Home > Consumer Reviews > Harman Kardon 3470 Audio/Video Receiver

If you want a high power receiver you can crank, this is an answer. For year H-K has followed the design theory of broadband, and that mean what you hear is in the area of audio that is ruler flat.

The tuner is sensitive with just an indoor antenna. I am able to listen to low power distant stations with ease, and also the local powerhouse FM's sound fine too. Distant AM's like KGO or KFBK come in fine at night in the north Seattle suburbs with just the included loop antenna.

Speaker connections are easy, strip the wire or use a binding post. There are switched outlets on the back for the turntable if you still have one like I do, and the CD or cassette. And if you still listen to vinyl, there is a high quality preamp for your turntable too.

The only weak link is the Vmax circuit that is supposed to give a broader stereo image. The effect depends on the source material, sometimes the magic works well, sometimes it doesn't.

The remote control is simple to use, but be careful when you turn it up. It can rattle the walls, and you may want to set up a request line for your neighbors.

I have owned this receiver for two months now and it is fully broken in. Right out of the box, however, it proved to be a dramatic improvement over my old Yamaha receiver. The sound is simply wonderful -- very warm with an amazingly low noise level for a consumer-level receiver. Seriously, I can turn the volume all the way up (with no input signal, of course) before I even begin to hear any noise at all. Even so, what noise I do hear sounds like a very faint transformer buzz -- could probably reduce it even more by cleaning up the AC. At any rate, if I tried to listen to music at that kind of volume level I'd probably bring airplanes down out of the sky.

The only negatives I can find to keep this receiver from getting 5 stars are its lack of gold-plated connectors (although the binding posts do accept banana plugs), lack of signal-strength meter, and the clumsy way it handles station pre-sets.

Short of moving up to very expensive separates, I can't think of a better answer for a stereo-only system.

The Harman and Kardon is a great deal at ...Its amp section drives speakers with authority and its classic looks will please the eye. In this world of low power surround sound recievers the 3470 is a breath of fresh air from the old school...

The Hk3470 sounded great out of the box. The sound was clean with no discernable noise. The VMAX circuit sounded better on non vocal music. The insructions for tape recorders were not
too clear but all in all it is a great receiver.

I have owned the HK 3470 about a year now. I purchesed the 3470 because it has Pre-out/ Main in connections which allows the use of an equalizer. I mainly use the 3470 to power a large pair of Cerwin Vega S-2 EE Speakers for a friends outside party twice a year. These speakers have 15" woofers, 6 1/2" mids and tweeters. These speakers are made to handle up to 250 watts. The Hk 3470 throws the power to them very well. I play loud dance music and the amp does a great job! Adding the Equalizer really helps to dial in the sound on the Cerwin Vega's.

A very good Stereo amp with decent power.