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@@samza9622 Late 70's was, like 1978 through the entire 80's. Then 90's ushered in the really cheap stuff and by the late 90's more things were coming here from China than Japan. So most of the good vintage audio stuff was from 1978 through to the mid 80's.
To everyone who tunes in here, this is the kind of person you are listening to; one who is ignorant in every way. Even in the face of obvious and constructive criticism. Clearly, A bloated sense of self importance if I’ve ever seen one.
@@samza9622, The 70’s we’re actually the best. In the 80’s most manufacturers went to throw away circuit boards. I have a ‘79 Marantz that was just starting to use throw away guts. Not repairable like the 70’s stuff. In the 80’s the outsides got cheaper too. Plastic knobs, and parts instead of aluminum.
The 400Hz cal button is for tape calibration with the Dolby B system. To get the calibration correct, record the 400hz tone onto a casette or reel to reel and adjust till the playback level is very close to the level of the source tone. When this is done the Dolby B noise reduction will sound correct with the pre-empasis and de-emphasis matching.
That is a nice feature, especially for higher orders of Dolby, such as C and S which really require pretty close on level matching. It is surprising that this feature isn't on a great many receivers although I have seen some higher end tape decks with it.
@@jukingeo It was in the early days of Dolby B, when C&S came out it was mostly built into cassette decks and an automatic (silent) calibration using several tones if i remember correctly.
@@kevinmcgrath3591 I don't remember how it was done as it was long ago. I do remember that Dolby C and S tapes didn't like to be played on another deck so well, whereas B pretty much could be played on anything. Overall, I never had much love for cassettes outside of it being a somewhat decent portable way of recording music and moving around with it. But I never considered it audiophile...ever. The tape speed was just too slow. My favorite tape format was reel to reel and found 7.5 ips a good balance between quality and tape usage. At that speed I rarely used noise reduction at all. That was until digital recording came along and pretty much rendered analog tape recording obsolete. In some ways, I miss using the reel to reel decks. But cassettes? Naw, I don't miss them a single bit!
@@jukingeo yes, Dolby B was basically a treble boost on record and reduction on playback - C&S used compression and expansioin making the sound almost unlistnable on decks without the expander circuit. The attraction was the improvement in signal to noise ratio. By the way Dolby A was the studio version that split the signal into many bands bedore it applied noise reduction.
Sure, I agree 💯 %! Hey, looks DO matter! You'd have to live with it, interact with it, often! I have a liking for the look and build of the mid to late '70's Pioneer stuff. 😊👍
@@AllHandlesHaveBeenTakenI mean, it's subjective, right? Personally, I'd go for the Kenwood any day of the week. Just looks more substantial and is of higher build quality.
Just to let you know, the loudness button is meant to be used at low volumes, for listening at night when you don't want to create too much of a ruckus. At low volumes it generally works nicely to give you a fuller sound for quiet listening. At regular volumes, yeah it would be insane.
@@comforteagleful lol. For others that dont get the subtile joke: it could be called that way because it boosts the volume of bass and treble. Although meant for low volumes to make it sound sweet.
But he is right about the loudness on the Kenwood. It is a little much even when used appropriately. I really think it is not a good compliment to the sound character of this receiver.
The guys at Just Audio brought my Kenwood (KR4070) back to life, added some new caps and cleaned it up good as new. Now loving it at the core of my analog system with a new Fluance 85 and my trusty large Advents. LOVING the sound and can highly recommend Just Audio. It has an “old sound” that goes great with my vinyl collection.
Viva large Advents! Originally had 4 small Advents for quad in the 70s and traded in for 2 large Advents when dumping quad (tech just wasn't up to snuff) to go back to stereo. Drove larges with a Yamaha CA-1000 -- Nirvana!
I agree. The Yamaha AS series integrated amp with the UV meters is about as close as you are going to get to “new” vintage like amps. I absolutely love that Kenwood! Let’s be honest, we love looking at our gear as much as listening to it. It’s all about the total experience.
Randy, that High filter was there to reduce excessive tape hiss as back in those days people still had tape decks in their system. The 5-pin Rec/Play input is the DIN alternative (prevalent in Europe) for hooking up a tape deck.
Since it does Dolby encoding and decoding, the receiver generates a 400Hz tone to calibrated the recording deck with (so the Dolby works correctly). And the in/out on the back is a DIN connector (older type i/o and more common on European equipment).
I might sound a little shallow, but I love how all of my vintage amps and receivers look. Part of my enjoyment is looking at my gear while enjoying great sound. I do have a Fosi tube preamp and a Sabaj A10h headphone amp that I use as a remote volume control. These pieces work well but they look like little black boxes. I love the Just Audio channel as well.
3:30 Just Audio is an excellent electronics dealer (judging by the amazing vintage audio gear they have there) and the channel is terrific. I had subscribed to it quite a while ago and it's very informative and fun.
the 50/75 switch on the back is to select the F.M. tuner de-emphasis. Different countries have different standards for F.M. transmission on the boost or emphasis in the audio processing. U.S. is 75. The transmitter emphasizes the audio, noise is introduced before it gets to your receiver, then de-emphasis reduces the audio and the noise, meaning you hear less noise and the original audio. A similar emphasis technique is used for vinyl (turntable) but as there is a common standard, most phono preamps only allow that one compensation. Same also for magnetic recordings, but there the compensation is typically part of the tape player and varies depending on the specific composition of the tape - simple ferric oxide, chromium, etc. the high-frequency filter on the front is probably to remove tape hiss and similar.
The 50/75 switch on the back was for FM Dolby noise reduction. It was something that Dolby and the equipment manufacturers tried to get going in the 1970s, but it never caught on (for multiple reasons).
That blast from the past beast is a mammoth! Those lights on the front panel glowing inside a dark room would bring back some ancient memories that involve black light posters and coffee table accessories that are mostly legal nowadays. If you keep it till the end Randy, it's darn near large enough to be buried in. As they said back in the day "you really scored a nice one"! Thanks for sharing.
My father bought a Kenwood KR 4600 back in 1976. It works great almost 50 years later. It sounds as if it had much more power (I think it's rated at 30 Watts.). Great sound on this amps!
Considering that the Geschelli Labs DAC costs twice as much as the entire Douk amplifier does I wouldn't be surprised the Kenwood sounds better! For a fairer comparison you should have split the output of the Geschelli to go into the Douk analog and the Kenwood.
Thanks for making an a/b comparison, that means a lot! I did one many years ago between a Sony ES Receiver a Biamp commercial amp and a Dynaco MK III tube amp. My description of the three was that the receiver had a softer top end than the commercial amp, and the tube amp sounded more real than either. I was concerned that I couldn't find a better descriptor for the tube amp.
The 400hz was used to calibrate recording in Dolby for a tape deck. Must calibrate the VU Meters for the 400hz signal to optimize recording in Dolby. I use two TEAC AN-180 Dolby encoders for my TEAC 2340 Reel to Reel tape recorder. It really works well.
Loudness is only for use at low levels. Inspired by the findings of Fletcher/Munson. Treble and bass are perceived as less than mid frequencies at low levels. They all converge around 90db. (The ideal listening level?) So the loudness is just a Treble/bass boost for more full sounding response at low volume levels.
Soon as I saw the timer mechanism, Said to myself..Oh yeaahh....vintage kenwood !! Hadda mid 80s kenwood rack system...all digital, sounded really good, then in the mid 90s, went for a subwoofer and speaker upgrade for the KW rack system..enter paradigm sub and speakers...you wanna talk bout rattling the China off the windowsills, my house had high ceilings and all hardwood floors....kapow,once I bought the paradigm add ons...great video of a great vintage reciever...Kenwood sold alot of audio ,hyere in the usa.....
Thank you so much for doing a side-by-side comparison of the most new equipment to the vintage, hi-fi audio equipment. I think you did a great job with your review and you almost had me convinced to get some of vintage receiver. I have a blue tube which I love and tall serves a purpose because I Bluetooth my computer to it but at the same time, I have my turntable hooked up to it also so during the day, I’m blaring, old-school death and black metal through it and then at night when the girls are asleep I Bluetooth the smooth jazz through it through a website or RU-vid so I basically get the best of both worlds
I did a similar thing last night! I have a fully serviced Akai amp about the same age as that Kenwood hooked up to a pair of 1990s Totem Rainmakers. Last night I was a/b testing that against some Yamaha recording monitors from a Clarette DAC. The monitors let me hear ev-er-y-thing that was happening in the mix... to a fault. No surprises there, it's what they are built for. When I switched over to the Akai, it was as if it knew exactly the bits of the mix that are "musical" and emphasized them, and while you could still hear all the background stuff the Yamahas showed off, but it was put in its place. Nothing surprising was learned, but it was still fun to hear how the different outputs gave different results.
Just Audio is a great channel, lots of reviews of vintage pieces and well done too. I love receivers from the 70's, the looks and the sound but we need an expert repair man nearby because 50-60 year old stuff will need servicing. Having said that, I am not psychologically ready to replace my SX780 powering my modest vinyl corner with something new. Enjoy your gorgeous present, Mr. randy!
I wanted a hybrid vintage with modern tech and got the last model year monster receiver built in Japan by Sony the STR GX99ES- Dual toridial push pull amps 120 wpc built in eq spectrum analyzer dsp (dac) phono input tape monitor pre outs 4/8 ohm switchable speaker output mototorized volume knob with remote control and even rosewood sides. It's a little complicated to figure out all the features but it looks and sounds fantastic!
Very pretty unit. Multiple phono and tape monitor connections were likely intended for reel-to-reel owners who preserved their vinyl collections by putting their music on tape and listening to that instead of accumulating noise by playing the records repeatedly. Also, the ability to have two or three hours of uninterrupted music off tape.
You are spot on. We would put albums on R to R and create hours of music Put the speakers out the window to our back yard that bordered a green belt. Do a tab and go play frisbee for hours till it was to dark to see the multiple frisbees coming at ya. Those were the good ole days 😎
Beautiful kenwood, I have a KR-9600 That's a 160 wpc hooked upped to 4 tekton speakers🤘with these vintage receivers your best friend is a can of Deoxit contact cleaner.
Hey Randy, the filter labeled "High" filter is technically a "low-pass" filter, not a "high pass" filter as you mentioned. (It's easy to confuse things, many folks do.) A LOW pass filter passes all frequencies beLOW the selected frequency. In other words, it blocks all frequencies above the selected frequency -- thus reducing the output of higher frequencies. A HIGH pass filter does the inverse in regards to high vs. low frequencies -- it passes all frequencies HIGHer than the selected frequency. In other words, the "Subsonic" filter is a high pass filter -- it only passes frequencies above 20 Hz. Yeah, I know, a bit counterintuitive.
Interesting video, I own a Pioneer SX-727 which was previously my dad's, but it keeps breaking down. So I recently bought a Douk Audio ST-01 Pro. It's true 70's amp just have this unique vibe about it. but I love that my Douk Audio is pretty much hassle free (for now) and I love how both sounds in a different way
That 727 is regarded as one of the best sounding Pioneers ever so don't get rid of it 😀. I had one a while back before I knew just how nice they are. It was in decrepit state so I decided to refurb it and was blown away by its sound when I fired it up. They look nice but not terribly special but their sound is top notch.
I have....a thing for vintage receivers and collected them for years, acquiring dozens back when they weren't a grand a piece. That said there's a lot of new gear that either holds its own or absolutely gives them, all of them, a kick in the pants. BUT... none of it is really cheap. My main system amp MSRP is north of ten grand and I wouldn't trade it for the HK Citation Receiver in the next room, but.. I still like the Citation Receiver. Its just freakin' cooler than anything else.
Randy, that little 5 pin connector is called a DIN connector. it has the center pin as ground and then a left / right pair of input pins, and a left / right pair of record pins. Back in the day you could get a DIN cable to hook up to a compatible DIN tape recorder. it was a way to simplify hooking up a tape deck.
My main unit is an Onkyo Integra monster TX 108, circa 1982. Just a beast of a machine! Currently out of need of some repair/refurb. Picked up the Aiyima with the rolled GE tubes. Does it sound great for a cool little amp, absolutely! Do they compare head to head? Um… no, not at all.
I am a 60 year old guy who listens to music like he is 16 year old, fast and loud. For and hour or two daily my Sx 1250 is at 50% max and up to 75% Lowest setting on the volume is 70 all the way to the right or max is 0 and middle or 50% is 20. At the bottom of the dial there is --db. What exactly do those numbers represent. At 65% max volume its at 10 . Max is 0. 10 is real f--king loud, stuff starts to walk off shelfs and small things just move around. In todays small lighter power sources like the class D you reviewed today, what would it take to get that level of sound. I run the Sx into Sda 2 or RTA 12b. Thanks
I had the big brother to the 9G the 11000 G if I remember correctly but in my five years of owning it the right channel went out twice and ended up in the shop . Pioneer made much better Receivers in that era . I do have several Class D amps that actually surprise me
Hey Randy. Loved the video! I bought a Little Bear on your recommendation. I love it. Hours of fun. I have a ‘72 Pioneer SX9000. I A-B’d it against a Topping LA90. I used the Topping D90 DAC so I could put XLR to the Topping and RCA to the pioneer and the Pioneer blew me away… I actually prefer pioneer. Thanks for another fun video. Peace out ✌️
Fun video, I recall fondly my big '70's Pioneer. I have the same Douk Audio unit now and wondered what results you'd get if you'd run one streamer to one DAC and split the signal to both amps. The DAC in the Douk is nothing to write home about. Adding a Topping E50 to mine made an incredible difference.
I remember my first hifi experience when I went to my uncle's home back in the 70s. I distinctly remember him having the Pioneer Quad Receiver Qx949 and the JBL L100s. He was really into hi fi back in the day. The first hifi product I owned was an onkyo cd player that I got when they first came out. The sound was mind blowing because there was nothing like it back in the day.
I *think* the Aiyima T9-Pro is a better design, though extremely similar and very obviously from the same manufacturer, a la Pontiac and Oldsmobile. For one thing the T9 Pro uses lower-profile tubes in its buffer stage, so they are less likely to get pranged and possibly even broken-off inside the sockets. For another, the T9 Pro has (IMHO) a much sleeker and sexier front-panel interface. So much so that a few reviewers have incorrectly claimed that you need the remote to work the tone controls, which you don't. So, Randy, once more and for the cheap seats in the back: PLEASE review the T9 Pro.
You think the Kenwood receiver is awesome, try one of their high speed DC integrated amps, like the KA7100, 8100, or 9100, or comparable ones from a couple of years later, like the KA601 and 701. I had the KA7100 rocking a pair of three way Cerwin Vega 312 Hard rockers, with a 12" woofer, 6.5" midrange, and their famous Dhorm horn loaded dome tweeter that they used all through the 70s and 80s, up through the D and DX series. Source was a direct drive Pioneer PL510 TT with an ADC XLM MKII cartridge.
Can you review the Aiyima T9 Pro some day ? I had to ditch the regular T9 due to the sleep mode "Click" issue. It was a showstopper for usage with Gaming.
My roomate iin Germany had this exact receiver. Holy cow man...I mean, I sold off my component system in 1994 only because I was offered an obscene amount of money for it. Phase Linear stopped producing consumer music components in the late 70s or early 80s and they became much-coveted systems. I didn't know how coveted until I saw the number of zeros on this guy;s check. Anyway, that receiver with three tone controls made a HUGE difference in the sound, especially if you were annoyed by tape hiss from your deck. It did a great job of masking the hiss to the point of really improving the output. I personally had a DBX noise reductiion unit that did the same thing but even back in 1978, it was six hundred dollars, ouch. Not to mention, that kenwood was frickin' gorgeous. I mean the blue lighting and polished metal made it just pop, especially in less than bright light. Kinda looked like magic. But then again, the 70s were a magical time for (now) vintage stereo gear. Everything was overbuilt...that's why you still have a working receiver today.
I prefer EQ through one of the tape monitor loops vs preamp in and out. The din plug by the tape inputs is for European tape decks from then. Many European decks used DIN vs RCA inputs. Very nice receiver Randy.
I've had the Douk Audio st-01 for a week now. It replaced a 5 year old nobsound that introduced me to how great cheap audio can sound. Initially, I couldn't hear much improvement. But everyday since, I'd just pause to listen how great my audio sounds.
Love the channel - I have a Kenwood 3020SE which I got when I was 15 ( I'm now 45 and it's still going strong so I guess we are both becoming vintage now..) Open question is am I missing out with these Class D's or is it a case of if it ain't broke don't fix it??
Try loudness at low volume for more fuller sound and with headphones. It's not supposed to be used for full volume listening. It's an enhancement setting at low volume.
I tried powering my Denon DP30L turntable with the Doug Audio, and it is definitely lacking. Went back to my Denon amp for the turntable and use the Doug for music off my phone.
And you are good friends with the lads at Sky Lab Audio in Des Moines as well, correct? The Kenwood is a beauty, but I would go for a simpler piece such as the Marantz 2252B or a comparable Pioneer. I never gravitate to the ultimate statement piece in any manufacturers line but set my sights on a couple notches down. And I would always have one Advent Model 300 for that incredible phono stage. Then for modern probably a Naim Nait 5si.
Wow this was a little surreal. I was watching thinking man that looks just like the Kenwood I had! You nailed it on the sound profile of that beautiful Kenwood. I had several great vintage receivers Yamaha, Sansui, Pioneer and Marantz all at once. On both the Kenwood and the Sansui you had beefy bottom ends that could get boomy with the wrong speakers or music. I preferred the Pioneer-1080 sound, which just barely topped the Marantz 2252. The Yamaha like their modern gear is very neutral. I gifted that to my adult daughter. So glad it found a great new home! I now know that our listening ears are tuned very similar. Kudos to Lenny, Mike, Spencer and all the great people at Just Audio. FYI - spent the weekend listening to the AIYIMA D05. Man is that thing sneaky good. As good as my McIntosh 7200 or Yamaha A-S2100? No, but way better than it should be for a $150 class D amp. Love the channel!
Seldom mentioned is that these vintage units typically sound better than they did when new, provided they have many hours actually playing music. All internal parts change with use, and IMO the main beneficiary is the power transformer. It increases Q (reactance/resistance) over time which improves dynamics. This is a major reason why the xformers (both power and output) in tube amps are so sought after. And those units were often made better than today’s versions. But capacitors and semiconductors improve (in most respects) with age also, while becoming more fragile. This is also true of new amplifiers, so expect the Douk et al to improve over the years. Cheers Randy!
I regret getting rid of my Technics receiver that I bought in 1982. It only had inputs for phono and aux, but aux is all I need these days. I replaced it with an Aiwa NSX-5200 in the early 90s. It's a vertical stack with a 3 CD changer on top and a dual tape deck on the bottom. It's so obsolete I cringe every time I look at it. I've been thinking of replacing it with a small Class D amp but I can't justify the cost when I have a perfectly good amp, and with my luck, after I throw it out it would become an instant classic, lol. That Kenwood is a beauty.
The HF filter often used for radio reception especially AM where you often had high pitched whine. My mum has a lovely pioneer TX7500 tuner and an SA9500 amp. All the markings and switches are the same finish. Everything clicks and clunks.
I just picked up the Aiyima T9 Pro. Power wise it can’t compete with my 1990’s era NAD tuner/preamp and 150W/ch amp, but sound at equal levels the Aiyima is pretty incredible.
I just picked the t9 up to replace a vintage piece that moved back to the living room. Boy is it disappointing. Not to mention, super sketchy. Sparks shoot out the back. The sound is flat and dull. Bluetooth (not that I would really use it) is unusable due to crazy noise spilling out. The vu meter is just for looks as it is non functional and just pisses me off that they can ship this with a strait face. I mean why even put the vu meter on there if it doesn't even work. Chinese crap.
During that time I looked at Kenwood Receivers but settled on Harmon Kardon due to a superior sound...... However I never seen a receiver with a ROTARY timer ....... Hmm.... OK
I'm on a budget I brought a project mm pre amp a gold ring E3 for my turn table and my nad 310 died on me so brought a second hand A5 Cambridge amp second hand mission speakers and I ended up needing a graphic equaliser because the med was so shallow does that make me an audio audiophile heathen
Love the Just Audio guys. Quite the store they keep. Real passion for hi-fi there, just like Sky Labs too. I don't think there's any comparison here. 70's hi-fi is its own thing and will never be duplicated. Funny how I love 90's stereo gear because that's when I became a hi-fi junky. I miss the old days of Carver, B&K, Conrad Johnson, Adcom, etc. I'd love to find a 70s era receiver while thrifting, a real needle in the haystack find.
I'm curious to know how good the DAC is in the Douk Audio. I have bought one and am wondering if there's any benefit in coupling it with a better DAC. The fact that the video is comparing the Douk with the J2 and the Douk is holding up ok tells me it's not bad?
My only concern about the Aiyima, Douk, Fosi, Nobsound, whatever...is if they will last like most vintage stereo receivers between 1970-1980? Sounding good is one thing, longevity is another. Time will tell.
If you have vintage seventies equipment and it hasn't been serviced for a recap you certainly are going to have to in the near future that will cost a few hundred dollars.
