The Official H/K Citation Owners Thread
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GarmanVardon
New Member
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Champco
Super Member
Have spent the last few hours going over my Citation 11 paperwork. list of caps and what I will be replacing. I have the phono, output and tone control caps in my cart with Mouser. Came to a halt on the Power caps as I am not certain of what I am reading. Need it to make more sense.
Gorgeous!
Super Noob
Super Member
keilau
AK Member
In my opinion, the best Harman Kardon solid state preamplifier is not a Citation. Harman Kardon exited the high end market for a few years after HK Citation 21, but returned briefly in the mid 1990's.
The best Harman Kardon solid state preamplifier ever built is the Harman Kardon Signature AP2500. It is not exactly OLD, coming out on 1996. It was the golden era of solid state preamplifier with John Curl, Nelson Pass, James Borgiorno and the like at the peak of their design career and had the greatest impact on the industry. When Adcom, Parasound and others Japanese makes turned to IC, Harman Kardon Signature AP2500 stayed an all discrete circuit running in class A mode. It has a smooth natural sound, with excellent dynamics and wide and detailed stereo image. Harman Kardon HK-825 is known to be very good, but the AP2500 is in a class by itself and a vinyl lover's dream.
https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/harman-kardon/ap2500.shtml
One of the nice bonus is its all discrete class A headphone amplifier. You will have to spend more than the AP2500 to buy a headamp of equal or better quality.
Sure..its a nice preamp. You can tell, it looks similar to the CIT 21, in some respects. FIY, the CIT is class A as well, as any other stereo preamp I know of-this is just sales talk-the Class A part.
Would be a interesting comparison-a side by side.
I had Big Sky Audio go through mine, a rare USA model.
Count me among the HK Citation receiver owners. I bought mine from AK'er Galaxie65, who bought it and sent it to AK'er bktheking for the full restoration. This one has a special place in the rotation, especially during the hot summer months when my tube gear gets benched until the cool days of fall. Supposed to hit 97 this week so she'll be coming back down to the listening room shortly. A beautiful piece of engineering and fantastic restoration. I reached out to bktheking just this evening to see if he can recall the work done, as it is a shame to say "I got it from a guy, who sent it to a guy who restored it". I much prefer to give credit where credit is due. Word on the street is bk is a "go to" guy when it comes to the Cit receiver.
Oh, and I picked up a Citation 15 tuner when I bought a hoard of equipment from an AK'er getting out of the hobby. Haven't done much with it though. Anyone looking for one let me know.
Oh, and I picked up a Citation 15 tuner when I bought a hoard of equipment from an AK'er getting out of the hobby. Haven't done much with it though. Anyone looking for one let me know.
Champco
Super Member
Think of a price and PM me. thx
keilau
AK Member
It may be difficult to compare the HK Citation 21 and AP2500 side by side. While the Citation 21 is easy to get, the AP2500 is rare in the US. However, HiFiEngine has the service manual for both. At least, you can compare their schematics to see which one has the more modern and better circuitry and topology. They are not exactly the same if you understand audio circuits.
A Citation 21 is a Citation 21. Can you tell us what Big Sky Audio did to make it better and, it what way it sounds better to you?
markuus3889
Diatom, what's that?
I'm in the club now! Pretty nice amp! HK Citation 16A
Mark K.
Mark K.
Champco
Super Member
Cannot tell by the picture and too lazy to look up a schematic.... are there integrated chips in the 16?
markuus3889
Diatom, what's that?
Nice! I love my Citation amps.
Well.. I went with the standard check out and upgrade they offer
They have been working on H/K for years so I deferred to their expertise
There was nothing wrong with my unit, I intended to keep it so I wanted them to go through it and he suggested these upgrades while he was in there
I’m sure you can contact them and he could let you know exactly what he does he replaces a lot of stuff
Yes a Cit 21 is a Cit 21
Just like the AP 2500, is a AP 2500 what’s your point ?
I’m glad that you like this unit but broad brushing it as a better preamplifier- and merely giving sales quotes doesn’t say much...
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and apparently some of your response to me in another thread concerning this subject had to be taken out?
Interesting....
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As far as sound...it sounds more refined.. if that makes sense
IMHO it was already pretty good.
Personally my ultimate Cit preamp would be a Cit I, or Cit IV.
A good tube front end...and excellent SS amp like the PA2400.. hard to beat
Plus they has lots of flexibility...like the CIT21..
For now I use a FOZ SSX... it give Ms you enough of what tubes do best ..and solves to main issues integrating your speakers into your listening space
I would highly recommend anyone to demo one... pretty cool unit!!
And these...like all preamps, run in a class A mode..
The class A mode as mentioned... it’s more of a sales pitch, it’s just pointing out the obvious nature of preamp circuitry.
Apples and apples here.
Nothing wrong with that..but not like comparing a Class A Amplifier vs A/B...class h... D etc..
IMHO it was already pretty good.
Personally my ultimate Cit preamp would be a Cit I, or Cit IV.
A good tube front end...and excellent SS amp like the PA2400.. hard to beat
Plus they has lots of flexibility...like the CIT21..
For now I use a FOZ SSX... it give Ms you enough of what tubes do best ..and solves to main issues integrating your speakers into your listening space
I would highly recommend anyone to demo one... pretty cool unit!!
And these...like all preamps, run in a class A mode..
The class A mode as mentioned... it’s more of a sales pitch, it’s just pointing out the obvious nature of preamp circuitry.
Apples and apples here.
Nothing wrong with that..but not like comparing a Class A Amplifier vs A/B...class h... D etc..
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Sweet!!
