Harman Kardon HK6850 - Connecting a turntable; Connecting a CD player; Connecting a tuner; Connecting a tape deck

HK6850 and HK6950R Connections
If you are using a single set of 8-ohm speakers,
remove the screw and the plate covering one side of
the switches. Set both of the SPEAKER OPERATING
MODE switches to 8Q position and replace the plate
so that it covers the other side of the switches. In all
other cases, use the 4Q positions.
If you are in doubt about the impedance of your
speakers, use the 4-ohm positions, since the power
amplifier runs cooler in this mode. Having these
switches set to 8Q if you are using 4-ohm or 6-ohm
speakers may result in overheating of the amplifier or
failure of an internal fuse.
If you are using two pairs of speakers, it is
important to note that the combined total impedance
of both sets of speakers must not be less than 4 ohms.
If the combined impedance is lower, you may overload
the amplifier, resulting in overheating or failure of an
internal fuse.
Two sets of 8-ohm speakers presents a combined
total impedance of 4 ohms, which is an acceptable load
for your amplifier as long as you set the SPEAKER
OPERATING MODE switches to 4 ohms. If you have
questions, consult your Harman Kardon dealer before
adding a second set of speakers to your system.
Connecting a turntable
Your HK6850 or HK6950R has two sets of
PHONO input jacks for connecting turntables. One set
of jacks is marked MC, for Moving Coil. If you have a
moving coil cartridge that generates at least 1201 V
mounted on your turntable, be sure you connect the
turntable to the MC jacks. These jacks are internally
wired to a special step-up amplifier stage.
The other set of jacks is marked MM, for Moving
Magnet. If you have a regular moving magnet car-
tridge mounted on your turntable, connect the turn-
table only to the MM inputs, as the sizeable volume
boost of the MC jacks will cause volume problems and
severe distortion.
Make sure you connect the thin ground wire from
your tuntable to the GND post located next to the
phono input jacks. Failure to connect this ground wire
can result in a distracting hum when you play your
turntable.
When only one turntable is used, be sure to insert
the attached shorting pin plug into the PHONO MM
or MC jacks that are not being used.
Connecting a CD player
Attach the patch cord from the CD input jacks to
your compact disc player.
Connecting a tuner
Attach the patch cord from the TUNER input
jacks to your tuner. Be sure you connect an antenna to
your tuner; otherwise, the quality of your AM and FM
signal may be poor.
Connecting a tape deck
You can have several tape decks connected to your
HK6850 or HK6950R. The best choice is to connect
your tape deck(s) to the jacks labeled TAPE 1 or TAPE
2.
The IN and OUT connectors on your tape deck
correspond to the opposite connectors on the back of
your amplifier. That is, you connect OUT on the tape
deck to IN on the amplifier.
A third tape deck can be connected to the AUX
connectors if the deck will be used only for playback.
Connect a patch cord from the audio OUT connectors
on the tape deck to the AUX connectors on your
HK6850 or HK6950R.
Note that the TAPE input jacks can be used for
connecting either a tape deck or a other video source.
Video equipment connection is described in the
following sections.
Connecting a video product
Connect a patch cord from the audio out connec-
tors on your video product to the video audio connec-
tors.
Connecting an external power amplifier
If you want to use your HK6850 or HK6950R
simply as a preamplifier and connect it to an external
power amplifier, use the PRE-OUT connectors in the
upper-left corner. Connect the patch cord from the
PRE-OUT jacks on the HK6850 or HK6950R to the
jacks on your external power amplifier. Then connect
your speakers to your external power amplifier.
Connecting an external preamplifier
To use the HK6850 or HK6950R simply as a
power amplifier, connect the Pre-Out jacks of the
external preamplifier to the Main-in jacks on the back
panel of the HK6850 or HK6950R. Then set the
“Integrated-Separate” switch on the back panel to the
“Separate” position.
Wired Remote Control
To control your amplifier with an external infrared
remote sensor, connect the wire from the remote
sensor to the “Remote In” jack on the back panel. Or,
if you have a stereo component with a built-in infrared
remote sensor and a “Remote Output” jack, it may be
possible to connect this jack to the “Remote In” jack of
your amplifier. All Harman Kardon products with
“Remote In” and “Remote Out” jacks are compatible
with one another, except for the Citation 22, 24 and
25. Other manufacturers’ remote sensors may not be
compatible, but it will not hurt to experiment.
A second wire may be used to connect your amplifier’s
“Remote Out” jack to the “Remote Input” of another
stereo component. Continue this process to include
additional components (if compatible).
To control your amplifier, you may use the remote
control supplied with the HK6950R. Or you may use a
universal remote control unit, such as Harman
Kardon’s Masterworks™, which can also control other
components, such as TVs, VCRs, tape decks and CD
players. Masterworks is available from your Harman
Kardon dealer.