Kenwood KA-770
The Kenwood KA-770 is a black integrated amplifier from 1983–84, sold under Kenwood's "Dynamic Linear Drive" banner. It's a model that exists in a bit of documentation limbo: there's a service manual circulating (13 pages, English, covering block and level diagrams, PCBs, schematic, and parts list), and a handful of dealer listings, but no original brochure text or independent magazine test appears to have survived in the usual places. What we know comes mostly from those service-manual databases and from period sales listings.
The specs tell a reasonably coherent story. The amplifier is rated at 2 x 80 watts into 8 ohms and 2 x 120 watts into 4 ohms, with THD claimed at 0.007% from 20Hz to 20kHz. One listing describes it as having "very good specs," and the feature set supports that: phono MM+MC, three tape loops, two line inputs, tone controls with a CD-direct bypass, a mono button, muting and loudness circuits, and connections for two pairs of speakers. It weighs 8.7kg. There's a conflict in the record on a few figures — one source lists a damping factor of 1000, another 500; frequency response claims range from 5Hz–100kHz to 5Hz–60kHz; and THD figures of 0.008% and 0.055% both appear for the KA-770D variant. The service manual exists but the text available doesn't resolve these values, so treat them as unverified.
There's also a naming tangle worth noting: the KA-770, KA-770D, and KA-770B all appear in the record, and the sources treat them as related without explaining the differences. The "D" suffix seems to be the most common in European listings, and the service manual is explicitly for the KA-770D(K). A YouTube pairing shows the KA-770 alongside the KX-770R cassette deck and KT-770L tuner, suggesting a matching stack from the period. One owner described the sound as having "air, space, and ease of delivery in all ranges" — a translation from a Russian-language video, so take the poetry with a grain of salt.
Known specs, such as they are:
- Power: 2 x 80W (8Ω), 2 x 120W (4Ω)
- THD: 0.007% (20Hz–20kHz)
- Weight: 8.7kg
- Inputs: phono MM+MC, 2 x line, 3 x tape
- Features: tone control with CD-direct bypass, mono button, muting/loudness, 2 pairs of speaker terminals
- Service manual: available (KA-770D(K), 13 pages, English)
If you own one and have the manual with the full spec table, the Archive would love to fill in the gaps.
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