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vintage kenwood int. amps

B

bill schwartz

New Member
i need to know the power output on some vintage
kenwood integrated amps .......ka-500, ka-600 both
weigh about 40lbs a piece .... cant find any info on them

also has anyone stumbled upon any good websites for these
kenwood amps.....not having any luck .......thanks ....bill
 
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From my 97 Orion.

KA-500, 1980-82. 43 wpc. MSRP $299.

KA-600, not listed. A KA-601 was 60 wpc, 1979-81.

good luck of your search.
 
i may have givin u the wrong models ....its kenwood
model 500 and model 600....... they are heavy and i know
they have to be near 100 wpc ....can u confirm.....bill
 
I show a 500 made in 76 - 78 that was 100 watts and weighed 44.5 pounds and 600 made in 76 - 79 that was 130 watts and weighed 47 pounds. Was bored in my younger years and actually made a booklet that covered Kenwood products 1970 thru 1979. Have been selling them on EBAY on/off. Have one on there now if you want to see it. Usually sell them for $17 (includes US first class postage) without going thru ebay. Have them for other makers to - can see www.silverpioneer.com for that one or just ask me about others.

Hope this helps.
 
Most likely the info that Bully provided is correct. My Blue book shows no amps ever made by Kewood with just the model numbers 500 and 600. Almost all the Kenwoods Integrated amps start with the prefix of KA- followed by numbers. All the vintage Kenwood Power amps started with the Prefix L- followed by two numbers and a letter such as L-05M. Are you sure these are vintage amps ? Are you looking at the wattage on the plate on the back of the amps ? if so you are reading the wattage consumed not the output wattage. Do you have a picture of the amp ? That would help allot.

Grumpy
 
Tech-Wiz shows a manual for a Model 500 and a Model 600. But doesn't really say what they are.

If these are indeed integrated amps (preamp+amp), then power output for the 500 is likely to be around 50-55w, and 60-65w for the 600. This is usually the way Kenwood numbered things in the 70's. In addition, the highest-power integrated that Kenwood made was the 9100, rated at 90wpc, 100W driven. If I am wrong, pls correct me, but I don't think Kenwood ever made one with more (we're talking 70's here...)

Kenwood made a lot of stand-alone amps with more power, but not in the 70's (if I recall). Digging up info on amps this old is getting harder and harder.

As far as guessing output from weight, not very accurate method. ;) Especially since the 70's gear was all pretty hefty, even the little 25wpc amps weight at least twice what you would expect.

This may help a little...total power consumption. Really, really inaccurate, but given the overall efficiency of 70's Class AB amps, and allowing to preamp/control power usage, and the standard UL fudge-factor (overguess the amount), you can get a ballpark idea of the output by viewing the rated maximum power usage given on the back of the unit. A 35wpc amp would read about 150 - 250W, a 60wpc amp about 300 - 400W. A 100wpc amp should be around 550W - 600W total power usage.

A really piss-poor guide, but basically you can see that, if total power consumption on the rear of the unit is given as 200W, you know for a fact that it can't be a 100wpc amp.
 
grumpy i have both these amps and believe me they
r powerful ......they r model 500 and 600 respectively
just bought the model 500 for 76.00 a steal =).....no ka for
prefix on these amps .......also saw a model 650 for sale i got
snipered at the end .....bill
 
im having the model 600 repaired and the tech was very impressed
hes really an electrical engineer ....builds amps .... we tested this
amp with an o scope and frequency gen......real watts rms 120 to 140 ....... its a brute ....................
 
ebay id is wjahn5@yahoo.com.

Looking back at my notes on this - info for these models in my book came from Audio magazine annual review issues. Not sure why they would not follow the normal naming "rules" they had.
 
I do agree with Grumpy about one thing on this - would like to see a pic or 2 of the beasts.

I have a KA-9800 amp on ebay now. Does it look anything like that?
 
no meters ....power indicator light over the volume
control , function switches unique in design i would say
ill take some photos of both .... 500 working at home ,600 being
repaired.....grumpy whats your email ill send u pics and anybody
else that wants .
 
Model 600

I sold Kenwood in the 70's.

Yes usually KA was the first two letters followed by 7100 or 9100 as in KA-9100.

I had a Model 600 about 130 watts a channel our store did not sell this model there was also a matching tuner to this int amp.

Now this stuff wasn't widely available and was considered an upscale line from the regular models.I by chance saw a picture and the Kenwood rep ordered it.

I never played it; when it came in l lent it to the Yamaha dealer, a customer saw it wanted it and the dealer traded me the Yamaha CR-2020 receiver for it.
 
I was wondeering, is there any info in that blue book of the Kenwood KA-1500? watts? anything? I am guessing its around 20-25wpc, but does it say anything?

Thanks
 
Well, OK, if it was the companion to THAT tuner, yes, you have scored one very nice piece of gear!
I would want the tuner. I have plenty of amps. Oh, I've got plenty of tuners, but the 600T is one of those very special items.
neat score.
 
I don't see anything in the 1992 version. Closest thing I see model number wise is a KA-1400G. How much does it weigh? the 1400G was only 14 watts and weighed about 12 pounds. As stated in other posts, if you take the power consumption and divide by 3 or 4 you can get a very rough idea.
 
the picture that wjahns sent is the exact amp that i purchased
also the model 500 looks very similar.... these amps must be rare
thanks for the pic ......bill
 
I was just going thru some old mags and stumbled on it. I need to spend some time and catalog these things so it will be easier to find stuff like this.

Looks like a very nice amp - have fun with them!
 
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