capernicus

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Price Paid:  $650.00 from Ebay

Summary:
Back in the mid nineties I remeber the Citation models when they came out. The 5.0 was a dream I had to have. I started looking for all the Citation models and bought a couple pieces before I decided they just were not for me. This amp is huge. The build quality is very good. I liked the way it looked but it really aggrivated me that I could not turn off the brite blue Citation logo! In a dark room it really lights things up. The inside is impressive. You can tell it has a more than adequate power supply. But the real story is that it isnt a THX amp. The maker actaully emailed me and told me this. The 7.1 is though. Even though its not THX certified it was still louder than anything I heard so far. I had it connected to a Citation 7.0 Proceesor. I had a few diffrent speakers hooked up to this setup. As i watched TRON the old movie I can tell right away that the Citation amp was so much clearer than the other amps I listened too. Just in stereo there were sounds coming out of my speakers I never heard. There was one draw back that made me sell the amp. Thin bass. I have a NAD 2600A which still cant be beat as far ass thick, deep drooling bass. The Citation was a wonderful player except for bass. The bass hit hard and loud but lacked the sublevel of mind boggling depths I have from the NAD. I just as soon had a midbass instead of a subwoofer. Other than that it played clean and had no extra hiss or hum. The NAD didnt either but I learned not all amps are the same. I learned that mixing brands is not bad at all. In fact, to get the best results you must. I sold the amp on eBay cause it was way to big and had weak bass. But I kinda wish I kept it cause I havent found any amp that sounded so good for everything else.

Strengths:
Wattage. Build quality. Looks. Clarity. Low impedance capability

Weaknesses:
Weak bass response. Way too big and heavy. Brite logo has no shut off

Similar Products Used:
None as far as clarity. But NAD beats it for bass big time.

Price Paid:  $695.00 from Jeff's Sound Values

Summary:
I'd have to say this is the first time I've ever personally benefitted from a corporate merger. When Mark Levinson/Proceed came under the Harmon Kardon umbrella, the fallout was obviously the redundancy of HK's low-end/hi-fi Citation line. This is the niche already filled by Proceed. Ironically my amp came shipped in a Proceed box. It's hard to imagine a better value in the current hi-fi market. Under $700 for an amp of this pedigree? It's almost criminal. And when you listen to it, you really feel guilty. A truly unadulterated sound quality that is tube-smooth and probably the quietest I've ever heard. I mean quiet! Tremendous definition and dynamics without sounding artificial or fatiguing. And power to die for. My 6 ohm Revel F-30s nearly cooked my Parasound amp, but the Citation drives them without even getting warm. Herculean build quality. It weighs in at almost 70lbs. Sadly, they won't be making any more of these sublime amps. On the other hand, the end of production ensures that a few lucky people can have Proceed=level audio for chump-change.

Strengths:
Natural reproduction; Power

Weaknesses:
No power switch on front panel. It's a pain to access it on rear panel.

Similar Products Used:
parasound 1200 mk II

Price Paid:  $700.00 from ubid.com

Summary:
I now own two Citation 7.1s and one 5.1 - see my similar review for the 7.1s under that category.

This is simply a great sounding amp with a lot of clean power. It's very neutral, and gets the bass right for H/T and music. This thing is incredibly well built and detailed sounding. It reminds me of the Aragons and Brystons I've had - big, heavy, and apparently indistructable. It is bridgable and can be run as a 4, 3, or 2 channel amp. I've run it bridged into 2 channels powering some demanding (4 ohm or less) speakers with no problems (Aerials and Maggies). This amp gets a little warm when pushing the big Maggies in bridged mode, but never hot. (My 7.1 amps don't significantly warm up when pushing any speakers.) These amps are conservatively rated and appear to have have tons of power to spare.

They blow away the Classe I had previously, and are every bit as good as the Brystons at a fraction of the price. I loved my Bryston and Aragon amps, but for the money I had to get the Citations.

I have never thought any product I've owned deserved a "5" rating, but this amp is close. I gave it a "5" for value and a "4" overall. (The the Citation 7.1 a "5" rating across the board.) Would give this amp a "4+" if I could.

Strengths:
Flexible, incredibly well built, great sounding, heavy

Weaknesses:
Hard to think of any, especially at the price I paid

Similar Products Used:
Aragon 8008, Classe CAV-150, Bryston 8B, and a bunch of other lesser amps

Price Paid:  $1000.00

Summary:
I bridge 2 channels (300 W)to power a Paradigm StudioCC (Center Channel)and the other 2 channels drive my rears. This is a quality component for a very reasonable price. Of course, I prefer my Parasound 1500A (see review), but the Citation does a superb job on HT applications, which is what I bought it for.

Strengths:
easily configurable, quality construction, aesthetic

Weaknesses:
none thus far

Similar Products Used:
Parasound 1000, Parasound 1500A, Adcom

Price Paid:  $700.00

Summary:
This is a nice sounding amp. Very flexible in that you can configure easily to be 4, 3 or 2 channel output. This sounded great in home theater setup using four channel configuration at 100 watts per channel (luxman L580 driving two additional channels). In less than 5 minutes I configured to 300 watts per channel into two channels for my home stereo.

I like the Citation 7.1 better but of course that requires a few more coins.

Sounds very nice at higher volume with little or no listener fatigue.

I have seen these recently sell for $560 on internet.

Strengths:
Plenty of clean power. Flexible setup.

Weaknesses:
None other than it's really heavy.

Similar Products Used:
Citation 7.1, Luxman M02, Luxman L580