Harman Kardon IC-20
A Harman Kardon component whose identity is still being pinned down - and the archive won't pretend otherwise.
Overview
The source material for the Harman Kardon IC-20 is a mess, and a fair chunk of what's been filed under the name doesn't belong to it. A model number turns up in a parts list or a service note, and suddenly three unrelated documents are wearing the same badge. Before crediting the IC-20 with anything, it helps to sort out what the paperwork actually says.
The same service-article file also carries a full parts list, and that list describes something else entirely. It specifies a Z80 microprocessor, a 27C64 EPROM, a MAX232 serial transceiver, seven-segment LED displays, and RS232-level communication. That reads like a digital timer or controller project, not an audio component. A separate document in the same batch describes a "Pinewood Derby Timer" built around exactly those chips. So the parts inventory and the timing circuitry almost certainly belong to that unrelated project, not to the Harman Kardon unit. Treat any spec pulled from that parts list with real suspicion.
The magazine record doesn't help much either. A High Fidelity (December 1987, p.40) test report mentions an "IC-20" surviving a 300-Hz pulse power-handling test at 613 watts peak. But the surrounding text is clearly describing a loudspeaker's imaging and sound quality, not a Harman Kardon electronic component. That's a naming collision, and the power-handling figure from a speaker review shouldn't be attached to this model. The archive flags it here so nobody repeats the error.
That leaves the IC-20 with a confirmed 1981 service presence and essentially nothing else the archive can stand behind. There are no verified production years, no original price, no power ratings and no dimensions. The service documentation establishes the 1981 entry, and the rest stays blank until a genuine owner's manual or spec sheet turns up.
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