Kenwood L-07c pre and L-07m mk1.

Mewzishun

Mewzishun

New Member
Scored this minty Kenwood L-07 mk1 set a few weeks ago.

Kenwood L-07c
Kenwood L-07m pair

The whole thing sat in boxes in his closet since 1987. Included were the original receipts, service manual and screwable RCA interconnects.

One of the mono blocks was oscillating. But I troubleshot it down to a bad ground connection on the finals board.

One of the fastest sounding amps I've ever heard. Love em a lot.

Going to go pick up some Polk 11t this afternoon off CL.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6481.JPG
    IMG_6481.JPG
    50.8 KB · Views: 69
Last edited:
Register to hide this ad
I also have

-Adcom GTP 500 and GFA 545ii (pre/amp)
-NAD 1020 and 2140 (pre/amp)

Kinda wonder what you all think how the L-07 stuff stacks up against them?

My personal take I know the NAD has considerably less power but I don't crank my systems. NAD is warmer sounding setup. A bit "rounder" if I can say.
The Adcom is more sterile than the NAD but the headroom is nice. Not really into the tuner.

Maybe it's just heart bubbles popping over my head but the L-07 seem to be in another league. It's warm yet fast. Very detailed sounding system. These monoblocks have a lot of current available to drive probably anything I can throw at it.
 
I put the Kenwood in a different class. Top end units from a major manufacturer vs. a preamp power amp combo from folks that make just regular gear. But you have them, you can tell us and from what you have said, the NAD is typical good sounding NAD, nothing special it seems but sounds good. The Adcom, well it is just gear. I know there would be two sets of gear available if I owned those three sets. Folks like the Adcom, folks like the NAD. No one calls them high end gear but the L-07 gear is. It just sounds better.
 
Congrats. Have owned several pairs of L-07M's over the years and agree with your impression. Fast but not sterile. If you like the 7's, try the L-09M. The 9's take the high speed sound to another level, IMO.

Polk's are not bad but IMO, Kenwood monoblocks are next level with the transparent and signal accurate Yamaha NS-1000M and NS-690.
 
I already have a pair of Yamaha 4406's. What I really want is a pair of Yamaha 4410a. I think they'd pair with the L-07's really well.
I just wanted some full bodied speakers (the 11t's) to get me by until then. ;)
 
The L-07m and L-09m are NOT hi speed. You have to go to the L-07MkII to get hi speed. The L-05M is hi speed. They never made the L-09 in hi speed.
If you were to recap the NAD 1020 preamp it would sound better than that L-07C. If you recapped the L-07C then that may change things.
"ECHOWARS" is the man to talk to about these amps. You have great stuff there if it's recapped and brought up to spec.
 
1) if it ain't broke don't fix it
2) fix what is broken
3) recap the whole thing cause that is what some do

Take your pick, but review any discussions of the amp to verify there are no weaknesses to be addressed.

Folks recap to eliminate one of the few components that age in the unit. This puts the unit back to near new on its aged components list and folks can expect another 20 years+ from it. Some notice sonic improvements, some notice sonic degradations others are just happy to know the unit has been refreshed. Then there is the group that screw something up and the unit is dead until some on AK help em through the repair. I'd say enjoy while you monitor the operating condition, temps and sonics and such but would look into the bias and offset adjustments as needed and while in there look at the parts to see if anything looks questionable. Looking at the parts isn't a good way to assess them but without the gear and time it is the best we can do.
 
I understand electrolytic shelf life. It would be pretty catastrophic if a dried out cap took out the amp. Maybe I'm just too lazy or don't have time to pull one of these apart and spend many hours on end recapping. Lol!
Checking bias points sounds like a good idea and can be done in the matter of an hour per amp. If the bias points are good that would be considered in spec.
If I were to find a bias point out of cal, I can take preventative measures at that point.
Right now I'm just enjoying this newly acquired treasure.
 
ghamilton said:
The L-07m and L-09m are NOT hi speed. You have to go to the L-07MkII to get hi speed.
Click to expand...

Not sure what you classify high speed as, but I assure you the L-07m is very fast. The MkII was on paper even faster. I've had and rebuilt dozens of them.

ghamilton said:
If you were to recap the NAD 1020 preamp it would sound better than that L-07C.
Click to expand...

The L-07C is also about as instrumentation grade as you will get- the NAD 1020 isn't in remotely the same league- it's a piece of plastic junk, a 3020 without the amplifier, built about as cheap as you could get.
 
restorer-john said:
Not sure what you classify high speed as, but I assure you the L-07m is very fast. The MkII was on paper even faster. I've had and rebuilt dozens of them.



The L-07C is also about as instrumentation grade as you will get- the NAD 1020 isn't in remotely the same league- it's a piece of plastic junk, a 3020 without the amplifier, built about as cheap as you could get.
Click to expand...
We all have opinions. :)
 
I listen to music a TON. Blew through a couple Nagaoka MP110 cartridges; currently working my way through an Ortofon 2M blue right now.
I’ve been running my Kenwood L-07 system for a few years now since spring of 2017. Been pushing a pair of early 90’s Advent Heritage speakers I rebuilt. The system is so clinically clean it’s ridiculous. I also have a home studio and will A/B mixes through it often since it’s my main listening system and know it.
However, I miss the “contour” button on the Adcom I was running before (gfp555/gfa545ii). Yeah the imaging wasn’t as nice as the L series. But sometimes having a little kick in the low end is nice with rock music.
Meh, first world problems…

I swapped out systems for awhile to take a break from the Kenwood for awhile.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom