Semanon
Super Member
Yep. Great amp, but out of the budget range.
Need Kenwood ka recommendations
- Thread starter Got_Horns
- Start date
If you can manage black face amps, the KA-88 and KA-87 are fine amps (currently have an 88 installed in the living room) with plenty of power and very, very clean. And very cheap, there are a couple each on the auction site at the moment that probably only need re-capping to be as good as when they were shipped.
And for more power there are the 880D and 880SD, 990D and 990SD, and the 1100SD at 100, 120, and 150 watts per channel, very very good amps and pretty cheap these days, especially if you can fix them and do the refurb yourself.
And for more power there are the 880D and 880SD, 990D and 990SD, and the 1100SD at 100, 120, and 150 watts per channel, very very good amps and pretty cheap these days, especially if you can fix them and do the refurb yourself.
JyriK
Active Member
Regarding KA-880D, when I did a full recap last summer, I found out that only two small caps (in phono stage, IIRC) were out of tolerance, and not by much. Man, those Elnas are quality!
Btw, I rate my 880D higher than my Luxman L-430, also fully recapped. Smoother.
E: I should add that no pre-outs in 880D, unfortunately.
Btw, I rate my 880D higher than my Luxman L-430, also fully recapped. Smoother.
E: I should add that no pre-outs in 880D, unfortunately.
Essay
Active Member
With a KA-8300, you have to pay attention to 2 items:
The aforementioned TA-100 boards. For long time, they were impossible to replace. Apparently some replacements with discrete components have started to appear.
Secondly, the Relay board has a very bad thermal design. There are resistors on this board that are dissipating more than their rated power and will over time fry the board. This can be fixed though, but these boards are not uncommen with lifted tracks.
The aforementioned TA-100 boards. For long time, they were impossible to replace. Apparently some replacements with discrete components have started to appear.
Secondly, the Relay board has a very bad thermal design. There are resistors on this board that are dissipating more than their rated power and will over time fry the board. This can be fixed though, but these boards are not uncommen with lifted tracks.
I don't find many bad caps in most of the late 80's and newer Kenwoods, unlike the early 80's, but I suspect they age faster with heavy use at high volume compared to light use.
Most likely to be bad are the smallest ones, especially when near something hot like a voltage drop resistor.
That said, I've found a few. On a KA-88 recently the memory hold cap on the selector board tested as an 8 ohm resistor, prevented the amp from working, and a few small value ones were way off. I've seen a few main filter caps leaked out (KA-87) when the outputs were blown, and on that amp every set I replaced dropped the current draw on the DBT. Tested OK for capacitance, but obviously were leaking more DC current than the new ones.
Most likely to be bad are the smallest ones, especially when near something hot like a voltage drop resistor.
That said, I've found a few. On a KA-88 recently the memory hold cap on the selector board tested as an 8 ohm resistor, prevented the amp from working, and a few small value ones were way off. I've seen a few main filter caps leaked out (KA-87) when the outputs were blown, and on that amp every set I replaced dropped the current draw on the DBT. Tested OK for capacitance, but obviously were leaking more DC current than the new ones.