Kenwood DP-M97R
The Kenwood DP-M97R is a 5-disc carousel CD changer, built to sit in a rack system. The record on this one is thin. No production years, original price or detailed circuit information has survived in the usual sources. The specs that do exist point to a solid, mid-to-upper-tier Kenwood carousel unit.
The DP-M97R uses a carousel loading mechanism holding five discs, and a 20-bit DAC. That was a respectable figure for the era, when 16-bit converters were still common in budget decks. Frequency response is rated at 5Hz - 20kHz, signal-to-noise ratio at 100dB, dynamic range at 95dB, and total harmonic distortion at a very low 0.003%. Channel separation is listed at 95dB and line output at 2V. The unit is rack-mountable, which fits its intended role in a Kenwood component system. HiFI-Stereo (1989, p.95) listed it among the compact disc players of that year. It noted the dual high-speed D/A converters and quadruple-oversampling digital filter, which fits the 20-bit DAC spec.
Dimensions are given as 440 x 130 x 320 mm (17 x 4.5 x 13 inches), though the two surviving sources disagree slightly on the conversion. Weight is also conflicted. One source says 6.0 kg, another 10.3 lbs, and those figures don't line up cleanly. Both are flagged for a future resolver, and anyone who owns one and has a scale handy is invited to report back.
Beyond that, little is documented. There are no owner reviews, no known failure modes and no market price data. If you have one, the Archive would welcome your notes.
- Type: 5-disc carousel CD changer
- DAC: 20-bit
- Frequency response: 5Hz–20kHz
- S/N ratio: 100dB
- Dynamic range: 95dB
- THD: 0.003%
- Channel separation: 95dB
- Line output: 2V
- Dimensions: 440 x 130 x 320 mm
- Weight: 6.0 kg (per one source)
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