Harman Kardon HK990 & Chord Rumor 4 speaker cable

[admin_exported]

Anyone know if I will still be able to use my chord rumour 4 bi-wired speaker cable with a Harman Kardon HK990 stereo amp?

(Cable is currently plugged into the back of my pioneer av amp)

The back of the HK amp seems to have 2 x 4 speaker connections but I'm unsure.

 

[TheHomeCinemaCentre]

Hi Dave, yes you can use the cable with the Harman.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Nick. I wonder if you wouldnt mind giving me your opinion on a bit of a problem I seem to have.

I think it might be something to do with how I have my pioneer amp
set-up but no definite evidence.

I have acquired said HK amp brand new but quite cheaply and its sitting proudly next to my pioneer lx81 amp.

I've unconnected the speaker cable from my pioneer amps right front and right surrounnd back speaker terminals & connected one half of the cable to my right speaker1 terminals & the other to my right speaker 2 terminal (on the HK amp). Then I did the same for the left hand side.

Other half of cable still left plugged into speakers obviously. I ran the set-up utilty on the hk amp, and plugged an old marantz cd player in. Hey presto all sounds good.

I then used an old cambridge audio rca stereo cable to run from the front pre-outs of my av amp to the processor inputs on the HK amp.

I then went into the set-up on the pioneer amp and changed a couple of things. I amended my surround sound speaker setting from front-bi-amp to normal (as i figured i wasnt bi-amping any more), I then re-ran the MCACC set-up utility. During the running of the utility i did notice that the beeps coming from the front speakers werent that loud compared to the rear and centre channels.

When the mcacc utility had finished it set my front speakers level to +10 the maximum it will go and reduced my centre speaker to -4.

I think before they were all around zero or or minus one or two.

It does seem like its having trouble getting the front speakers to go loud enough!

I remember having a similar problem when I first got my pioneer amp and i plugged the speakers into the wrong terminals.

It couldnt be anything as simple as I need a better quality interconnect could it?

Any ideas?

 

[Anonymous]

Cracked it.

The HK amp has a gain control on it which goes from -24 to +6

It was set by default to -24. I upped it to zero, re-ran mcacc.

Boy what a difference

I'm happy again.

Just running first 15 mins of saving private ryan to test it.....yep definetley working fine.

 

[the record spot]

Dave, would be interested to hear your thoughts on the music at low volume with the HK - I demoed it last week in Edinburgh (courtesy of The excellent Home Cinema Centre on Morrison Street, two minutes walk from Haymarket Station, good access from the airport, if anyone's paying a visit...!) and found it a good amp, but perhaps a tad soft with some material at low volumes.

No doubt it kicks like a good 'un when you turn the wick up a bit. Just wondered your thoughts when you get a chance to hear it properly.

 

[Anonymous]

I'll report back in due course RS.

I'm waiting delivery of the matching HD990 cd player (retailer fogot to put it on the van).

Once its arrived and connected up I'll give you my unprofessional laymans opinion. Just dont expect any report full of hifi lingo.

I bought all my home cinema kit frpm hcc in edinburgh btw. Never visted the actual shop but top bunch of lads to deal with.