kr 7600 plastic faceplate

kenwoody

steve
what gives? got my kr7600 sounds great needs a deoxit treatment but was suprised to see the plastic faceplate,this thing would look a lot sweeter with a glass one,but it does sound great..:banana:
 
The era of cost cutting had just begun at this time. Most units that were not TOL had some sort of cheap alternatives incorporated into design. It got progressively worse as time passed. And you see where it had ended. Today we see up to 80& of a unit is plastic (unless you are lucky enough to be able to spend many thousands of $$$).
 
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The era of cost cutting had just begun at this time. Most units that were not TOL had some sort of cheap alternatives incorporated into design. It got progressively worse as time passed. And you see where it had ended. Today we see up to 80& of a unit is plastic (unless you are lucky enough to be able to spend many thousands of $$$).

This was '76, though. Didn't the monster receiver wars start in '74?
 
Anyway, the quality of these Kenwood plates is excellent.
At that time it has been very innovative to use transparent plastics. Glass has to be seen as a risk - because of breakage.
Moreover the quality of the used ink for the faceplates has been poor. After years of usage - on glass - the ink got to dry and felt down from glass plates. Ink and plastic is a better combination regarding the adhesion.
 
The Kenwood receivers were sold to guys like me...who wanted a big Pioneer SX-1250 but didn't have the budget. Once you start digging into the units, you find small things (like the plastic faceplate) that were done to keep costs down.
 
The Kenwood receivers were sold to guys like me...who wanted a big Pioneer SX-1250 but didn't have the budget. Once you start digging into the units, you find small things (like the plastic faceplate) that were done to keep costs down.

so your telling me quality wise pioneer was superior to kenwood?..in the day
 
so your telling me quality wise pioneer was superior to kenwood?..in the day
You may draw your own assumptions. The Kenwood receivers were well-built electrically, but sold for significantly cheaper prices, so something had to give somewhere.
 
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