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KENSONIC
was formed by an engineer from Kenwood,
Jiro Kasuga, in late 1972.
According to Zeljko, Kasuga wooed on the way some engineers from
other prominent brands (Marantz, Luxman) and the original departure
of Kasuga was due to conflicting views about the follower of Kenwood's
SUPREME 1 unit
(1967, here).
However, Kenwood had shares in the newly formed brand... As a matter
of fact, if one looks closely at the parts used by Kenwood and Kensonic
throughout the latter's early years, one will quickly notice many
a common one: may those be knobs, buttons, tuner dials or the general
direction of the design with its slanted silver sides. Accuphase's
early PCB's are tagged KENSONIC, too, and the early units bore a
proud KENSONIC on their frontplates
as well. According to mid 1990s reviews, Kenwood still owned part
of Kensonic and it seems the Accuphase engineers may have had a
hand in the engineering of Kenwood's last high-end series (L-A1,
LD-1 and LV-Z1).
Kenwood having since then withdrawn from almost everything, perhaps
Accuphase is now fully independent.
The 1st units to come out of Kensonic were the P-300
amp, C-200
preamp and T-100
tuner, quickly supplemented by the E-202
integrated amp and a revised version of the
tuner (T-101).
All of these received much much praise throughout 1973 and 1974
and, while Kenwood
has now abandoned all High End audio activities, Kensonic
still carries on with its ACCUPHASE
series.
Besides phenomenal transparency and obvious long-term quality, Accuphase
units always remain available for several years, sometimes up to
a decade. They still do, and more, in the lucky owners' homes.
Unlike
most manufacturers, Accuphase has kept its entire production available
online - PDFs at any rate: here.
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