Kenwood L-1000C

Part of Kenwood's penultimate high-end set, along the L-1000M power-amp, L-1000T tuner and L-1000D CD player - unfortunately all rather bland looking and sloppily designed.

But the L-1000C, behind its "melted ice-cream" façade and slim-line height, was technically superlative - strange for export-only components.

The layout is entirely symmetrical - and symmetrical here means that the positive and negative phases of each channel run on separate paths !
The assymetrical inputs are converted internally to balanced signal by way of transformer-less buffer amplifiers ; symmetrical voltage amplifier & phono equalizer.

The PCBs are double-sided, the underside holding the isolated grounding paths to minimize impedance and resitance, and are suspended on (slightly) isolated points to minimize vibrations and microphony.
Signal paths are laid out "logically" and "naturally" to remain as short as possible ; all inputs and outputs are switched through relays and a plate of copper isolates all i/os from the PCB.

The volume potentiometer is a symmetrical motorized 6-gang and the two regulation caps are Kenwood custom-ordered 3300µF ELNA. The bass/treble controls (a strange addition on such an audiophile component...) were sourced from ALPS.

Convenience-wise, MM/MC switching is at hand alongwith a separate rec/input selector, "source direct" and output on/off switches. Plus, naturally an IR remote which allows source switching and volume level.
I/os consist of six s-e inputs (one balanced), two tape outputs and two preamp outputs (one balanced). 12kg of discrete high-end.

Even if the L-1000 Series were export-only and therefore low-quantity production runs, the L-1000C / L-1000M, like the Onkyo P-388F / M-588, probably is the one 1990s japanese high-end combo to rediscover.