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I wanted more up to date features and a remote, which the 3490 has. None the less, for the price that I paid for this and considering how much I would really have to spend inorder to really satisfy my listening needs, I am more than satisfied with this receiver. The 3490 absolutely shines with music that is a quality recording. In all honesty, it does not sound better than that receiver. I am also a bit disappointed with the Phono reproduction, which I use often enough.
This receiver is replacing a Yamaha CR-620. It does, however, sound pretty dang good. I have noticed that the 620 is more forgiving with all kinds of music. I will be considering an add on phono preamp. I purchased this receiver recently for several reasons.
I can't imagine it being able to best most quality built vintage equipment. However, it sounds hollow when I put through it some of the early mastered CDs that I have.
This was confirmed by a FAQ on the manufacturer website. Shipping charges totaled $78.
It's a shame they undermine the engineering with a duplicitous warranty. The real support form elsewhere on their site doesn't render correctly in firefox.
Also, their FAQ has a dead link to request support. The HK is a good device.
Purchased hk3490 from and discovered a firmware bug after later adding the ipod doc. They required an RMA of the unit at my expense to get it fixed.
And as confirmed by their support department, that form is partially broken in that the uploaded receipts never make it to their RMA department.I would recommend dealing with a company that respects their customers.
I honestly could only feel bass at extremely loud levels. However, when I turned the unit on, using the same equipment I had my Pioneer SX-828 hooked up to, I noticed a huge lack of sound behind my music. There was virtually no bass behind it, and the highs sounded. The phono input was the main reason I bought this unit since my Pioneer was acting strange. Hooking up the HK 3490 is easy and pretty simple, as most receivers are. I couldn't figure that out fully. I like the fact that it's a new receiver that has digital inputs and allows you to control the bass, treble, and balance manually with knobs.
I figured that harman/kardon was great brand name, and was hopefully something I could trust sound wise. The phono input was a total joke too. The sound behind the phono input was even weaker than the sound behind my CD player, and any of you who have used a nice old Pioneer know that doesn't need to be the case. I had to have the volume knob up about 65 to 75% of the way up for a decent level, and then it was just weak. Also I noticed a buzz on the phono pre amp. just really odd. After one week of use I noticed how poorly shielded the amps are in this unit, just having a PC on in the room would drop FM and AM signals dramatically. I just figured that was the last straw.
Never was the case with my Pioneer. I do consider myself picky when it comes to sound quality, and that means the world to me from a receiver. That helps to give it a nice simple feel to it.
I'm used to a warm sounding amp, and this has a very electronic sound to it. For that kind of money I'd rather just get the Pioneer fixed up, so worth it. This is a $449 unit that you could easily get the same sound out of a $50 portable stereo, maybe not the amount of volume, but sound defiantly.
I ordered this receiver to replace my old Pioneer SX-828. This amp was very poor sounding in my honest opinion. It's no wonder that you don't find speakers with 10 or 12 inch woofers in them anymore these days, the receivers don't drive them anyway.I gave the amp a week to see if maybe the sound would get a little bit better, and was just more and more disappointed in this unit.
It is stunning. The included Dolby Vitual Speaker provides complete surround for action movies.The sound quality for jazz material is AMAZING. The sheer QUALITY of a sound is unmatched by anything else. I have DMC 1000 connected to it and it outputs to L890. It is a great receiver. Stereo rules. You can spend more, I doubt you can get any better.
I researched new amps, but decided to buy the HK 3490 receiver. After 22 years of listening to music on my 90 w HK integrated amp with Sony tuner, the amp finally gave out. The sound from my old Polk Audio tower speakers is not as full using the HK 3490, especially the mid range, and to some extent the base.Maybe I should've fixed the old amp.
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