Jstas
06-25-2005, 09:44 PM
Well, I was severely jealous of my father in law when he landed that Sony CD changer from George Grand because it was a diamond in the rough! I set out looking for a similar example of what Sony used to be able to do in the electronics bidness.
I searched to no avail.
Then, about 2 weeks ago, gwh listed this little beauty in the flea market. I purchased it for around $40 shipped to my door. I got it home and started playing with it hooked up to my home grown tube amp and the R15's I picked up from Noel. It performed admirably although the R15's are still breaking in with a large flat spot in the mid-range. It's getting better as time goes on though.
Anyhoo, I hooked this gem up to the SDA rig and it has served to impress! I was worried that it might not match the quality of the dbx player I was using. The main reason I wanted it on this rig was for the changer feature. Well, it's doing very well and has enhanced the depth of the soundstage over the dbx. It's also a bit cleaner than the dbx with a higher line out voltage so the nice strong signal needs little tweaking on the pre-amp to sound acceptable. It did sound better on tubes but this Adcom is working out well. I think the difference is attributable to the Onkyo pre-amp in line. I might pull out the Carver or Rotel to test it out and see if the difference is more pleasing.
Overall though, for a fairly inexpensive CD changer, this Kenwood is indicative of what Kenwood was able to do once, just like Sony. It's a relic of a gone era for Kenwood is no longer making home audio equipment and has decided to focus on the mobile audio and multimedia markets. I hope one day that they get back into the home audio market to make the gear that the quality of thier car audio equipment shows they can make.
I searched to no avail.
Then, about 2 weeks ago, gwh listed this little beauty in the flea market. I purchased it for around $40 shipped to my door. I got it home and started playing with it hooked up to my home grown tube amp and the R15's I picked up from Noel. It performed admirably although the R15's are still breaking in with a large flat spot in the mid-range. It's getting better as time goes on though.
Anyhoo, I hooked this gem up to the SDA rig and it has served to impress! I was worried that it might not match the quality of the dbx player I was using. The main reason I wanted it on this rig was for the changer feature. Well, it's doing very well and has enhanced the depth of the soundstage over the dbx. It's also a bit cleaner than the dbx with a higher line out voltage so the nice strong signal needs little tweaking on the pre-amp to sound acceptable. It did sound better on tubes but this Adcom is working out well. I think the difference is attributable to the Onkyo pre-amp in line. I might pull out the Carver or Rotel to test it out and see if the difference is more pleasing.
Overall though, for a fairly inexpensive CD changer, this Kenwood is indicative of what Kenwood was able to do once, just like Sony. It's a relic of a gone era for Kenwood is no longer making home audio equipment and has decided to focus on the mobile audio and multimedia markets. I hope one day that they get back into the home audio market to make the gear that the quality of thier car audio equipment shows they can make.