Kenwood 700 Series

JoelMart2017

Active Member
Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum.

I just came across a Kenwood 700M and 700C at a pawnshop of all places. Does anyone know details on these two units? I put them on layaway not knowing if they work or not, they look brand new and oddly the staff threw the original boxes with manuals away in the dumpster which I went and took them out.

Thanks for any input.
 
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No one would believe me on how much I paid for them. Working or not, it was still worth it. I will find out tomorrow how well they work when i bring them home.
 
Nice gear. Pics of course. even the boxes.

If they haven't been turned on in a while and might have problems, a dim bulb tester (google has info) can keep them from burning up if there is a problem. If they have been plugged in recently and are known to not have issues, give em a try.
 
Boxes and paperwork for those could sell for near what you paid for the units on the bay if there is a seriously OCD serious collector. Very well bought and the dumpster dive gets high marks, too.
 
What a great score! This is a fairly rare but highly regarded amp. Take the precautions and power it up with the dBT and listen for the protection relays to kick on. Check DC offset . Just might be good to go, but if not there has been a lot written here about rebuilding. Look for posts from EchoWars here as he is a real expert on the Supreme's .
 
I dont know anything about vintage amps and how to care for them. I have both the 700M and 700C in my Jeep and will take them home in a bit. I dont have any meters or anything of that sort, should I be cautioned about powering them up? I am anxious to hear them.
 
Make sure they have proper sized fuses in them.
It wouldn't be a terrible idea to power up with a DBT the first time.
Probably unnecessary though
 
My first post said DBT and to google it. Build one if you can buy stuff at home depot you are almost qualified to build one of these easy devices. Use an incandescent bulb to lower the voltage and keep the current from burning up your amp if it has problems. If it doesn't the lamp will go dim over a bit of time, larger wattage is quicker, a 40 watt bulb took 30 seconds or so for the bulb to stop glowing when I used it on a 200 wpc amp.

Since electrolytic caps are old and fragile on units from before the 80s, I would build the dbt and run the amp for 30 min with a small bulb, 60 watter and then up it to 100 and see if all relays click. The if all is good after a few minutes at 100 watts, I'd plug it in and see what it does.

Worst case you have a dbt and find the amp not quite right without doing any more damage. Best case, all is fine and you have a great score and a dbt.

Without the dbt worst case is the amp has problems when you slam it with 120Volts straight out of the wall and there are parts that get fried and more components get damaged before smoke appears and you get it to a tech for a more costly repair than the one needed if the dbt does not go dim.
 
I can't read the price stickers in your pics on my monitor. What'd ya pay for those?

Great score, and good move grabbing the boxes and manuals. What were they thinking tossing that stuff? :crazy:

And I agree with BlueShadow about the DBT. Even though it is probably not necessary, these units are rare, valuable, and old. Don't take a chance. I am not quite sure that you know what you've lucked into :)

If you do google advanced search and enter "audiokarma.org" for the site, then DBT or dim bulb tester for search terms, you will get plenty of hits. The DBT is simple to make and use, and has been discussed here many times.
 
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Update: The 700M and 700C sound amazing!! The units look brand new as there is no dust or anything on them, looks like they came right out of the box. I hooked them up to my Polk Audio Monitor 60 Series II Speakers ( $50/pair at a pawn) and sounded pretty good. I then hooked them up to my JBL SB 520's ($75/pair at a Pawn) and they sound amazing. My Yamaha Receiver is not even close to this quality.

I do have a question though, I was not able to get sound through AUX2 or AUX3. I had to hook up my tablet to Tuner to get sound. Am I doing something wrong?

roger2 - I paid $120 for the 700M and $110 for the 700C. Crazy!!!
 
I do have a question though, I was not able to get sound through AUX2 or AUX3. I had to hook up my tablet to Tuner to get sound. Am I doing something wrong?

No reason AUX2 & AUX3 shouldn't work. Make sure the switch (TUNER/AUX1) next to the SELECTOR knob is set to the middle setting and obviously make sure your cables are in the AUX2 or AUX3 input on the back of the unit.


I paid $120 for the 700M and $110 for the 700C. Crazy!!!

That's beyond crazy! Considering you have the original boxes and paperwork (great job getting those out of the garbage!) and the two units are in excellent condition, I would figure they are easily worth at least $1,200 and possibly even more.
Now all you need is the 700T tuner. Too bad the pawn shop didn''t have that too!
You are very lucky to have found them as they are not very common and they are two of the best units Kenwood or anyone else ever made. Welcome to AK!
 
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