Kenwood L-07C

TRIO in Japan, Kenwood elsewhere - the discrete big little audiophile preamp.

As in Sony's earlier (and twice pricier) TA-E88B, the keyword is : no ICs !
Therefore terribly reliable and planned to still be repairable in 2156. There is only one circuit board, separated by a long bus bar for the left and right channels : input stages to the left, output stages to the right, power-supply in a sub enclosure to the far left.

Input capacitor-less, low-impedance circuit, low residual noise (0,1mV), ±0,3dB volume gang error plus a 20dB variable gain stage to balance input/output levels and gain some more in s/n ratios. Also resistor-switching tone controls.

Connected to the L-07M monoblock bestseller, the circuit guaranteed high-bandwidth and low loss in cabling thanks to the 10 Ohm output impedance - Sigma Drive and 600Khz bandwidth were however for later years.

Kenwood sold thousands and thousands of L-07C worldwide but these sell for very cheap nowadays... unlike the TA-E88. The matte brown-ish finish sadly didn't age well and gives most L-07Cs a "vintage" look even if the unit has been only sparingly used, too.

Updated in 1978/79 as L-07CII, with a very welcome visual lifting, volume pot and componentry upgrades but selling much less than its original.
Finally completely replaced by the futuristic-looking L-08C in 1980/1981 which sold... very little.