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Kenwood KA-701

mcp1

Well-Known Member
It was my first day of vacation today and noticed an interesting ad on CL while having my morning coffee. Ended up with a Kenwood KA-701 in excellent condition and a Pioneer PL-530 table with Stanton cartridge. Price was $170 for both and I can live with that...when I got home, I found a bonus in that there was an extra headshell included with the Pioneer with a Shure V15 III cartridge...should be a fun project this week getting these pieces singing again. Don't know much about the amp, but my college roommate owned a KA-8300 that was a keeper...that was many moons ago...
 
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Yes, The 701 is a keeper. I had one. I should have kept it. Now the thing to do is clean it up on the inside. Go to a Lowes or home depot and get some CRC spray for spraying off the curcuit boards. Then go to radio shack and get some dexoit for spraying into all the contacts, relays, and adjustments.
 
Yeah I just got one a couple weeks ago. The tips of the switches are broken off and there are cosmetic blemishes, but for the most part it works very nicely. I cleaned off the inside with a vacuum and paintbrush, used the Anti-Corrosive Radio Shack Lubricant on the switches, and adjusted the DC offset & bias current to the best of my ability. It is definitely a keeper, you made a great decision on those purchases. I'm hoping that I'll be able to acquire the switch tips for it in the future.
 
Thought I'd add pic...

Boy - this one is in beautiful shape. Checked out a few things and then cleaned it up and applied a little Deoxit to the pots. It sounds fantastic. I really can't find a scratch on it.

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Jeesh, you got the rack handles too?

Real purty amp. I also got a totally spotless one about a month ago.

Enjoy the amp!

tripod
 
These are kind of hard to find amps, I own a KA-801 with a kt-815 tuner and I love them, I am sure you find joy in your 701 :)
 
I'm finding that this Kenny is a very synergistic match with my modern day speakers, Monitor Audio Silver RS6's. Plenty of clean, clear power and the sound is non fatiguing. I must admit that I haven't always found this to be the case with past Kenwoods I've owned, but I couldn't be happier with the 701...
 
Wow gorgeous KA-701! They were an interesting design philosophy employed by Kenwood in the 80's. It's one of their last great amplifiers they made before they starting using cheaper components like the competition.

Great find. It's a keeper, most definitely. Not to mention its super fast damping factor!
 
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