Kenwood DMF-7002SG (c. 1997)
The Kenwood DMF-7002SG is a MiniDisc recorder from the company's K'sEsule series, introduced around 1997 at ¥95,000. It's a component-sized MD deck - 292mm wide, 104mm tall, 328mm deep, and 4.9kg - made to sit in a rack with the rest of a K'sEsule system. The documentation is thin. Beyond the listing in the Japanese audio database, there are no period reviews in the Western press and little owner commentary except scattered marketplace listings.
The spec sheet shows a deck built around Kenwood's D.R.I.V.E. processing philosophy. On the recording side, input passes through a 20-bit Rec D.R.I.V.E. stage before ATRAC encoding, using the then-current ATRAC ver4.5 with 24-bit arithmetic. Playback uses a 24-bit D/A converter with 32fs oversampling. The A/D converter is a 4th-order delta-sigma type with D.R.I.V.E. conversion. Rated figures are strong for the era: signal-to-noise of 110 dB or more, dynamic range of 98 dB, total distortion no more than 0.004% at 1 kHz, and wow & flutter below the measurement limit of ±0.001% W peak.
It's a well-equipped recorder for its time. The sampling rate converter handles 32, 44.1, and 48 kHz sources automatically. SCMS limits digital copies to one generation. Track editing covers move, erase, split, and combine, and title input goes up to 1,792 characters per disc. The Digital Rec Volume lets you match recording level to source, fades are adjustable from 1 to 10 seconds, and mono recording doubles available time for long sessions. A remote control was included. The separately sold Cyber Tightler CT-G90 (¥32,000) gave faster title entry and label printing.
One naming note: the Japanese audio database lists this as the DMF-7002SG, while some marketplace listings use DMF-7002S. It's unclear whether these are the same unit with a suffix variation or a genuine model split. The documentation doesn't resolve it.
Known Specifications
- Recording system: Magnetic field modulation overwrite
- Compression: ATRAC ver4.5
- D/A conversion: 1-bit (24-bit Fine D.R.I.V.E.), 32fs oversampling
- Frequency response: 8 Hz – 20 kHz (EIAJ)
- Signal-to-noise: 110 dB or more
- Dynamic range: 98 dB or more (EIAJ)
- Distortion: 0.004% or less (1 kHz, EIAJ)
- Inputs: Line (500mV/22kΩ), coaxial, optical
- Outputs: Line (2V/0.3kΩ), headphone (200mV/32Ω), coaxial, optical
- Power consumption: 16W
- Dimensions: 292 × 104 × 328 mm (W×H×D)
- Weight: 4.9 kg
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