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Vintage Kenwood receiver recommendation?

jcox

jcox

Member
Could someone help me wade thru the Kenwood receivers from the mid to late 70s? I'm a Pioneer fan with a pretty good understanding of their silver face lineup and have a 780, 680, PL55DX tt, CT-F9191, and HPM40 speakers. But I recently could not resist buying a pair of absolutely gorgeous Kenwood LS-408B speakers [160w] (woofers are original but need refoamed; picked up for $100, hope thats as good a deal as I think it is). So I'm thinking I'd like a period Kenwood receiver too. I tend to like units from mid to late 70s, prefer the silver faced units, and something mid-range, avoiding entry level low-power units and avoiding expensive or rare units. KR9600 seems to be a win (looks like it was top of the line? but prices are pretty good, relative to the high end Pioneer gear!). Found a 4070 on CL that looks nice, and very cheap, but I would want the walnut sides (easy to find?). I've done searches and found tons of Kenwood receivers, I've cruised hifiengine database, but just too many! I'm struggling to sort thru them to get a concise listing of receivers that might work for me, or ones to avoid (9400?). Thanks everyone!
 
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The 9600 was TOTL when it was sold. Great receiver, only down side is the output section uses transistor packs that are hard to find if you ever have trouble with them. The 9050 delivered more power, and uses traditional transistors. 210 wpc vs 160 wpc. I had both, sold the 9600 and kept the 9050. Both are great units and I'm not sure why they don't get the same attention or draw similar prices to Pioneer/Sansui/Marantz. They all seem to be of similar quality, imo.

bs
 
turboyam said:
Yep, you will looove the KR- X600, especially 6600 and 7600. No standard wood sides tho.
There are the X400's too, like 5400, 6400 and 7400 but the sixes are sooo sexy :D
Click to expand...

X2 - X600s are considered by many to be Kenwood' best efforts.

While true that wood side panels weren't available on the 6600/7600 (they were available in full wood cases) I can barely nail two boards together and came up with this.



 
Thanks everyone! Appreciate the good info and quick replies. I'll dig into the x600 line first.

gort69 said:
X2 - X600s are considered by many to be Kenwood' best efforts.
While true that wood side panels weren't available on the 6600/7600 (they were available in full wood cases) I can barely nail two boards together and came up with this.
Click to expand...

Wow, gorgeous! great work. Any tips for that job? I'll try it if I find one. Which model receiver is that? Looks like 7600? Love it.
 
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Thanks - Yes, KR-7600. I'm not even remotely a woodworker, but this job is simple enough even I could do it.

Basically, a piece of wood of your choice - this happens to be something similar to mahogany - actually the top of an old TV tray. I just used the original plastic side panels as a template for the holes. The front edge pieces are cherry 1 x 1 (3/4 x 3/4) clamped and glued to the side panels, the whole thing stained and finished with wipe-on poly. I originally did a set in oak veneer plywood but didn't like it, so these pictures are the same thing but two different types of wood.





 
jcox said:
Could someone help me wade thru the Kenwood receivers from the mid to late 70s? I'm a Pioneer fan with a pretty good understanding of their silver face lineup and have a 780, 680, PL55DX tt, CT-F9191, and HPM40 speakers. But I recently could not resist buying a pair of absolutely gorgeous Kenwood LS-408B speakers [160w] (woofers are original but need refoamed; picked up for $100, hope thats as good a deal as I think it is). So I'm thinking I'd like a period Kenwood receiver too. I tend to like units from mid to late 70s, prefer the silver faced units, and something mid-range, avoiding entry level low-power units and avoiding expensive or rare units. KR9600 seems to be a win (looks like it was top of the line? but prices are pretty good, relative to the high end Pioneer gear!). Found a 4070 on CL that looks nice, and very cheap, but I would want the walnut sides (easy to find?). I've done searches and found tons of Kenwood receivers, I've cruised hifiengine database, but just too many! I'm struggling to sort thru them to get a concise listing of receivers that might work for me, or ones to avoid (9400?). Thanks everyone!
Click to expand...


Does anyone still visit this site? I've got a Kenwood 650 with dirty pots, should I clean them myself of bring it in for service?
 
Hi @SoCalDavid welcome to ak.

you have pinged (quoted or as I did use an @ in front of a user name, they will get an alert) a member that has not been here since early October. Nothing wrong with that but as you see we do get to this section of ak on a regular basis. It would be best to start a brand new thread about your particular question instead of hiding at the end of a thread titled vintage kenwood receiver recommendations but we can work through that, too. Top right of a forum is the Post New Thread button. I don't find it quickly on some sites I visit.

But all that said let's solve your problem.
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/the-idiots-guide-to-using-deoxit-revisited.207005/
Discusses getting into a unit and cleaning the controls to make them quiet again. It is usually a home remedy by most here. Some prefer to heed the warning on most gear, "no user serviceable parts inside" so it is your choice as to what you want to do.

Good luck
 
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gort69 said:
Thanks - Yes, KR-7600. I'm not even remotely a woodworker, but this job is simple enough even I could do it.

Basically, a piece of wood of your choice - this happens to be something similar to mahogany - actually the top of an old TV tray. I just used the original plastic side panels as a template for the holes. The front edge pieces are cherry 1 x 1 (3/4 x 3/4) clamped and glued to the side panels, the whole thing stained and finished with wipe-on poly. I originally did a set in oak veneer plywood but didn't like it, so these pictures are the same thing but two different types of wood.





Click to expand...
Great - I have a KT-815, and want to make some side panels ... Do you know the size of the screws used to secure the panels ?
 
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