Kenwood KAF-5002 (1996)

Name: Kenwood KAF-5002
Brand: Kenwood

The Kenwood KAF-5002 is a compact integrated amplifier from Kenwood's "K's series," introduced in 1996 and sold only on the Japanese domestic market. It was priced at ¥49,000. The main feature is Kenwood's TRAITR (Thermally Reactive Advanced Instantaneous Transistor) output stage - temperature detection and correction circuits built right into the power transistors on a single chip, aimed at keeping dynamic performance stable. The power supply uses a ring-core toroidal transformer with an elliptical, corner-free structure. Kenwood claimed it reduced magnetic flux leakage and improved conversion efficiency.

The KAF-5002 is rated at 40W + 40W into 6 ohms (20 Hz - 20 kHz, 0.09% THD), with a maximum practical output of 90W + 90W (EIAJ, 3 ohms). It's no powerhouse. It was built for clean, low-distortion operation, and THD is rated at 0.009% at 1 kHz, 20W into 6 ohms. Signal-to-noise is 77 dB on phono MM and a very respectable 100 dB on line (CD) inputs. The front panel is minimal, with a volume knob and source selection. The rear has gold-plated RCA jacks and a clean-ground design with electrostatic coupling prevention to improve low-impedance drive. The unit is 270 mm wide and weighs 7.1 kg.

Outside its listing in the Japanese Audio Database and a scattering of Japanese-market sales listings, the record on the KAF-5002 is thin. No period magazine reviews of this model have surfaced, and no production-year documentation beyond 1996 exists in the archive. One Russian seller's listing called it "the final chord of Kenwood in the field of REAL Hi-Fi amplifiers," which suggests some esteem among enthusiasts, but that's a single anecdotal voice. A related model, the KAF-7002, sat above it in the K's lineup. Replacement jumper pins for both models have been sold as spare parts on Yahoo! Auctions, which hints at the kind of consumables that wear out.

Known specs: