The Official H/K Citation Owners Thread

Never tire of my 22/25 combo. Built like tanks and sound great. What's not to like?
I'm not too sure that the 22 isn't going back into the main system at this point. It's a very good match for the Allisons. The 16 has a very different sound than the 22. The bass is much tighter with the 16, and the soundstage seems more closed in. It could be that it doesn't pair up as well with the P306RS pre as the 22 also. I'm going to listen to it for awhile and just enjoy it, my intial impressions could be a little off. The 16 runs waaaaaaay cooler than the 22 that's for sure.
 
Firstly, congrats. You are entirely right. These are very under rated amps. Very well built with 150wpc that is real power and not just the common 'rating'. Extremely well built. Kudos and enjoy!
This particular one is right at 170wpc, the gentleman that I bought it from was more than happy to demonstrate that to me on the bench before I bought it. And thank you very much for the congrats. I've wanted one of these monsters since they came out in the 70's, but couldn't afford one back then. I bought my 22 about a year ago, and have been looking for a 16 since then. I got lucky and found one locally for roughly half of what I've seen them for on the auction sight. Needless to say I'm pretty happy with my amplifier situation right now. I think I'm going to use the 22 in the party hut/man cave with my CDM1s until I come up with another preamp to start building the downstairs system around my Altec 315s. Decisions, decisions. Lol
 
A little love for the Big 16 today. New 22,000uf filter caps.
The originals were fine I think, but I figured it wouldn't hurt anything.
 

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Firstly, congrats. You are entirely right. These are very under rated amps. Very well built with 150wpc that is real power and not just the common 'rating'. Extremely well built. Kudos and enjoy!
They are not underrated. Unrecognized due to age maybe but they were well regarded when they were made. I remember guys in the high end shops I used to frequent saying, "I'm just gonna get a Citation 16" in reference to the 'unknown'. I opted for my now well known(at least by me), Boothroyd Stuart Meridian 105 monos. They actually spanked the Citation along with most other contenders. Not the XX, though, as I have recently discovered. The 16 has always been a fine amp.
 
I finally got back to the Citation so I could set the DC offset, and the Idle current (which were both off before I swapped the filter caps). I don't know if it's the caps, or the offset and idle current being set correctly, or both but I hear a big difference in sound quality. The amp doesn't seem to be working as hard now, and the red leds didn't light once whereas before they were lit a lot of the time. Strictly my opinion of course.
 
Hi having big problems with my citation 24 When i switched from 4 ohm to 8 ohm my right stage blew both 6.3 amp fuses and no its dead Andy advises and does anyone have the complete SM for it not just shematics btw its a euro modell and the shematics ive foundation so far is not matchning exactlly whith the Circuit bords i have Please ned help
 
This looks like it should link to the service manual. Be aware that it will say "processing" or similar for a minute or so before the "Get Manual" link appears. Also, the schematic is not 100% accurate.

https://elektrotanya.com/harman_kardon_citation-24_sm.pdf/download.html

Did you switch between 4 and 8 ohms with the power on? Not good, as this switch actually switches to a different transformer tap with a different voltage. There would have been a transient of some sort, going in either direction, and this likely blew something out.
 
I recently acquired this 16-A and 17 set up and love the feel and look of these pieces! Both have issues and will be heading to the shop for repair and possible restoration after the holiday.....will start looking for the chrome rack handles for the 16A as well...
 

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I've always liked the way HK used dual transformers and power supplies for their Stereo Power Amps...like in the Citation 12 and in the Citation 16 you've shown above..
 
Hey guys, I was recently lucky enough to get an H/K Citation 11 and 12 on Ebay. The 12 is recapped with Nichicon FGs, with the exception of the filter caps. I had previously bought some New Large Advents ("officially" the Advent /1s, at least on the speakers themselves). I also constructed the infamous Citation 11 cable which runs back from the power amp output, allowing for speaker selection and headphone operation using the pre-amp.

I have a newbie question. Eventually (when I get a good price), I would like to double stack with another pair of Advents, as I have heard there is something "magical" about this sound. Two questions: has anyone had the opportunity to hear 4 Advents at once, and was it everything it's cracked up to be? I'm quite enjoying my single pair for now. Secondly, does the 12 have the guts to drive 4 Advents in parallel? I'm assuming that with the Citation 11 selector switch set to "system 1 and 2" it will be driving them in parallel. The 12 is rated at 60 watts RMS. Advents read 8 Ohms but I've heard they usually measure closer to 6. Just trying not to blow anything up just yet! Thanks!
 

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Nice score, the 11/12 are nice units. The double advents were the hot set-up back in the day. Though I was never a fan, many people were. All thats important is that you like and enjoy the music!
 
I've started a web page with info on the Citation 12, possibly of interest:
http://updatemydynaco.com/Citation12.html

Thank you! This was an interesting read, it's always difficult to find much info on these old amps in one place. I typically have to piece together things on various forums.

It's good to know that the hum is fairly normal for a Citation 12 - mine has a low buzz that kinda freaked me out until I read more about these amps. I was also alarmed at the "thump" after turning off the amp, but I've since learned that that, too, is more or less normal. I may add some speaker relays in the future to help with this.
 
Thump is normal, as voltages and currents are compromised when the amp goes off.

buzzing is not, at least I did not notice any.
 
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Thanks for the input. I should have clarified - the buzzing is not from the amp output, I'm fairly sure it's more of a low hum from the transformers. I've hooked it up to an A/C voltage filter supply and it seems to have almost gone away. I'll keep an eye (or ear) on it, but I'm not too concerned since it sounds great to me.
 
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