excellent sound, powerful and versatile

motorized volume control overshoots when using remote

The HK 3470 is a l00 watt/channel stereo receiver. It weighs
about double your Japanese-designed receivers with similar specs. It sports a high current output of 45 amps. It seems to have every input and output one could possible want. This includes a phono input, a subwoofer output, and the
preamp and power amp are connected by jumpers so you could use either section independently. It receives both FM and AM and the FM has a mono mode for reception of weak stations. Displays and selection buttons are clearly labeled and the remote is large and versatile. The instruction book is thorough and written in plain English.
After all this how does it sound?...powerful and authoritative. Using two Paradigm mini monitors in a small
(11x12 feet) room I hear all the quality I had hoped for but
never achieved with lesser equipment. The bass response is
much improved. In addition to tone controls there is a
"VMax" mode which gives a "wider, more spacious sound field." It seems to affect the phrasing and sounds unnatural to me so I don't use it. You might feel otherwise.
From top to bottom the HK 3470 sounds musical. Solo instruments come through clearly and full orchestra is powerful and well defined. The only problem seems to be the
overshoot of the motorized volume control when using the remote. Better control can be achieved by hand. The unit is
large and weighs 26.8 lbs. so be sure you have a sturdy shelf. I give it 5 stars for both quality and value.

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Technics 100 watt/channel receiver

Good All-Rounder.Powerful.Good radio with RDS,very decent phonoinput.Programmable remote control.Easy to use.

No Signal strenght indicator for the radio.Low-cost speaker terminals

This machine plays the music effortlessly,in fact it sounds even better with the volume cranked up in the last quarter of the volumesegment.If your habitat is elsewhere then in a Cathedral,you never have to worry about the HK:s resources of power. Like with most of HK:s products there is a silky kind of lustre to the experience of the music played.Some audiophiliacs call that "coloration", I simply call it the "typical HK kind of electrodesign".And anyway the HK 3470 makes no attempt to satisfy the most demanding ears,but then again we are talking in the thousend of dollars for that kind of quality.
What you get for your money is very near a bargain in terms of "Midfi" and Im absolutely pleased with this machine.
There are som questionmarks,however, one of them is the unpredictable Vmax function.
Especially with pop and rock music,the Vmax often adds an overwhelming synthetic sound to it(You are standing at a concert with the band playing 200 feet away and uses a very very bad PA) At other times, together with acoustic music like jazz,It presents a depth and seperation wich is almost 3D like.Very entertaining if you like your studiorecords being tranformed into livegigs played in an imagenary concert hall. Vmax does its job at best if you plug in your VCR. Maybe not as skillful and detailed as a designated Home theater piece, but absolutely convincing. The dialog is in the middle of the stereospectrum,as it should be.The effects are moving around,as they should.
Something i welcomed a lot is that there also is a very decent phono input.I played my vinyls all weekend and I have never been convinced like now. With a good phono section like in the 3470 it became so obvious :It takes out the fun in music ,something my CD player couldent ,probably due to my choice of CD player.
This Machine should therefore be properly tested together with your other gear.

Exellent phono input quality.Programmable remote control. Powerful amplifier.RDS

No signal strength indicator for the radio.questionmark concerning the vmax processing versatility.

It looks ok.If you want a piece of hifi that is almost disappearing in your home environment,this is the one.The poweroutput of the amplifying section is more than satisfactory,it just sounds cleaner the more volume you use and you should have all the power you want (unless you live inside a cathedral)
There´s no signal strenght indicator for radio reception, meaning : If one is an aspiring audiofil,you have no confirmation about your antenna placement for getting this perfect,perfect signal to it.
The vmax is a funny thing.Sometimes it sounds overwhelming synthetic and at other times it adds a perfect "live" feeling too it. I often use it together with Jazz.If pop and rock is your choice of music,just forget it, things blurr together and adds at least 200 feet away from the musicians. But it works wonders together with acoustic music and most of all : If you plug youre vcr into it.Some sounds actually came from behind from where i was sitting.In every way a ripe product.powerful and honest sounding with good grips to the music,with a "silky" touch even at very high level of volume. The vmax is working at best together with the Vcr.Vmax completely redesigns much of the music information,especially complex music but can add a further dimension "a room inside the room".Studiorecorded music becomes a live gig at best and a blurred and boomy "200 feet away through a bad bad PA" experience at worst.The funny thing is that there is no way to know before you press the button.

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harman kardon 330b

Grate sound. Powerful. Easy to operate. Well built.

Remote vloume control took some getting used to.

I bought this reciever to replace my Onkyo TX8410 when, for no known reason, it literately exploded. The HK has all the inputs and outputs you will ever need, it even has a preamp and power amp input and output connected by jumpers so you can use either section independently. In addition to tone controls there is a "Vmax" mode that gives a wider sound field or a sumilated surround sound affect. Sounds sort of fake to me, under some formats, but movies sound grate. The remote volume control took some getting used to. It's very sensitive and has a tendency over shoot. I found if you just tap the control buttons you can get it where you want it. Over all I'm very happy with this unit. It sounds better and is better constructed then my Onkyo was. This unit is not a piece of junk. I give it five stars.

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Onkyo TX8410

Lots of power. Clean, open HK sound. Learning remote control.

Cheap looking and feeling remote control.
Hard to control volume from the remote.
The "page" feature of the remote does not allow to control the CD when you are on Tape recording.

The 3470 is a replacement for my old HK3400. I cannot complain, the sound is great, but as a previous owner of an HK I find many changes not on the good side.
I read in reviews people find the 3470 to be very nicely designed.
In my oppinion, my old 3400 was way nicer and looked more of a quality product for both the receiver and especially for the remote control.
The new remote looks like it is going to fall apart any moment. The buttons feel cheap and the cover on the lower part is a real joke for a product at this price.
If you want to adjust the volume from the remote, the volume knob on the receiver becomes very independent: you never know when it will stop turning. If you by mistake touch a button on the remote and change the "page", nothing is working anymore (less the volume) until you figure it out.
In the begining, the sound of the new 3470 was disappointing. I was kind of harsh and unpleasant. I had to two things (I really do not know which of the two really helped) to have it where I wanted: (1) I replaced the pre-main jumpers with good quality audio cables. (2) Following a suggestion I got from SoundStage.com, I did a break-in of about 100 hours. Now it is OK.
I just hope that the inside of the receiver is better made than the remote and it will be as reliable as my old HK3400.

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Marantz, Harman Kardon