Kenwood tuner

[jim3860]

I just got an old kenwood tuner from a local pawn shop $30.00 the KT-8005 Anyone ever use this model. Likes - dislikes ?

[JBL Dog]

I just got an old kenwood tuner from a local pawn shop $30.00 the KT-8005 Anyone ever use this model. Likes - dislikes ?

I used to own a Kenwood Tuner, not the model in question. I believe Audiobeer is fairly familiar with Kenwood Tuners. I'm sure he will eventually chime in on this thread.

If it works, you can't go wrong scoring it at $30.

[grumpy]

Kenwood KT-8005 (1973, $390, photo) search eBay
The KT-8005, Kenwood's top-of-the-line tuner at the time (replaced after a year by the KT-8007), is a solidly built, 25-pound FM-AM tuner with a 5-gang, 2-FET RF front end. The KT-8005 uses two 4-stage filters, early ceramic type, in small metal boxes labeled “MuRata Ceramic Filter” on the top. Each of these filters is equivalent to two modern 3-pin ceramic filters. The specs in the owner's manual say 100dB alternate channel selectivity and it performs like it, with excellent selectivity as well as sensitivity. Instead of a chip, the MPX section consumes an entire board of discrete components. The audio output stage is also all discrete transistors, and many feel that the sound, when the tuner is properly serviced and aligned, is wonderful. Our panelist Jim, who admits to a prejudice against early transistor designs, says, “It was interesting to have this two-tone tuner on my shelf. I see the common heritage of the silver and bronze Kenwood tuners that came later.” This tuner, like any other 30-year-old piece of equipment, is unlikely to be in perfect shape as found on eBay, so anyone considering buying a KT-8005 should either check it out first or budget some money to have it aligned. But our panelist Bob adds, “The 8005 and 8007 seem a lot better [when in typical 'as found' condition] than the earlier KT-7000 and KT-7001, which seem to need parts/repair to work well, rather than just an alignment.” See the KT-8007 writeup below for more of Bob's comments on the KT-8005. The KT-8005 usually sells for $100-180 on eBay, with a recent low of $78 and an all-time high of $290 (with manuals), both in 9/04. [BF][JR]

[Audiobeer]

If you clean it up and can vouch as a seller that it works and hauls in the stations it will get $200 on Ebay but this time of year who knows?

[duaneage]

You could profit from flipping it but shipping from alaska to the lwer 48 would be high and that would limit the price. You could probably make 50-70 dollars off of it.

[jim3860]

Thanks guys, Its good to know that its not an awful tuner. As far as selling I dont care about that. im not looking to make a buck. I just wanted a decent tuner to use with my 2 channel system. and it works much better than my sony receiver for that. A lil cleaning and polishing its looking better allready.