Very good receiver for the money. Remote is very hard to read. Vmax feature is total crap sounds like the music is coming out of steel drum.

the harman-kardon hk3480 is a very good 2 ch unit. 120watt per ch,it is very strong power to push many kind of speakers.(my hk3480 hook to polkaudio rtia7)after owning a few units from diffrent manufactorer(sorry about my bad english)i can tell that the hk3480 is a great stereo recever,he has very smooth and warm sound,he is solid and powerfull and he has a very cool looks.but cool looks is not the main thing here,the main thing is that the hk3480 has a great imaging,soundstage and resolution,he has fast and very articulate bass and not less importent thing:the hk3480 has a strong build quality and ease of use,
the hk3480 has very good FM reception,clean and clear tuner sound.the hk3480 can drive 4 ohm speakers and its very good to my polk LSI9.the remote of the hk3480 is very good its simple but never let down.you dont must to put the remote near or close to the receiver to rise volume or to do any other action.
i love my hk3480 and very happy that i have one.for second amp (or even first)the hk3480 is a geat unit.
my ROTEL RA1070C is in another world but not forget that the rotel is much much more expensive.
last words:for all of you out there who love stereo music,the harman-kardon hk3480 is a great unit for that.
thank you all and enjoy.

Plenty of power, good - but not great tuner, AM sucks, but they all do on AM. Lots of connections to add a turntable, CD player, DVD player, tape deck, etc. Versatile.

The 3480 plays music with a full spectrum with no emphasis on any particular range. I don't know the correct semantics to describe sound, like crisp, warm, etc. I do know what sounds good, and what I have sounds good. For about $1200 I have a very decent setup. I've listened to systems at BestBuy, Circuit City etc, friends setups, etc. and have yet to hear anything they have for that price or more that sound any better, and often it sounds inferior to what I have. Mismatched components is the usual cause.

Like anything else, the Laws of Diminishing Returns works for audio equipment too. Spending over a certain amount gets a diminishing return on gain. Example is a guy I worked with a few years ago. He has, or had, over $10,000 invested in a setup. While it sounded great, so does mine. How much better was his for 10 times the price? Maybe a factor of 1.2 or 1.3. Hardly distinguishable. To him it is worth it, to me it isn't.

My only real complaint is the remotes. Why couldn't HK have used different frequencies for the HT and two channel receivers? When I want one on, the other comes on also unless I get up and do it manually. Not a weakness, just a thought.

The real weakness is the color of the remote. Who the hell decided the ink screening color should blend in so well with the color of the remote? It is difficult to read in anything other than bright light.

Whoever came up with the VMAX feature should be fired. Did you really think it sounded good?

After owning an HK520 5.1 receiver for many years, I decided to replace the old Sony STR920 2 channel in the living room, so I bought this unit. I'm very happy I did.
It sounds so much better than the Sony. I didn't realize how bad it was.
The Sony may have had more muscle but the 3480 is cleaner sound, by far. I drive two Infinity IL-40 3 way speakers and a JBL E150P sub. I don't listen at high volume levels, no need when you can hear everything at moderate levels. Usually around -30db or so. I had a set of IL-50's and couldn't decide which set of speakers to keep and which to sell until I bought the 3480. The IL-40's are just a little bit better in the mid range than the IL-50's and they are a little bit smaller and lighter. The IL-50's got sold.

For the guy who left a review on this receiver and complained that it won't drive his Bose 901's: good God man, get some decent (read efficient) speakers and you won't need to crank the power up to space heater settings to get good music. Come to think of it, the 901's aren't really capable of good sound, only loud. Yes, they are loud, but don't produce the full spectrum. Oh well, die-hards abound. I too was impressed when I was 21 and heard them for the first time. My my how times have changed, and so has the sound, for the better, I may add.

Customer Service

Never have needed them.

Similar Products Used:

I currently own the HK520 home theater receiver, a fine one it is. Ive owned several Sonys, the STR AV920 110wpc, two channe, long dead, and currently have a Sony STR-D1015 120wpc that I use in the bedroom for music and TV, formerly owned several Kenwoods circa 1970's, 40 and 80 wpc models, 2 Marantz low power receivers from the late 70's, and a Sansui 1000 tube receiver that finally gave up its electrons 15 years or so ago, a fine sounding piece of electronics I bought in Japan in 1967. I'm still thinking about buying another one if I can find a decent one at a good price.

Good sound for the money
Phono sounded very clean
Powerful 2 channel amp

Volume knob faulty
Switched off on its own
Remote is junky
Too many problems in too short a time

Bought a refurb from Harman Audio/Ebay. Worked great for about a year, and sounded very good for the price. Then the volume knob quit working, up was down, down was up....no big deal since I usually use the remote. But then the unit would switch off on its own, just like my old HK AVR20 used to do. Not cool. The remote was as junky as everyone says it is, or worse. I now have the new 3490 and it is a completely different unit, they redesigned it because of all the problems they had with the 3480. I would have loved it if it without the problems. If youre looking at the 3480, spend a few more bucks anfd get the 3490, a much higher quality piece.

Customer Service

Excellent, they stand by their product.

Similar Products Used:

Other HK amps, Sansui, Pioneer, Denon

Solid and Powerful
Smooth warm sound
Looks cool
Dimmer is great
4 ohm compatible
FM tuner is very good

remote
VMaxx
Some units have quality issues

This is a great stereo receiver if you get a good one. Some of the reviews will describe how HK had some quality issues with some of these units. I bought a refurbished model some years ago, and it had major issues som I send it back for a refund. I ended up buying something else at the time.
Then I decided to get another one recently from an individual on ebay, and this one works great. No lemon.
I really like the style of these units, except for the remote. I use a Harmony Remote so it is not an issue for me.
I really like the fact the can drive 4-8 ohm speakers. I am using a VMPS Larger passive sub and some Polk Monitor 10B's and this receiver does a great job.
Sound is very smooth and detailed.
VMaxx is horrible. Maybe its sounds good for home theatre, but it sucks for good old analog stereo.

Similar Products Used:

Polk Audio, VMPS, Infinity, Pioneer THX, Pioneer Plasma (the best ever), Denon

Not sure ...

Reliability, quality control, customer service.

I read good reviews about this receiver, and bought a refurbished unit from HK online on eBay. First unit arrived with distortion in the left channel. 1 month later a replacement arrived which worked for 5 minutes then the amp shut down. Took 10 days to get HK customer service to arrange a refund. The 7480 may be a good unit when it works, but given the number of refurb units and the problems I had, I suspect major reliability issues.

Customer Service

Hard to reach, slow, but finally found a competent person who arranged a full refund.

Similar Products Used:

Outlaw, Sony, Denon, Pioneer.

For those who may be interested: since my previous review of Sep. '06, my unit has developed 2 problems -

1) About 6 months after purchase of this unit, the blue backlight on the volume knob has gone out. Not critical to performance, but it is an issue.

2) About 2-3 months after the backlight blew, the Right channel output started to play at only about 20% of full output, in other words - when the gain is increased to any level, the Left channel is at the correct level while the Right is barely audible. It is not a bad connection or faulty speaker issue.

The condition persists for a few hours or sometimes a few days, then suddenly the R channel will return to its proper level again. This occurs usually after the gain is increased to louder levels, as if pushing the unit forces the other output transistors to 'turn on' and start working again.

I haven't yet taken up these issues with H/K, since by now it's out of warranty and I'm not sure this unit is worth the cost of repair/shipping.

Even though the 3480 is not an expensive piece, I expect better reliability than what I've seen from it thus far, especially after less than 1 year of use. Therefore, I'll have to lower my previous Overall Rating from 3 stars to 1 star.

Customer Service

Yet to be determined.

Similar Products Used:

See earlier review.

Great imaging, soundstage and resolution. Fast and articulate bass. Strong build quality and ease of use. Also, very good FM reception.

None that I've noticed, but could easily live without the hokey Vmax feature.

I bought this unit off a high-end used audio gear web site, and I am overjoyed. It replaces a Panasonic SA HE-100 that had served me well for about four years. But I realized I didn't need seven channels for Home Theater (we live in an apartment, and we just don't watch movies that have a lot of big sounds, sound fx, gunplay, etc.); so I figured a nice two-channel setup would serve us just fine. I have Monitor Audio Studio 6 speakers, and I thought they deserved a better amplifier. Well, the HK 3480 has not disappointed in the least. The highs are crisp and detailed without being harsh or brittle; the mids come through nice and clear; but the bottom end is where I am most pleased. The bass is now more refined and fast without being bloated. For what I paid, the results are spectacular ... even at twice the price. If you can find one of these units, go for it. The new 3485 drops the Vmax system (which can be toggled on or off -- and it's best left off for music listening, IMO), but otherwise has the same internal architecture. Well done, HK. This should give me years of listening enjoyment.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

A handful of Japanese-made integrated receivers.

LOOKS
power
4-8 ohms
0.07 thd
price
GREAT SOUND

remote cheap looking hard to read
really no others

You Know, for the money you cant beat it. Its warm sounding its not that powerful but, works great with klipsch rf 83s sounds awsome its not to bright like the other brands and softens up the harshnies on your ears with the horns.its great with music. The vmax has got to go whitch is gone on new moldel.H/K die hard. looking to have a two ch its great for it

Customer Service

great help

Similar Products Used:

yamaha,sonyES,pioneerELITEs,old H/Ks

Looks, functionality. Clean sound.

So So Amp, minor quark in remote function, VMAx feature is a joke.

I bought this receiver because my Carver Receiver quit on me one day. I wanted a control center with a remote. It fills this function pretty well. I have a pair of Bose 901's VI, which the Carver powered quite nicely, but this receiver did not. The sound was flat, this amp does not have the reserve 'balls' to drive those power sucking 901's.
If you're from the old school, like me, you appreciate the phono jack, the pre-amp out/amp in. Yes I still crank up some vinyl now and then. I now have a Carver amp (250 per ch) and use this unit as a pre-amp. I'm over all pleased with this unit in this capacity. The sound is clean. It does have some quarks as mentioned in previous reviews. If you pick a source from the unit face, you don't have some functions from the remote, like changing FM stations until you select a source from the remote, then back to your original source. I do like how it turns on by selecting a source from the remote. The looks and the display dimming feature is also nice. If you have all HD video, the video inputs are useless. I works well as an all audio switching system. This IS a 2 channel receiver.

Similar Products Used:

The Carver Receiver, Fisher 4-channel receiver (vintage)