. Thin documentation; period listing suggests 125W/ch receiver variant.
• HK-6950R — Harman Kardon HK-6950R integrated amplifier. Audio (Sep 1993) review: 170W, $1,300, good with mid-fi speakers. Little else documented.
• SR-300 — Little is documented about the Harman SR-300. No specs or reviews naming this model have been found; 1960s Harman-Kardon ads show the Stratophonic line.
• SR-600 — Harman Kardon SR-600 all-transistor FM stereo receiver from the mid-1960s, part of the Stratophonic Series. Little documented beyond period magazine previews and an ad for the SR-600B variant at 80 wa…
• SR-900 — Harman Kardon SR-900 early solid-state stereo receiver Stratophonic Series c. 1964-1966 100W all-transistor FM tuner amplifier
• SR-900B (1966) — Harman Kardon SR-900B (1966): an all-transistor Stratophonic FM stereo receiver, advertised at 100 watts with 5–60,000 cps power bandwidth and 0.2% distortion.
• TA5000X — Harman Kardon TA5000X — late-1960s all-silicon solid-state receiver, top of the HK line, capacitor-coupled outputs, ~50W per channel.
• TA600 (early 1970s) — Harman Kardon TA600 tube integrated amplifier, early 1970s. 20W RMS per channel, EL84 outputs, designed for KLH and AR speakers.

Speakers

• S100M — Harman Kardon S100M bookshelf speaker (c. 1980) with rear rotating ambience driver, polypropylene woofer and dome tweeter. ¥49,500 originally.

Tuner

• Citation 14 — Harman Kardon Citation 14 — the first FM tuner with built-in Dolby B and a quieting meter that reads noise, not signal strength. $525 in 1972.

Tuners

• 930-AM — Harman-Kardon 930-AM AM/FM stereo receiver, documented by Audio's June 1972 equipment profile. FM selectivity 35 dB; image/IF rejection better than 60 dB.
• A-100 (1954) — Harman Kardon A-100 solid-state integrated amplifier, 35W RMS/ch, THD under 0.5%. A lightly documented 1950s model; specs from a single source.
• Citation 23 — Harman Kardon Citation 23 solid-state preamplifier, 1978–1981. MM phono and line inputs, 60dB channel separation, part of the Citation 21/22/23 system.
• Citation Tuners (1957) — A pioneering series of high-fidelity FM tuners from Harman Kardon, marking the beginning of high-end home audio in the late 1950s.
• kardon-multiplex-adapters (1975) — FM multiplex adapter for decoding stereo broadcasts, compatible with mono FM tuners. Find the complete spec table and when it was made here.
• T-60 — Harman Kardon T-60: early-1980s belt-drive semiautomatic turntable with quartz-locked DC servo motor, floating subchassis, and 4-lb alloy platter.
• TU-930 — Harman Kardon TU-930 AM/FM tuner, listed at $199 in a 1995 tuner roundup with 30 presets and seek tuning. Little else is documented.

Turntables

• kardon-turntables (1975) — Vintage turntables from Harman Kardon known for solid build quality and accurate sound reproduction during the 1970s high-fidelity era.
• Rabco ST-7 — Harman Kardon Rabco ST-7 tangential-tracking turntable, belt-drive with servo-controlled DC motor, low-mass 6g tonearm, successor to the ST-4.

Unknown

• 20 — Obscure Harman Kardon Model 20 tube audio component from the 1950s — little documented, known from a single 1955 High Fidelity reference listing specs and price.
• ADP-303 — Harman Kardon ADP-303 outboard Dolby Digital (AC-3) decoder from 1996. Little documented; identified as a plain AC-3 decoder in period press.
• Citation 16A — Harman Kardon Citation 16A power amplifier — 175W/ch, revised input stage over the Citation 16, and a front panel that still says Citation 16.
• PQ-10 — Nothing is documented about a Harman PQ-10. The only period source listing a PQ10-inch attributes it to ADS, not Harman. An honest placeholder.
• PT-2500 — Harman Kardon PT-2500 A/V preamplifier/tuner, late 1990s. Only known via a 1997 HiFI-Stereo review and a 1998 Audio ad. Obscure model.
• TL-8500 — Obscure 1990s Harman Kardon CD changer; little documented beyond a 1993 HiFi-Stereo group test that priced it at $479.

Other Models

• 330B — A solid-state AM/FM stereo receiver with modular construction and iconic green-lit VU meters. Covers full specifications and production years.
• AVR 20 Mk II — Harman Kardon AVR20 Mk II (c. 1998) — known from a 1998 Audio ad: 60Wx2 or 50Wx3+20W rear, Dolby Pro Logic, 30 presets, remote.
• Citation 17 — Harman Kardon Citation 17 preamplifier from the 1970s Citation series. Advertised with 270kHz response and 0.001% THD; variant 17s without equalizer at $425.
• Citation I — Harman Kardon Citation I (1958–1960), the legendary Citation series preamplifier designed by Stewart Hegeman. Chrome-plated chassis, $179 original price.
• Citation III — Harman Kardon Citation III (1958–1963), an early all-transistor stereo control unit designed by Stewart Hegeman. The transistor version of the Citation I.
• CT-1 — Harman Kardon CT-1 (c. 1979) — a 2-head manual stereo cassette deck with Dolby B/C, 2 motors, and 0.18% WRMS wow/flutter. Sold new at $279.95.
• HK 330 — Harman Kardon HK-330i analog stereo receiver, c. 1983-84, rated 20 W/ch. Ultrawideband Linear Phase design. Little else is documented.
• HK 6300 — The HK 6300 is a solid-state integrated amplifier made by Harman Kardon from 1989 to 1991. It sat in the middle of the company's late-1980s integrated
• hk715 — A digital synthesized quartz-locked AM/FM tuner made in Japan,. Find the complete spec table and when it was made here. Find the complete spec table here.
• HK720 — A semi-automatic belt-drive turntable with an ITO tonearm and 25.5-degree headshell offset, documented by 1981. Find full specifications here.
• IC-20 — Harman Kardon IC-20 — a 1981-era HK component documented in Audio magazine service notes, but with specs still unverified.
• SC-440 — Harman Kardon SC-440 — 1960s Stratophonic compact system with 36W AM/FM receiver, Garrard AT-60 turntable, air-suspension speakers, walnut cabinet.
• SR-600B — Harman Kardon SR-600B (1966): 80W IHF Stratophonic FM stereo receiver, germanium outputs, 6–50,000 cps power bandwidth, $369 new.