Rare Vintage 1959 Harman Kardon Ballad A230 Integrated Tube Amplifier - Complete Restoration!

For sale is a rare vintage 1959 Harman Kardon Ballad A230 integrated tube amplifier that has been completely restored with it's instructions manual in very good condition. Our technician has upgraded the rectifier tube to an amperex GZ34, and confirmed that it is fully functional and sounding fantastic. Cosmetically its in amazing shape for it's age. However, there are some signs of use on the back plate such as metal wear, very small scratches on the side panels, and light edge wear. (All of the cosmetics defects can be seen in the photos). The A230 uses two EL84 output tubes per channel operated conservatively in class AB, self-bias, pentode connected, and a special phase inverter designed for low distortion and high gain with minimum phase shift.

"This amp features a 3rd channel (for a center speaker or sub). The amp sounds very good and has excellent stereo separation. It's switchable between 8 and 16 ohms, 180 degree speaker phase switch, high and low turntable inputs, with rumble filter, and contour switches." - worthpoint.com

FACTORY SPECS

• Power output: 15 watts per channel into 8Ω (stereo)
• Frequency response: 15Hz to 70kHz
• Total harmonic distortion: 1%
• Input sensitivity: 3mV (MM), 300mV (line)
• Signal to noise ratio: 60dB (MM), 70dB (line)
• Speaker load impedance: 8Ω to 16Ω
• Valve complement: 1 x GZ34, 4 x EL84, 2 x ECC82, 3 x ECC83
• Dimensions: 13-13/16 x 4-5/8 x 11-1/2 inches
• Weight: 18lbs