New vs. Old Question

[sb1691]

I have a Kenwood KR910 tuner/receiver purchased in about 1982. I know that some feel that many of the old units are superior to what is now available, but am not sure if my particular amp fits that category. The old one is 50w/channel, THD=.09%, signal to noise ratio is 76db. I will use it for listening to music on CD's...it will not be part of a home theater. I have considered replacing it with a Yamaha RS300BL or Harmon Kardon HK3390, but notice that their specs may not be significantly better than the Kenwood. How much money would I need to spend to upgrade to a better amp, in terms only of sound quality. Any suggestions?

 

[Pyrrho]

According to this from Kenwood:

Download

your receiver is only 30w RMS/channel.

It is not a great receiver. However, if it is functioning properly, and if it drives your speakers as loud as you like without distorting, then replacing it would not get you much improvement in sound. If you are dissatisfied with the way your system sounds, consider replacing the speakers. Speakers are generally, by far, the biggest determinant of how the system sounds.

 

[sb1691]

Actually I erred in saying the amp was a KR910...it is actually a KR920B. I have a large pair of Infinity RSB's, I think they're called. They are very good speakers. I heard them played with a higher quality tube amp, and they sounded much better than with the Kenwood. That's what got me thinking of an upgrade.

 

[Grador]

Actually I erred in saying the amp was a KR910...it is actually a KR920B. I have a large pair of Infinity RSB's, I think they're called. They are very good speakers. I heard them played with a higher quality tube amp, and they sounded much better than with the Kenwood. That's what got me thinking of an upgrade.

I think on this you're going to have to look at room effects more than the amplifier. Unless you're going from a very very poorly designed amplifier [or the speakers need more power] the most you can expect is a minor difference in sound. Given that you were comparing against a tube amp, I doubt the speakers were getting more power in that setup.

 

[fmw]

The Kenwood receivers aren't anything particularly special. What is special are the old Kenwood component tuners which perform up to the level of the the best tuners made today. For some reason, manufacturers have always put rather poor tuners in the receivers. My assumption is that they have done this to sell more component tuners. If you find one of the old Kenwood analog tuners, it is worth keeping and using.

 

[Irvrobinson]

Unless that Kenwood has been checked out on a bench, it probably needs some capacitors replaced, there's an excellent chance it's not performing up to its original specifications, however modest they were. Frankly, I've heard that talk about old stereo receivers being better, and I was around when the old stuff was new stuff, and in every case I can think of I'd rather have a new power amp rather than a receiver. IMO there's just no comparison.

I'm not surprised that a tube amp might make the RSBs sound better. Infinitys were known as having a rather bright high-end, especially the RSBs, and a tube amp might cause a nice system frequency response roll-off up there. Of course, it would depend on the tube amp and the speaker. I think that's part of what attracts audiophiles to tube amps, the fact that the amp-speaker interaction is much more unpredictable than with solid state amps, so you don't really know what you're going to get in terms of frequency response until you try it.

Frankly, for about five hundred dollars in carefully chosen used equipment I think you blow the doors off of the Kenwood-Infinity combination. For $1000 you could get some really good sound.