parlophone1

It is true. Information on Cardas wires clearly make this obvious for potential buyers. It is standard procedure.

I went through the same route as you are going 10 years ago. Did not have much money and new TTs were rare in the shops. The few available ones were expensive. Found a Philips GA212 electronic in a local ad. Went to the local audio shop with it, there were guys who are also techs for such old things. They cleaned it, changed the belt (for ProJect one, that is also stronger than original Philips), changed the ON/OFF switch, for which these TTS are notorious to fail. Bought Ortophone 2M Red cart, installed it myself for the first time in my life. Read a lot about cartridge alignment, watched a few on-line videos, and with a lot of patience this TT is playing very well. And of course, only after I got a decent Phono preamp. Without it it was just something missing. With these old TTs (mine is now 47 yers old), you never know what can fail. But in every model there are some usual suspects. If you are not accepting that fact, better buy a new turntable. Later, when I realized that vinyl will not just be one season fun, I got myself a good simple mechanical TT. No electronics except for the motor. Of course this one was new and should last me a long time.

Every day I am more pleased with the functionality of that set. Designers have my respect regarding functionalities and for what this amp/preamp is designed for. They have everything they should have, and nothing of they should not have. Unlike majority of Hi-fi equipment produced these days. All controls are here with a purpose. For example, if listening with headphones is your thing, both speaker sets (A and B ) can be switched off with a press of a dedicated knob. Headphone amp built into these is very good. Everything has a switch dedicated to a certain purpose. Functionality and simplicity of use is just sweet.

I dunno. Some like to call them supertweeters, some not... Anyway, they sounded really blended very well with that HPDs when I had a chance to hear them. Clean and informative HF drivers.

Not the Fostex, but these Visatons - yes (https://www.visaton.de/en/products/drivers/horn-tweeters/tl-16-h-8-ohm). Very good HF units. Heard them paired in a DIY speakers with Tannoy HPD drivers, simply gorgeous sounding.

If your problem is due to the input sensitivity, then you might find the following information helpful: "Using an oscilloscope is the best method to set input sensitivity. A scope will detect the clipping point of the DSP or amplifier’s outputs when playing a frequency appropriate sine wave (50 Hz for subwoofer amplifiers and 1 kHz for full-range amplifiers). The needed sine waves can be found on the FiX™ Calibration CD or downloaded from the Audio Files article. Playing the correct sine wave, slowly adjust the input sensitivity until the sine wave is at it’s largest on the scope's display without showing any clipping. Clipping on an oscilloscope will be detectable by seeing flat spots at the peaks of the sine wave." Taken form https://jlaudio.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115006392848-What-is-Input-Sensitivity-

Stupid question - have you touched two knobs on XLS1502 ? Matched the volume between amps and preamp?

Thanks, I was looking at DRM Audio site, guess that will be my project if I ever get that much time to deal with it. What is your opinion on C2 preamp? Some say that is better than C1, but more prone to failure due to age. Is a passive preamp better and in what way?

Did you recap yourself or gave it to professionals? Only recapped the amp, do you have the preamp also? What new caps were used?

Managed to trigger fuses for EMIT tweeters on my Infinities Qb, by accident of course. Listening music in the dark, and accidentally touched the volume knob on Kenwood C1. Volume went quickly to 11 o'clock position and fried the fuses. Thank to the constructor for putting fuses here, otherwise I would be left with fried tweeters, which are not easy to find any more.

Threble adjustment on a preamp in my system does not help. Just makes the highs more thin. I leave all the knobs in neutral position. Only when listening at low volume, than the loudness knob gets to the right a notch or two. Subsonic buton (or whatever they call it, it is after the tone controls) is in off position, eventhough the manual says it should be on. It does no difference here. And it should not, based on measurements that I found in some old site.

Thanks for your review. I have compared C1M1 with new modern gear that cost much more, and could hear minor improvements but those also do not justify the price difference. I also anticipate that rerfreshing will bring more ballance and detail to the sound. But even as it is, it is ok for not so critical listening. I wish to get more ballance in all of the frequency spectrum, a kind that I remember from Sony Esprit amps. Otherwise, this Kenwood is solid performer.

I have not seen any reasonable tutorials for that other than "try and hear" method.

Thank you, yes the question was directed to you. ☺️

I tried that with my Beyerdynamic DT990pro headphones plugged in the amp. These headphones have a bit accentuated highs. Various youtube tests showed that I start to loose the tone at approximately 12000 Hz, and it is completely gone at 13500-14500Hz.

I am also interested regarding the drivers you use in these, and what impedance in the drivers.

Was looking for AKG 240 out of curiosity. From what I could find, there were several models in the history of these cans. Except in differences in sensitivity (in the beginning they were 600 ohms), only the first model had 6 passive bass radiators. Later the AKG simplified them. These days they are 55 ohms. A man can buy two models: K240 studio and K240 II. Except some cosmetic differences between the two, 240 IIs are a bit pricier because they come with two sets of ear pads, one is fake leather and the other velour. Studio model is supposedly phasing out. Both are made in China, not Austria any more. But for the price, you can not beat them.

Hi there... I bought a combination of Kenwood C1 preamp with M1 amp, hoping to use them as a part of my future fully active system that I am planning to build. It was a local found in decent shape, this system is from mid-1980s, checked by a local technician, everything works ok. Auditioned it with two pairs of speakers at a salesman house. Was attracted to them cause of specifications, extremely low distortion and clarity. Very flat curve, with THD 0,004 at 1 V output. What bothers me are the highest frequencies, they seem a bit subdued. Even tried new Hegel H80 as a preamp with Ken M1, hoping to hear a difference for the better in that department. There was a difference but not for much. Otherwise, this combo produces some nice music with plenty of details and separation of instruments and huge dynamics. Have any of the forum members had this combo or just a preamp to share their experiences? Both components are not so complicated, was thinking to recap them in a future with Nichicon capacitors kits that are around for sale. What are opinions on that?

I suppose the sound dispersion will be ok if this will be used as center channel in home theater. Curious about using two of these for stereo.

That is one interesting looking cabinet, unusual. I like it. So, are the two woofers still mounted in the sides of K402? Looking at the photo it seems like a very tight space.

Please share your impressions after recap 🙂

Just jumped in the local LP store, took a bite at "Exile on main street", "Its only rock and roll" and "Black and blue". Wanted to buy "Voodoo lounge" and "Tattoo you", but those were already sold. "Black and blue" seems ok on my setup, however after listening "Its only rock`nRoll", it seems a bit unlively. Did not have the time for listening the Exile. Comparing with some other LPs that I have, it appears that the engineer Miles Showell had it right when saying that improvements are likely to be heard in high and mid frequencies. My initial impressions confirm that.

Has any of you tried new half-speed remasters of Rolling Stones albums? Any opinions on that? Meaning of May 2020.

Thank you for clearing this out.

A noob question, but here it is: how well would double stack EES go with big bass horns, such as MWM, Quarter Pie or Super MWM (of course active)?