Kenwood KX-720 (1979–1981)
The Kenwood KX-720 is a stereo cassette deck produced from 1979 to 1981, originally priced at ¥65,000. It was one of Kenwood's more forward-looking decks of the period, notable for being built around the then-emerging metal tape formulation. A three-position tape selector handles Normal, CrO₂, and Metal tapes, with frequency response rated at 30Hz–16kHz on normal tape, stretching to 30Hz–18kHz on metal.
The transport uses a DC servo motor and a two-motor arrangement, with wow and flutter rated at a very respectable 0.04% WRMS. Signal-to-noise is listed at 55dB with Dolby off and 63dB with Dolby engaged. The deck also includes memory rewind, auto play, timer play/standby, an illuminated tape counter, and separate bias and equalization switches. The head is hard permalloy, and bias and erase are both DC.
High Fidelity (March 1977, p.46) covered the KX-720 in its new-product pages, noting the 90-millimeter flywheel used to smooth speed variations in the drive system and the high-density ferrite head core for improved high-frequency reproduction. The review also listed the deck at $259.95, giving a useful US-market reference point for the period.
Documentation on this model is otherwise thin — no service manual details, dimensions, or weight are readily available, and there's little recorded about its place in Kenwood's cassette lineup or how it was received by owners beyond a few forum inquiries. What's clear is that it was a capable, well-specced deck from the tail end of the pre-Dolby-C era, one that anticipated the metal-tape transition.
- 4-track, 2-channel stereo cassette deck
- Tape speed: 4.76 cm/s; fast wind 120s (C-60)
- Wow and flutter: 0.04% WRMS
- Frequency response: 30–16kHz (Normal), 30–17kHz (CrO₂), 30–18kHz (Metal)
- S/N: 55dB (Dolby off), 63dB (Dolby on)
- Harmonic distortion: 1.5%
- Inputs: 0.2mV (mic), 60mV (line); output 0.5V (line)
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