Harmon-Kardon TA 230 Stereo Festival

[TC Chris]

The older I get, the more I am inclined to buy good stuff. I have a classic Simpson VOM that I inherited from an elderly family friend. It's durable & reliable but a bit wonky, as they all seem to be, on ohms.

Cheap wrenches frustrate me usually. But the '65 Olds had a recessed oil drain plug that required a special wrench, and the wrench I got required 1/2" drive, and then I did not have a 1/2" handle. I was poor and needed a handle to change the oil right now, so I bought a $3 imported ratchet handle. To my great surprise, it worked flawlessly and continued to do so until the tool box was stolen from my car. Its $12 replacement was not nearly as smooth.

So generally I buy good tools and maybe some day another person will remember inheriting them. I think about Walter every time I use his VOM, or the sturdy Atlas floor drill press, or the little ball-peen hammer.

Chris Campbell

[William]

I have this brand, had it for a long time and it seems to work just fine. Mine is a different model then the one in the length and I have no idea anymore how much I paid for it.

https://www.amazon.com/TENMA-72-8150-CA ... aky8dplYIi

Bill

[electra225]

I have the eye tube for the AM band "somewhat" working. It will at least twitch when I hit a strong station. My thinking at this point is that an alignment may be in order. I run the two 6BA6's and the one 6BE6 on the tube tester to make sure they are good, then try an alignment.

[electra225]

The tubes I mentioned above tested good. The audio tubes are another story. One of the original 12AU7's tests pretty weak. One of the 6V6's didn't test well, either. The codes on tubes are from the 35th week of 1959 thru the 49th week of 1959. Quite a spread. Some of the HK-branded, Amperex-sourced tubes are made in Germany, some say made in USA. I reckon this would make the receiver a 1960 model.

[Doug]

Wonder if the sx 1050 is oscillating above the hearing range killing the tweeters. Scope check would tell
Doug

[electra225]

I have been running this receiver all weekend. I'm using Fisher STV-880 speakers with 15" woofers that the guys on ARF panned pretty hard back when I got them years ago. I find them quite satisfactory when used with this fairly low-power receiver. I am using my Accurian turntable with the Stanton 500 cartridge. I've been playing a Lawrence Welk Readers' Digest 8-record compilation on RCA. The records are in good condition. This receiver doesn't have the most bass I ever heard, but, paired with the Fisher speakers, sounds really good. I reckon it doesn't take that much bass response when you are using 15" woofers in a fairly small room. The midrange and treble is absolutely clean and crisp. I always run tone controls full on, and these are set that way. Scratch and rumble filters off. There is nary a hint of hum. I may wire this thing in as my "go to" shop amplifier. It's important to run effecient speakers with this receiver, that I can tell you. This receiver sounds a lot like the smaller Magnavox stereos I have with the 88 series amps that run 6V6 output tubes.....

[TC Chris]

My tone controls are usually in the "flat" or middle position. I'll fiddle with them if source materials are not sounding good or if something else is unbalanced. I like good audio, but on my small sailboat I listen to music over an old RDF receiver with an FM band, via one of those little 5"car speakers in a plastic box that was sold for rear-deck mounting in 8-track days. It is low-fi to be sure but the other night I was listening to a big symphony orchestra playing brilliant music (Sibelius, 5th Symphony) while sailing and was moved almost to tears, even with the tiny speaker in the little plastic box. The brain can compensate for all manner of deficiencies. The other sailboat has a cheap car cassette receiver minus faceplate and dial scale that i found in a ditch on a bike ride. It plays through to Radio Shack Minimus 2 speakers. A step up from the plastic box mono, but it can still be enjoyable with good music.

One of these days I should actually try direction-finding with the RDF. Never have done that but have listened to hours and hours of music.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

As I get older, I find my hearing is such that it takes more treble to make music "bright" enough to suit me. My stepdad got me to running the bass full on, said that full bass could make a "skinny" amplifier sound better, with more full frequencies and stronger bass. This receiver makes LW music sufficiently bright. Jack Imel and his noisemakers in the various selections sound like he is in the room. He uses a wooden box that he hits with drum sticks. This particular sound is hard to reproduce. "Angel dust" is also common in LW's material. The Hotsy Totsy Boys do "When You're Smiling" and use their mutilated instruments. Their material tends to sound tinny. I thought today that this particular selection sounded unusually good. These speakers are rated for 110 watts. The Stereo Festival is probably 15 WPC. I have a Marantz 2245 and a Marantz 1060 amp that I'd like to try with these speakers to see how they sound. My guess at this point is that if one tries to drive these speakers harder, close to their rated power, they might not sound as good. I have the speakers setting on elevated hard surfaces, one on a table, the other on a file cabinet. I put folded towels under the speakers. I think that cushioning helps. I don't know why the guys on ARF panned these speakers so hard. They said they were total junk, not worth hauling home. These are not the best speakers in the world, but calling them total junk might be a tad harsh.....

[TC Chris]

I've read that most music uses just a few watts of power. It gets plenty loud before you are actually anywhere near "rated power." I have no equipment to test that but have read it multiple times. Your ears give up before the speakers do. The real problem is clipping--pushing the amp past its capabilities so the sine wave pattern has flattened tops. It runs too much current through tweeter voice coils and they can burn out. I have never paid attention to speaker power ratings but I do try not to make too much noise on small speakers, especially when driven by a low-power amp, and to listen for unclean sound that may indicate the amp is reaching its limits.

Chris Campbell

[danrclem]

If going by looks alone, your TA 230 does look like a quality piece. I'm not by any means calling your speakers junk because I haven't ever heard a pair of them, but I'd say they possibly could be holding the sound quality of your receiver back. Assuming that the receiver is in good working condition. Then again if I heard the combination, I might really like them too.

I've heard quite a few different speakers and speakers can make a big difference. I've had some speakers that many people say are good, but they didn't sound that good to my ears so it all boils down to what an individual likes. I have a pair of Infinity OVTR-2 speakers in my bedroom that I like a lot especially considering what they cost. I gave $2.00 for them at a yard sale. I don't really care for the looks of them because they're tall and skinny and don't have the grills but the tall and skinny works in the bedroom because of the lack of room though. They have a built in powered sub-woofer, but it's usually dialed down all the way.