Kenwood KA-7002

Big little 33cm DC-coupled integrated amplifier of... 10kg - the thirty kilo monsters were for later years.

If I deciphered properly the poetic translation of this rare and undated catalog... :

The differential amp stage is made around hi-temperature transistors in the first and second stages, with a Zener diode stabilizing the 1st stage, by way of 100% counter-DC current... to stabilize static mechanical charge in the loudspeakers' voice coils.
As this differential amplification is also present in the DC stage, good phase characteristics are maintained and the damping factor rises to 45 at 8 Ohm.

The phono EQ stage is of the three-stage NF type, dervied from the circuits of the [earlier] KA-6000.
The sharp 18db/octave two-position low filter uses a tantalum capacitor with 1mA dispersion current to avoid "thumping" when switching the filter on or off.

The balance function has a "MIX" position that, when enabled, makes the sound disappear when the balance knob is tweaked to perfect stereo equivalence ; the "null balance" switch comes handy when listening to monophonic sources... with the mono out terminal - real mono !

The volume attenuator is a 5-gang, quite probably from ALPS, as almost always.

I give up trying to make sense of the description of the elaborate protection circuit - too incomprehensible to be (re)(re)translated.

But the six BLUE LEDs must have cost a fortune in 1971 ! Of course no LEDs here but incandescent bulbs shining through coloured plastic. But it is the intention that counts :)


The mention of 4-channel compatibility (through an in/out loop) should make this rare Kenwood of unknown lineage a circa 1971 or 1972 vintage.

The layout is furthermore somewhat close to the Supreme Series which were launched in 1974, seven years after the original Supreme 1.