Harman Kardon 3390 & 3490

i bought a 3490 for my dad from harman direct for something like $225 and set it up with some polk lsi7s in a long, l-shaped room. it sounds good enough to make me question the value of much pricier "audiophile"-branded products. very powerful (hk, almost singularly among the mass marketers provides meaningful power specs); lots of useful features like a sub out, phono stage (untested by me) and a pretty good inboard dac. a bit of graniness at the top end--it won't challenge quality separates for transparency--but generally a nice, neutral presentation, without the excessive brightness or brittleness of alot of ss receivers. very good fm tuner pulls in hard-to-get stations. reminds me of the new hyundais--not much snob appeal, but you'd have to spend a lot more to do much better.

Hi Harley

From what I've read online the HK 3490 amp section is quite powerful and could push your Vandys to the 92/94 db you require without any issue.

Here is one A'gon member who reviewed the HK 3490

Audiogon member review HK3490

I have a 3490 I bought as a backup and have been using as both an integrated and a pre. I think it has pretty high current and sounds pretty darn good for th $220 I paid on the 'bay. I have used it to drive Ohm Walsh 2-100s and it was fine. I would not hestiate to get one if I was looking for good mid-fi at a reasonable price. I found that when I used it as a pre with my better power amp the quality, clarity and detail level increased but not nearly as much as I expected. I am about to hook it up to a new amp and it will be interesting to see if the money I paid got me much incrementally.

I also got a 3480 for a friend and she too has found it more than enough driving some older Ohm C3 speakers. Its a pretty good deal in my book.

Incredible bargains, especially if you listen with your ears and not your eyes.

Saw this and thought I would mention that I recently used the HK as a power amp for a bit hooked up to a Yamaha C70 preamp that I was given. As a power amp it was way better than I anticipated...good to great mid-fi for lack of a better metric...maybe even decent true hi-fi. It will not stay in my system as I have other better pieces but I needed something that had options for multiple speaker setup and this is the only thing with that in my closet. I will keep it as a backup piece or use it in another room. Its definitely a cheap way into better than average sound for someone doing the entry level thing.