Kenwood Model 700T

Part of the original Supreme trio, Kenwood's first set of separates after the Supreme 1 (1967) and the subsequent departure of some engineers to form Kensonic Laboratories, aka Accuphase.

Digital FM tuning wasn't new in 1974, at all.
Heathkit, Harrisson, Fisher or Toshiba had done the basics since the late 1960s but the technique still was very expensive to implement in mid-priced components and sometimes gave way to sci-fi objects with great looks but questionable reliability and ergonomics.

So the Model 700T is a digital tuner... but analogue... but digital.

The reason for this wasn't entirely technical but the refusal to turn a luxurious audio component into a "complex multiple button keyboard arrangement which ignores those human engineering concepts which are so important to the user".
How thoughtful ! Seeing the Sony ST-5555 (1972/73) probably made an impression on the Kenwood engineers :)

Digital tuning of the analogue scale and 5-gang varicap is performed with a 2MHz crystal oscillator and a second, variable, tuned oscillator. The signal of the former is divided by 80 (to get a 25Khz reference ; multiply x4 and you get the width of an FM channel), transformed into digital pulses, compared to the varable oscillator, DC amplified and output to the local oscillator - et voilà !

Also in were two-step muting and a LED-controlled switching of the latter, "exceptional" IF system, a new Pulse Noise Blanking Circuit and Kenwood's traditional DSD (Double-Switching Demodulator) plus a Phase-Locked Loop MPX section - read the TECH1 section for the details !


The Supremes weren't advertised much, saw limited distribution and were very expensive, too ; they seemingly sold best in the US and Germany.
Although "Supreme" was extruded on the faceplates of the first japanese samples, the tag wasn't carried over to the production items and absolutely not outside Japan, even as a marketing name.
The same goes for the magnificent wood enclosures which remained in Japan where only symbolical sales were achieved.

This started Kenwood's strange relationship with its own high-end components, surprising design moves, rapid lineup successions changes and distribution/sales politics.

As a result, bar the L-07C / L-07M series and the L-01A, the Supreme 700 components are very rare.


See the large two-page schematiic of the Model 700C here and the (temporary) fmtunerinfo review of the 700T.