For Sale: Vintage Harman Kardon A-500 Jim McShane rebuilt integrated amplifier - A very nice and capable tube amplifier with on-board phono preamp for use with turntable. The A-500 uses four classic 7355 output tubes and is rated at 25 wpc. This will drive most vintage speakers effectively, as well as efficient modern speakers. The unit offers a nice selection of tone controls. When the A-500 reached me about 5 years ago, a connection had come loose in shipping and I brought the amp over to Mr. McShane. He painstakingly re-traced the entire circuit over a period of a couple of days, and made sure that everything was in order. Here (in 3 paragraphs) is the description from the previous owner who originally had the HK restored by Mr. McShane: “The A-500 was available in a kit form. This is a factory assembled version, aside from the McShane revisions. I brought it to Jim for a complete restoration about 4-5 years ago. I had him remove one of the phono inputs so you can use newer thicker cables, but the wiring for the second phono input is still there inside. I also had him disconnect the tape head input to allow room for newer cables, but that wiring is still there also. Right now it has inputs for one phono, auxiliary, tuner and tape. Jim told me that many of the parts he used are the same as what he uses on his Citation rebuild kits so he used quality parts." "The amp works perfect and sounds wonderful with my Klipschorns. It is a very musical amp with a lot of bottom end. The HK puts out 25 watts per channel and uses four 7355 tubes which all test very strong, four 12AX7's and one 12AU7. Jim suggested I use two 7058s in the phono section which he installed, so I've never changed them. This is possibly one of, if not the nicest A500 you'll ever find, and having been restored by Jim McShane makes it even better." "For a discussion of some of the pre-amp controls see the Audio Cheapskate discussion of the Citation pre-amp. Basically, the Blend can take the place of the center channel if your outside speakers are too far apart. Contour is what is usually called Loudness, and it is very nice at low volumes. There is a center channel pre-amp output which I have found handy for subs. Phase switch and stereo reverse are self-explanatory. I believe that balancing bias is the purpose of the “balance tubes output” pot. I detect no audible difference using it with current tubes. Perhaps with tubes with less life left in them.” The A-500 will come to you with working tubes in all positions, as well as an extra quad of 7355 tubes (worth about $80 today) and an extra couple of weak HK branded 7355s. You should upgrade the two middle 12AX7s and 12AU7 to your favorite exemplars. Also includes a pair of spade-to banana-connectors (will differ from the ones in the photos). No guarantees due to age of the amp which may exceed half a century, except to say that it worked just fine when I was using it and has low hours since Jim went back thru it. SHIPPING: $59 to lower 48. The amp will be well packed for shipment.
Free local pick up in Chicago available. Please feel free to ask questions. Thanks for looking.
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