Kenwood KT-880 (circa 1980)

Name: Kenwood KT-880
Brand: Kenwood

The Kenwood KT-880 is a quartz-PLL synthesized stereo tuner introduced around 1980 as part of Kenwood's "Series 22" lineup. It sits alongside the KA-880 amplifier and KX-880 cassette deck. It's a quartz-lock design with one odd choice. Instead of the usual push-button or up/down tuning, Kenwood fitted a conventional analog tuning knob that moves an LED pointer across a simulated dial scale. The digital display shows the tuned frequency, and a separate signal-strength meter shows reception quality.

The FM section is solidly specified for its era. Usable sensitivity is 1.5 µV (11.2 dBf), signal-to-noise is 72 dB in mono and 68 dB in stereo, and harmonic distortion is rated at 0.15% mono and 0.2% stereo. Stereo separation is 45 dB at 1 kHz, and frequency response runs 30 Hz to 15 kHz (+0.5, -1.0 dB). The AM side is more modest: 300 µV/m sensitivity, 50 dB S/N, and 0.5% distortion. Five presets each for AM and FM are stored in memory.

It's a compact unit at 440 × 107 × 281 mm and 5.8 kg, and it runs on 240V AC. Output is a single pair of fixed RCA jacks, with a 75-ohm FM antenna input and a loop terminal for AM. HiFi-Stereo (February 1988, p.128) noted the period trend toward digital synthesis tuning with preset memory and low-impedance outputs in tuners of this class. The KT-880 fits that category.

The record on the KT-880 is thin. No period reviews specific to this model have surfaced in the archive, and its page on the wiki is brief. What is documented is above: a well-specced, slightly unusual quartz tuner from Kenwood's early-'80s mid-range, one that kept a traditional tuning feel while many competitors went all-digital.