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Titanium Dome
08-12-2006, 07:41 PM
OK, so I bought two boxes from a garage that had been in there 20 years according to the owner. Actually, the owner's wife told me that since the owner passed away in 1986. Everything was boxed up when the old house was sold and put in the garage at her new location, never to be set up.

So I looked into the boxes, and lo and behold, excellent, minty, vintage components.

Titanium Dome
08-12-2006, 07:47 PM
The KA-801 face plate is pristine. The controls are smooth and the detents firm. The power meters and lights work as new.

Titanium Dome
08-12-2006, 07:55 PM
Dual DC power supplies and a direct DC coupling option are a couple of this amp's nice features.

Titanium Dome
08-12-2006, 07:58 PM
The back panel is simple in the traditional stereo sense. It almost makes me want to buy a reel-to-reel deck again. Sorry for the glare.

Titanium Dome
08-12-2006, 08:05 PM
The KT-815 analog tuner is simple, yet elegant.

Titanium Dome
08-12-2006, 08:08 PM
The pulse count detector and high sensitivity make this the best analog tuner I've owned.

Titanium Dome
08-12-2006, 08:10 PM
The rear panel has a number of high end analog features.

Titanium Dome
08-12-2006, 08:26 PM
I tried the two Kenwood units through the E50s, the L7s and the L250s.

I played three stations through the tuner: smooth jazz, classical, and rock classics. The tuner was rock solid holding the stations; tuning was a breeze.

The units handled the E50s with aplomb. There was more than enough power, and the vintage gear mellowed out the E50s quite a bit.

The L7s played very well at low levels, but seemed a bit starved for power at high levels. At low levels the sound was intimate and warm, but at louder levels the sound thinned out and the highs especially seemed a bit distorted.

The sound that came from the L250s was wonderful, full, warm, rich. There was plenty of power for moderately loud playing, but high levels were strained.

Titanium Dome
08-12-2006, 08:40 PM
Because the L250 sounded so wonderful, it crossed my mind to try three-way loudspeakers of a similar vintage or older. So, out came the 240Ti and L100.

The 240Ti was very nice, but the L100 was exceptional. This is probably the kind of speaker that Kenwood had in mind historically when it built this equipment: three- or four-way bookshelf speakers from JBL, Pioneer, etc.

These Kenwood units and one pair of L100s will be joined for the forseeable future. It's a sweet, sweet combination.

I'll also keep a pair of the 240Tis hooked up to see if/how my appreciation for this combo grows over time.

Bernard Wolf
08-14-2006, 05:11 PM
The back panel is simple in the traditional stereo sense. It almost makes me want to buy a reel-to-reel deck again. Sorry for the glare.

Nice find... I'm gettin' reel (?) hot for a Pioneer RT-909 myself right about now.. don't know why, just am.. love the look, feel and history of some of that vintage stuff... they will probably never again make gear like that again, except for maybe a laboratory..

Have fun !

Bernard

cvengr
08-14-2006, 08:45 PM
FWIW, I still use a set of Kenwood L-07MIIs, CII, and TII. THey are better built than the Yamaha C-2a and M series power amps, and even are more reliable than my McIntosh 2300. Granted they only produce 150W of power, they were the bottom of the high end Japanese audio gear made by Kenwood, right before they introduced Accuphase.

I picked up mine new at a PX for less than $350 total for all four when nobody knew what they were. Preamp retailed for about $1k, power amps about $650ea and the tuner $350.

Interestingly, the units you show here have very similar font and type and controls as the early monoral Mitsubishi units DA-C20 series.

Rolf
08-14-2006, 11:50 PM
In the late 70's I had a set of Kenwood 07's, including the pre-amp. I remember the long phono cables and the twisted speaker cables. I used them on my 4333A's, together with a HK record player with a Signet pickup on a Rabco tangential arm. I remember it sounded good, but the sound of pre/power amps have come a looong way after that.

P.S. Accuphase was on the market before the 07's.

Steve Gonzales
08-14-2006, 11:51 PM
FWIW, I still use a set of Kenwood L-07MIIs, CII, and TII. THey are better built than the Yamaha C-2a and M series power amps, and even are more reliable than my McIntosh 2300. Granted they only produce 150W of power, they were the bottom of the high end Japanese audio gear made by Kenwood, right before they introduced Accuphase.

I picked up mine new at a PX for less than $350 total for all four when nobody knew what they were. Preamp retailed for about $1k, power amps about $650ea and the tuner $350.

Interestingly, the units you show here have very similar font and type and controls as the early monoral Mitsubishi units DA-C20 series. Nice find TiDome, just beautiful! You gotta love it!!:p . cvengr, no flame, no slam, but..., I beg to differ in regards to the Yamaha M series amplifiers, at least from the M70 up. Extremely well built. The MX1000u has 1,000 watts available into 1 (one) ohm. 127 s/n ratio, .003% THD, and damn near 3db of clean dynamic headroom. The photo of one of the power transformers shows the tip of my index finger for perspective. Those 4 power supply filter caps are coke can sized and the power suppy is rated at 1300 volt amps. Dual mono design to boot. There are better and more expensive amps to be had, but you could do alot worse. They are at least as good as any Kenwood ever built or sold :D .

mtrump
08-15-2006, 03:12 AM
I had that integrated amp in college days.... no tuner sweet.

I still have a pair of LO-5Ms (similliar to the 7's mentioned by Cvengr). Still sound good, but the 110 rating is not enough for hard listening....

Wayne
08-18-2006, 09:00 PM
Hi all

What do you guys think about the Proton Amps, I have put aside a AM455 which I plan to use for my nearly complete L26's in the family room, I picked this up from a chain pawn brookers after trading in a trashy Technics amp with an I.C for the output stage & only paid $15 differance:applaud: Fortunately they only employ kids.
I believe the output is close to 50watts rms, havent had a lot of luck in tracking the history, age etc. Is it true that NAD bought them out, were they one of the only companies to manufacture inside U.S.A.
Any comments welcome.

Cheers Wayne.
:cheers:

jim3860
08-18-2006, 09:38 PM
Hi all

What do you guys think about the Proton Amps, I have put aside a AM455 which I plan to use for my nearly complete L26's in the family room, I picked this up from a chain pawn brookers after trading in a trashy Technics amp with an I.C for the output stage & only paid $15 differance:applaud: Fortunately they only employ kids.
I believe the output is close to 50watts rms, havent had a lot of luck in tracking the history, age etc. Is it true that NAD bought them out, were they one of the only companies to manufacture inside U.S.A.
Any comments welcome.

Cheers Wayne.
:cheers: HI. protons are very nice lil amps, and yes yours is 50wpc first made in 1990. they have a lot of reserve power, and can actually dip down for a lil while to a 2 ohm load. the average on ebay is around 100- 150 us dollars. there a dual mono design amp, and will probabbly be the most powerful 50 watt amp you will ever hear. CHEERS M8

jim3860
08-18-2006, 09:55 PM
The pulse count detector and high sensitivity make this the best analog tuner I've owned. congrats ti on your kenwood finds. that tuner is a 5 gang model. made around 1979 or so. i think list was around $450.00 or so on it. :applaud: so i figure add in inflation and it would cost a bunch to make one like it today. REGARDS JIM

Wayne
08-18-2006, 10:01 PM
Hi jim3860

That sounds very promising, the L-26's should sound rather good then.
Thanks for the info.
Cheers Wayne.:cheers:

Wayne
09-01-2006, 07:20 PM
Hi all

I have fired up the Proton AM455 & found that the Left channel has marginal Bass compared to the Right.
Have switched speakers from Left to Right, still common to the Left channel so speakers are o.k.
Will start by switching the out-put transistors from left to right & see if the loss of bass still occurs in the left channel or has moved to the right, if this is the case then either the NPN or PNP output transistor in the left channel is shot. Can determine which by switching them one at a time.
If this proves fruitless I will have to track down a ocsilloscope & have a bit of a look.
Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers Wayne.
:cheers: