Harman Kardon PA-5800 (late 1990s)
The Harman Kardon PA-5800 is a five-channel home theater power amplifier from the late 1990s. It sat at the higher end of the company’s multichannel lineup. The known record is thin, but period reviews give a few solid facts.
HiFI-Stereo (July 1997, p.55) included the PA-5800 in a multichannel amplifier comparison test alongside the B&K AV2500, Carver AV-505, and Rotel RB-985. The Harman Kardon was priced at $999. It delivered 105 watts per channel into 8 ohms with one channel driven, 98 watts with three channels driven, and 90 watts with all five channels driven. At 4 ohms with three channels driven, output measured 155 watts. The same issue (p.54) noted that the PA-5800 could be triggered by an external 12-volt “wall wart” power adaptor. The reviewer found that practical.
Advertisements in Audio (October 1999, p.233 and February 2000, p.98) confirm the model was still available into 2000. The ads list it as a five-channel home theater amplifier alongside Harman Kardon’s AVR receivers. They call it simply a “5-Channel Home Theater” amplifier and give no further specification.
No service manual, production years, or detailed internal design information has surfaced in the archive. The PA-5800 appears to have been a straightforward high-power multichannel amp built for the expanding home theater market of the late ’90s.
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