I recently found a pristene Kenwood KR-6600 in the garbage. I've tested it, and it's in perfect working condition. But I have not had the time to listen to it at length, but I have read some very favorable online reviews. Some suggest it campares favorably with late 70's Marantz models.
I would like to know if anyone has any experience with late 70's Kenwood receivers and what are your listening impressions? What is, or was, your set-up?
I sold plenty of Kenwood receivers during the 1970's. They were decent performing products for the most part. I've never understood why the 1970's Marantz gear has any reputation at all. There were a few products manufactuied in the California plant after SuperScope bought out the company from Saul Marantz. The original engineers and staff had a short period of time when they were involved in the production of receivers. These are the few Marantz receivers (with "Made in the U.S.A." tags on the rear) I would ever consider worth owning. Even they were a far cry from what the company had produced under Saul Marantz, Sidney Smith and Richard Sequerra. After that things moved to Taiwan and wnet steadily down hill for Marantz. No need to go through the Asian company's problems since the thread isn't focused on the Marantz gear.
Kenwood came from a company called Trio in most of Europe and Asia. They got their start in the HAM radio business and their tuners were considered to be top notch for the dollar back in the first few decades after WWII. The Kenwood receivers and separate tuners gave excellent performance and the amplifiers were basic which set them apart from much of the button and knob oriented competition. Unfortunately Kenwood got caught up in the horsepower race of the late 1970's and the quality of product suffered substantially after that time period.
I sold a KR-6600 and a pair of Large Advents (with a BIC 960 turntable) to my best friend. It was a very nice system for not much money. There were receivers which did as well or better than the Kenwood such as Sansui and HK, but they offered less on paper for more money than Kenwood. As long as the unit keeps working, it will make decent sound. Once it breaks, there are no longer support parts for the unit. You will have to resort to someone who refurbishs vintage equipment.
Someone took very good care of this receiver, bulbs & knobs are perfect, no buzzing, hissing, nada.
I must say the KR-6600 is an attractive unit, maybe it's the blue lights that makes this receiver appear to be more sophisticated than it perhaps is. I really cant wait to find a place for it.
Any modern-day speakers you might think will pair well with it? I was thinking of building up a pair of Alegria Audio LingSingle-style speakers.
At this time I only advise on equipment for friends. No particular speakers since I seldom make recommendations on the forum. The Lings are very good if you find their talents suit your needs. I really wouldn't bother building when Tim sells the Ling for such a reasonable price and you get his latest tweaks to the crossover.
I bought a KR3600 in 1973/4 and its still in use today, although in the workshop and not the living room. It has run for at least 6 or 7 hours a day for 5or 6 days a week for all that time.
its the only bit of kit i have not felt the need to modify in all that time.
I found one of these in the trash as well,when i went to pick it up i wasn't expecting it to be as heavy as it was.I cleaned almost all the dirt out of it.2 days of work!
I got a good month of use out of it until the Right channel died out "Kind of". I unhooked the right channel for now til i have time to repair it.Because the AMP cuts off everytime the Right channel has Power going to it. And just hooked up a Power Acoustik Subwoofer to it! The amp didn't even break a sweat after 5 hours of Jams. Just Warm...... I miss the other channel because my Sub is a Dual coil,which means i can't put as much power in it after it died.
I think there still is a load of dirt in it. But what a nice Receiver ideed.
It has good sound,and true power! And luckily for me there is just some dirt clogged up in the Low Filter switch which caused the Protection circuit to activate. Still strange how it is only affecting the right Channel,but hopefully i get this fixed.
Best amp i have ever had.... And this thing was made before i was born.