i have a pair of jbl L890's (brilliant speakers by the way). am thinking of powering them with the hk 3480. i also have the option of using the yamaha ps 2000 as a separate power amp. would this be a good option
also what is the difference between a receiver and an amplifier
A receiver has three components on one chassis; a tuner, a pre amplifier and a power amplifier. If you buy a receiver, you will then have a power amplifier and another power amplifier will be redundant. The HK should be more than adequate power for the JBL's.
I can't think of any. I've always liked the majority of what HK has produced in receivers. But I really haven't kept up with the numerous receiver lines to know what might be better. It's very difficult to build a high quality receiver at that price. To my knowledge, HK is still one of the few lines with decent customer services after the sale. Not many people think about what happens if it breaks but it's worth considering as far as I'm concerned. Ask around and listen, that's the best advice I can give.
bought the hk3480. its better than the kenwood krf 7030 that i was using as a stop gap. esp the highs and lows. but the mids (esp the music part of it - the vocals are fine) arent as crisp as the bass and the highs. would an equalizier help
I don't really know what you mean by "crisp". That makes it hard for me to recommend a solution. As a general rule, however, I stay away from EQ unless you're able to purchase some fairly sophisticated/expensive products. Cheap equalizers tend to make the sound "cheap", just what you got rid of when you purchased the HK. My intial advice would be to work on speaker set up. Place "loudspeaker set up/placement" into a search engine and read a few articles. Generally, in most domestic settings the W.A.S.P. positioning techniques offer very good sound quality and do not impose the speaker on the room set up. Get the speakers set up on a solid foundation and not wobbling around on a thick carpet. Pay attention to your speaker and interconnect cables, they do make a difference. If speaker placement and quality cables don't help, then you can move to other techniques.
the mids sound a little muddy. even the vocals. you know the feeling of closing your eyes and its like the band is playing live for you. its not there anymore. apart from the highs that when they're plucking on the guitar or the higher notes from a piano, and the bass of the drums, most of the other sounds aren't as distinctive as they used to be on the kenwood. the kenwood is a 120w x 7 but past a certain volume it cuts off. i do have the option to change the hk. am contemplating buying a kenwood 7090 or 9090 and using it as a preamp and using a yamaha P2000 (professional power amp that i already have) as a power amp. or buying something else.
i have read articles on speaker placements and have placed them to the best of my ability. speakers are placed on a hard tiled floor. i use acoustics research speaker cables. all things being constant, the sound output for the mids while using the kenwood is way more distinctive than the hk.
You'll have to decide what you want to hear. The HK seems to have adbvantages and so does the Kenwood. I can tell you that a slight rise in the presence range between 50-1200 Hz will give theimpression of "clarity". Most manufacturers know this too and structure their sound to fit a particular house sound they prefer. Whether this is how the Kenwood achieves its sound, I can't say. If the HK has stronger bass response, then the speakers might still require another round of placement trials to find the spot where the mids sound best and the bass is adequately strong. Compare the options you have and choose whichever you prefer in this case.
thanks jan. i did move the speakers around a bit and its sounding better. i also had a yamaha pro mixer which i've attached. it has controls for lows, mids and highs which has improved it. its been good using this site. though i may not write in often i;ll keep reading.