montexr20

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.50 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $240.00 from Ebay

Summary:
I have had many different receivers, integrated amplifiers and amplifiers from Sansui, Marantz and Harman Kardon etc. This review is for the Harman Kardon Citation 19 Stereo amplifier. This is the best sounding HK amp I have ever owned. It sounds better than the hk870 as well as the hk775 monoblock amps from Harman Kardon. The amp is very powerful in that it can drive a variety of speakers to reasonably high SPL’s without distorting. It does get hot but only if driven hard for an extended period of time. The amp has very natural clean highs and a smooth clear, almost tube like midrange, free of congestion (at least with my speakers). I have used the amp with Pinnacle Classic Gold Aerogel Towers as well as the Pinnacle AC-650 bookshelf speakers. Both speakers sounded excellent driven by the Citation 19. I have also used PSB Alpha AV and NHT 1.1 speakers with this amp all sounding very good and supplying the speaker with ample clear power. The amp does have a mellow smooth midrange that I think gives it an almost tube like quality which I like. I have seen them sell on Ebay for as little as $200 right up to about $380. I picked mine up for $240. The capacitors had been replaced which is a good thing as I have heard the caps dry out in all of these vintage HK amps. If you can find one for a reasonable price in good condition I think you will enjoy the sound quality from this vintage amp.

Strengths:
Dual Mono Power

Weaknesses:
Age

Similar Products Used:
hk870 hk775

jslicke

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $100.00 from Shop

Summary:
I bought this amp at my job when somebody came to the shop & was selling it & the pre-amp(citation 21) They didnt even know what they had! I gave em $100 & figured even if its broken I,m ahead of the game(I,m an audio technician so repairing it would have been no problem for me)But Low & behold not only did it work the sound! What can I say?This amp has NO coleration whatsoever what goes in comes out as is only LOUDER & CLEAN!!!! Paired with my Advent Heritage Speakers I,ve never been happier. They sound great on great material & if I got bad source material(as when my wife plays her "bbotleg CD,s & carribean music) it sounds like the source. And talk about power & stability! I even tried on "drunk" nights to see if I can "blow" this amp, I crank it to headache levels for hours at a time & while she gets hot enough (litterally) to fry eggs on & heat up the room(I,ve actually run the amp when my heat wasnt on to warm up the place!)she NEVER EVER shut down gone into protect or even fryed a speaker. When I went the reciver route I kept her to drive my 15" custom built dual voice coil subwoofer. I have her in brided mono now. I used to drive my sub with a SAE A1200 Amp but now that i got my pioneer VSX-49 TX shes the only power amp Ive kept ( I also had a mitsubishi DA-a30 pwer amp,Yamaha M-2 in the system,the only amp that I had that comes close to it power wise was my Soundcraftsmen A5002 but its not a very "pretty" amp to have in a system).My only quams with the amp is those pain in the A@#! speaker connectors it has mines are stripped now I,m soon gonna replace them with standard 5 way post as soon as I get around to finding some that will fit the dimensions of the PCB the old ones are on.

Strengths:
Clean ,Brute, Power.Great Specs & A WORKHORSE of an AMP!

Weaknesses:
I HATE The connectors for the speakers & may get Scarely hot for someone not used to that in an amp

Similar Products Used:
Yamaha M-2, Soundcraftsman A5002

Price Paid:  $300.00 from ebay

Summary:
I have had this amp for about a year and the amp has performed flawlessly for me. I have it paired with a Parasound preamp and Kef speakers. Sounds great to me and to anyone else that listens to it. Plenty of power and cheap price.

Price Paid:  $500.00 from Portsmouth,NH

Summary:
This amp sucked for me! It kept setting of the protective circitry as was the case with the last reviewer. I am surprised he gave it a 2--I give it a zero to 1/10th of a point! I sant it back to HK and they fixed whatever was wrong with it and I sold it shortly after that. The speakers that guy used were PSB's then Klipsch which were over kill for using thise speakers with this amp. I would buy a SET amp if I were to use Klipsch speakers. It did not have any of the problems associated with it after being fixed,but it cannot drive Magnepans or weird imedance loads so I would stick to Boxed speakers if I were to use it. Where HK did good is in the manufacturing of Cassette Decks and their Pre-AMps neither of which are manfactured any longer(a real pity). I have heard HK's latest offerings and I think they all sound dark and recessed. I would rather go without given a choice. Good luck!

Strengths:
Looks,LEDS

Weaknesses:
Heavy,has design problems and whatever else I can remember--The list would tak a book to list probably then it would probably be several long boring novels like the amp itself!

Similar Products Used:
B&K,SONY,Krell,Anthem,JVC,Phillips,Rotel etc.

Price Paid:  $1650.00 from I S

Summary:
I was not impressed at all. I ownded two of the Citation 22's. I found the sound to be "bright" and "edgy" and bass shy and also lacking in power. When I used to own the JBL L100T3's, the first Citation 22 I bought (brand new) would shut down all of the time driving them. It would be warm to touch, but not that hot and the clipping indicators were not even coming on before shut down?!? Then I bought some real speakers, and boy, that amp was going into protect mode ALL of the time! I had to get rid of it so I traded it for a new top of the line Pioneer surround receiver at the dealer I bought it from and took a loss on it! Some time later I bought another used Citation 22 because the price was right and I figured I would give it another try. I also bought the Citation 21 matching pre amp at the same time I bought the amp. Again, new much better speakers for me! The sound was horribly bright and thin coming from this combination. Yuck, I sold the combo as soon as I could. Funny thing is, I sold it to a salesman from the store that I originally purchased the new Citation 22 from!

Weaknesses:
As listed above...I'll be generous and rate it 2 stars.

Similar Products Used:
Bryston, Classe and SimAudio with the only simularity being that they are all amplifiers.