Harman Kardon Citation 22 No Love?

I don't have any experience w/H-C Citation amps but did note that Jim McShane appears to work with Citation gear. Check out his website. I think it's a mod/upgrade offering but not sure. In any event, it seems to me he wouldn't work with the brand unless there was some inherent quality.

I believe that all the Citation amps followed certain quirky design principles laid down by head HK designer Matti Otala. Definitely a different way to skin the (power amp) cat. A quick Google search will return a ton of info about the design and help explain why they are distinctive (and, IMHO, very, very good) sounding SS amps.

The new HK990 integrated amp (that I'm about to buy once they provide a software patch for the glitchy DSP chip) has a power amp section using the same basic Citation design.

Marty

Do you have notes on the bias circuit modification

H/K was the first company to realize the importance of square waves and wide frequency response. H/K i.e. Matti Otala designed their amps, including the Citation 12, to output great square waves at both 20Hz and 20khz. A noble task. Most amps of that era couldn't come close to the wide bandwidth output of the Citation amps. It became so important that most audio magazines of that era posted square wave response photos of the amps that were tested and reviewed.

Hi!
I now own 2 Citation 22s! Because of problems with the first one, I bought a second one.

1st one: Sounds great but left channel output transistors and heat sink gets REALLY hot within a few minutes. Scares me enough to shut it down. Can you elaborate please on the error in the HK wiring in case that is the cause of the problem on my unit?

2nd one: It ran great for a couple of months, then the lights would flicker and the relay inside was clicking away, the sound going on and off (even with speakers disconnected)!
My tech friend so far tried exchanging the relay, then the controller board with no change. Finally as per my request, I asked him to connect jumpers across the relay (defeating it) and I am adding an external delay relay (about 12-15 seconds) hoping that it will keep the speakers and output transistors safe???

Any suggestions are VERY, VERY welcome. Kind of frustrated on this end!
I DO love the power of these amps and their clarity and musicality (neutral?). I am powering Infinity shoulder height RSIIB's, with two 10" woofers, ribbon mid-ranges AND ribbon tweeters, front and back (These REQUIRE 100-200 good watts per side!) (A bit of bi-polar going on here, what with oak wings etc!)

LOVE to hear back from you!
Sincerely,
Bob
(Audioholic since age 12, 48 years ago, collector including QUAD 909 and electrostatics!)