Kenwood Tuner KT3500

[kach22i]

EDIT: I must be a tad dyslexic, it's KT-5300, I inverted the numerals - oops.

Picked this up for $10 at the local recycle store, a bit kicked around, but hey it's been around since 1970 from what I've read - so not so bad.

When I first plugged it in, it was a little snowy sounding. However, the DJ left a bit of dead air between songs and it was dead silent - odd.

After 10 minutes of playing the snow is gone and it's sounding better, but still not on par with my little Lafayette LT-825.

http://s184.beta.photobucket.com/user/kach22i/library/Stereo?

Since I haven't fixed the wood side panels on the Lafayette yet, the Kenwood may get to stay upstairs, it just looks more substantial.

I'll play the Kenwood all afternoon and see if it grows on me.

The weighted tuning knob feels good, old Hi-End.

I'm not a fan of the center tuning bar quite yet, would rather have signal strength.

 

[mep]

One thing you have to remember is that Kenwood made tuners at all price points and they made some damn good ones. The one you bought is one of the bottom tier tuners made by Kenwood.

 

[kach22i]

One thing you have to remember is that Kenwood made tuners at all price points and they made some damn good ones. The one you bought is one of the bottom tier tuners made by Kenwood.

Yea, I read that.

Forgive me for getting all excited when I first saw that silver face - thought I really had something.

There is a single pair of outs, unlike my other tuner which has tape outs. I use the tape outs for my remote self powered speakers in the kitchen. Also there is no headphone jack.

I will say that at very low volumes it seems to be balanced and articulate, which is nice for background listening levels.

 

[mep]

I don't think Kenwood knew how to make a "bad' tuner. As you climb their ladder, the performance level increases. One mark of a fairly serious tuner for me is does it have a regular 75 ohms coax connector vice a screw terminal. I have a Kenwood 815 tuner which is not the top of their heap, but fairly high up on the ladder.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

I still have a KT-8007 in it's original box. I really should bring it back into service.

 

[kach22i]

One mark of a fairly serious tuner for me is does it have a regular 75 ohms coax connector vice a screw terminal.

Here is the back of mine.
http://s184.beta.photobucket.com/user/kach22i/library/Stereo?

Kenwood Tuners
http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/kenwood.html

Kenwood KT-5300 (1977, $140, photo) search eBay
A very common bare-bones tuner that might be OK for those on a budget, the KT-5300 has 3 gangs and 2 ceramic filters. It has a center-tuning meter but no signal level meter. The KT-5300 is not very sensitive in stock form because it has no IF amplification, and would have to be partially taken apart to access the circuit board for mods. Our contributor Brian Beezley was pleasantly surprised by his: "These simple tuners work amazingly well. This thing has just two chips in the FM strip and a few transistors elsewhere. I was hearing all kinds of stations while I was aligning it (the downside of living on a hilltop). It seems to work great, even on AM. (Don't want to spoil my fun and actually measure a sensitivity number, and no fair listening next to a loud local.) Lots of fun for a $5 garage sale item." The KT-5300 usually sells for $10-30 or so on eBay, with an all-time low of $1.30 in 4/05 and record highs of $81 in 5/09, $80 in 12/07 for one with rack handles, and $101 in 8/08 as two bidders dueled to get one with a wooden cabinet. [EF]

One last time, KT-5300......................
http://s184.beta.photobucket.com/user/kach22i/library/Stereo?

 

[mep]

Yep. It looks like you have a 75 ohm coax "F" connector going into a transformer that converts the signal to 300 ohms. What I was trying to say is that the higher performance Kenwood tuners actually have a 75 ohm "F" female connector on the back panel (as well as other high-end tuners) that you can hook up to directly without having to convert to 300 ohms.

 

[kach22i]

Yep. It looks like you have a 75 ohm coax "F" connector ..............

While we are on the topic, I'm open to suggestions for improvement.

http://s184.beta.photobucket.com/user/kach22i/library/Stereo?

Is the cable TV freebie adequate?

It comes from the roof antenna as a flat cable, converted to coaxial as it comes into the house and runs though the basement and then back again to flat wires via the white connector.

I know it's not the best situation.

I'm just not up to going on the roof and running a single unbroken coaxial cable.

 

[mep]

George-If you are getting sufficient signal strength and you are happy with the way it sounds, all is good. Does "DSMT-75" on the converter from coax to flat cable mean it's a 75 ohm transformer feeding your 300 ohm inputs? If the answer is yes, you might want to obtain a 75 ohm to 300 ohm converter.

 

[kach22i]

George-If you are getting sufficient signal strength and you are happy with the way it sounds, all is good. Does "DSMT-75" on the converter from coax to flat cable mean it's a 75 ohm transformer feeding your 300 ohm inputs? If the answer is yes, you might want to obtain a 75 ohm to 300 ohm converter.

The local Ann Arbor progressive rock station is FM 107, and I pretty much keep it on there. In fact I get full signal strength on that station without the antenna connected.

I get all the Detroit stations I care to with the antenna connection "as is". I'm more concerned with quality not quantity, but not sure if they are not one in the same in this case.

I will have to look at both ends of the cable running through my basement and see if I'm knocking it up or down on the other end.

The goal as I currently understand it is that I want to maintain 300 ohm's as a constant, right?

Will the coaxial cable carry a 300 ohm signal over 25 or 30 feet as it goes thought the basement from one end of the house to the other? I don't think this is recommended, mixing signals with different cables that is.

This comes down from the roof.
http://www.skyscan.ca/cables.htm


Once in the basement, I have it turn into this:
http://www.skyscan.ca/cables.htm


Then once I wiggle it back upstairs it goes flat again with the 300 to 75 cable TV connector, which should be changed to a 75 to 300....maybe.

 

[mep]

George-I'm pretty sure that what cable is on your roof is 300 ohm cable. I don't know what the RG number on the cable you have in the basement is, but it's probably 75 ohm cable. From there you are connecting it to a 300 ohm input on your tuner. Your cable run is not ideal obviously, but if you are getting plenty of signal strength and you are happy with the way the tuner sounds, don't worry-be happy. Should you at some point invest in a tuner that was designed to be among the top-tier of tuners, I would consider at that point rewiring from your antenna to the tuner with a 75 ohm coax cable like RG-59.

 

[kach22i]

George-I'm pretty sure that what cable is on your roof is 300 ohm cable. I don't know what the RG number on the cable you have in the basement is, but it's probably 75 ohm cable. From there you are connecting it to a 300 ohm input on your tuner. Your cable run is not ideal obviously, but if you are getting plenty of signal strength and you are happy with the way the tuner sounds, don't worry-be happy. Should you at some point invest in a tuner that was designed to be among the top-tier of tuners, I would consider at that point rewiring from your antenna to the tuner with a 75 ohm coax cable like RG-59.

Yes to the cable on the roof assumption, it is 300 ohm.

Yes to plans for rewiring the run to my roof top antenna - on my list of things to do.

If I'm going to shut off the TV in the evenings and reserve it for movie watching (I'm leaning towards this), and listen to the radio more and spin records/CD instead, then I'm going to have to install a remote control on my preamp, or replace it. Commercials are louder than the program content on the radio, just as they are on TV. This is just unacceptable as it stands. It's ruined radio listening for me.