I was sold on Harmon Kardon when in 1976 I purchased a citation 12 deluxe power amp. Over the years I have owned every brand but Harmon Kardon, that is up to now.My re introduction back to Harmon Kardon did start off well. I purchased the 3490 reciever re furbished for $299.00, right out of the box the left channel did not work in FM stereo mode and when in CD mode, a constant humming comming out of the speakers, which are new Kliptch RB 61 II bookshelf speakers. I contacted support, by phone and could not understand a word from the middle eastern man, when I asked to speak to someone I could undertstand, I was hung up on and all of my future calls that night were ignored. It was like yanking teeth trying to find a phone number to speak to a live person. I finally got in touch with someone from the corporate office. They seemed sincerly P.O.'d when I explained the situation to them, especially when I told them they wanted me to pay for the return postage. Within the next hour I recieved the pre paid shipping label and told as soon as the item was scanned at UPS, they would ship me a new unit. I have no doubt the new reciever will work fine and restore my faith in a over all great product.

I bought the hk3490 off of e bay from Harmon Kardon...my unit was refurbished and you would never know the difference..I had zero problems with the less than 200.00 purchase..I have it connected to a pair of Polk audio monitor 70's and a set of Bose 201's..And a Sub woofer by the Dual company..A Yamaha DVD s2700 for Cd's or DVD audio..And a Technics SH 8020 Graphic EQ ..All that said...The hk3490 really sounds great!! If you want to get loud The hk3490 will handle it with clear pounding sound..For moderate listening its nice too..Sometimes i hook up a Zune mp3 player and it sounds fine through the front video 3 port..Steely Dan Gaucho on DVD audio very nice to listen too ( if you like that music) Alice in chains Dirt also very nice at high volumes!!! YO YO MA also sounds great too..The pads on the remote are small for some functions..but for the price i paid I can deal with it..I also ran a Technics DL03 turntable thru it and it sounded clear with Jimi's are you experienced....Jethro Tull music sounds clear and crisp through the hk3490..(If you like that music)....I would recommend this amp to anyone who loves music and does not want to spend high numbers to get good sound..The headphones sound real nice on this HK 3490 i use a pair of audio Technica ATH-M40..Ive listened to classic rock,punk,jazz,orchestral,soundtracks,metal,grunge,on this amp and it all sounds better than decent!!! If you buy this amp you wont regret it..also Harmon Kardon will handle any problems that could come up..Recently i placed the main input plugs in the wrong way ?>< well the amp wont work if you do this..i contacted support and they were ready to have me ship it back for an even trade in..but fortunately the tech asked how the pins were plugged in and we fixed the problem..So enjoy your new HK3490!! I know i am still enjoying mine

This was the first new stereo receiver I ever bought. Previously I used solely vintage (and just used) equipment.

I will go through some of the bigger features ( The ones I used in depth):

Overall:
Powerful, good sounding receiver that just needs a bit of breaking in to sound really good. Attractive and well built for it's price. Features such as dual subwoofer outputs, optical and coaxial digital inputs, decent DAC, excellent phono pre, and pre-out/main-in offer many possibilities to the consumer.


The pre-amp section takes a few hours initially to sound good. I turned it on and left the house while it played for a few hours, so it was the receiver burning in, not me. From the minute or so I was in the room with it it sounded harsh feeding a older Adcom GFA-535 amp. I came back to a smooth sound similar to My Acurus L10 feeding the same amp. Switched the Adcom with the acurus and the sound was similarly hard at first. The amp section also sounded smoother after a few hours (about 4). I don't believe in hundreds of hours of breaking in new equipment (for the most part, took about 100 hours for my K701s to sound great). I don't know the technical aspects of the process, all I can tell you is that this amp needs 4-5 hours of breaking in to sound it's best.

With my vintage Denon DCD-815 CD player feeding the Digital coaxial input the sound was very good, definitely near as good as the internal DAC on the Denon (which is very nice for a mid 90s CDP lol). Expect a "warm" sound. I'm not going to comment on the "soundstage" of the 3490's DAC or whatever, it doesn't make a noticeable difference in this price range, All I can say is that it sounds very natural for digital and wasn't fatiguing whatsoever.

The phono section was a great treat. With a older (80's) Onkyo turntable hooked up it rivaled the parasound phono pre I had at the time ("only" 100 bucks, but still very impressive that a $300 receiver that does so much equaled it). Same with a Rega P1. It did not hide any detail but still had the trademark natural warm quality to it that many well made vintage turntables possess.

The only real complaint is the volume knob seems a bit weak and bendable, but that won't make a difference with normal use, just be careful not to bump it. It is pretty cool looking though...hard to see, but it glows all around the inner edge.

The power switch on the back is a plus, binding posts presented no problem (fairly sturdy and not too close together) and the front mounted tone controls and video game input are helpful.

It is heavy in comparison to the average crappy surround receiver, but not difficult to move unless you have a bad back (I am 17 and bench 305 so weight is subjective lol).

The dual sub outputs as I mentioned before are nice, don't expect them to be L/R though, the output is mono
(same for both, combo of both channels)

It is simple to use interface-wise, no complex menus.

The remote is attractive and well thought out. I would reccomend leaving the plastic protective screen on, the glossy black plastic underneath is soft and scratches easily.


I would recommend the HK3490 to anyone looking for a non fatiguing multi-function receiver with plenty of power for most applications and a high ease of use. It is cheap for what you get. To get anything substantially better you must spend 700 for the outlaw audio receiver,after that you are in the thousands.