Found a Kenwood KT-880. What do I have here?

[MRX37]

It appears to work fine. I haven't hooked it up to an amplifier and speakers yet, but just from an inital powerup and short test, it turned on and found a radio station after I pressed one of the seek buttons, no antenna hooked to it either.

Do I have a good tuner here?

[gyusher]

Similiar to the KT-5020. . .

TIC thinks highly of this tuner.



:smoke:

[MRX37]

A 5 minute test shows that the tuner apparently works fine. It outputs fine, no clipping or distortion. It also has damn good sensitivity! I'm picking up local stations almost totally clear, with no antenna attached to the tuner, in a basement to boot!

I went to a site called fmtunerinfo.com, but could find no info on my exact model. I found the KT-880D, but I have the KT-880. Google has yeilded little info on this tuner.

As of right now, my plan is to put this in with my Sony amp, since it lacks a tuner. This tuner won't see much use, but it's not going to the dump either.

[gearhead]

Does it look like the 5020?

[MRX37]

Here's a picture of it.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o121/mrx3750/kt880.jpg

The tiny hard to read text next to the "KENWOOD" name says: "QUARTZ SYNTHESIZER AM-FM STEREO TUNER KT 880"

And yeah, the unit does need some cleaning up...

[gyusher]

I've owned the 880/1100 and 3300 Kenwood Integrated amps with matching tuners. The 880 is at the bottom of a very respectable list. It is a fine 250 dollar tuner. Read what TIC says about it plus the links they provide. You might be amazed. . .

[MRX37]

Okay... um, what's TIC...?

[gyusher]

Okay... um, what's TIC...?

http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/

[MRX37]

I already went there. I even said I did in my post above. They have the KT 880D there but not the KT 880.

[gyusher]

I see I am wrong. . .My thinking was they were one in the same but after reading closer I see they are indeed different. Just what the writer means "I wouldn't bother with the 880" Only buy the "D" model I have no idea. . . Their list price is so close I wonder just what the differences could be. . . All the ones I mentioned did have the D at the end. The amps had "SD" at the end of the model number. . .

For backup I use a KT-828 that is a low line later model however it performs better than its price would suggest.

[MRX37]

Well, I have the KT 880 intergrated into my secondary amplifier setup. My Sony amp is remote controlled and has a switched outlet. I plugged the KT-880 into that. The KT-880 has a power button. I leave the button in the on position, and use the remote to turn on my Sony amp which turns the tuner on as well.

The setup works out well for me, and for a free tuner rescued from the garbage, I have no complaints.

[gyusher]

Some of these so called BPC tuners and other components do remarkably well all things considered. Some areas of the country have enough strong stations that for the casual listener really doesn't need a high dollar DXer. Like my little 828 the sound quality is terrific and with enough strong signals it does very well indeed.

My favorite right now is my KT-8007 that Mike at RadioX just aligned and upgraded. I think it might be one of the most underrated tuners going when you stop and consider how good it really is.

I listen to a tuner every moment I am at home so it is important to me to have one that not only performs well but one that I like too. . .

My amp and preamp are also Kenwood and models that would be considered BPC (KM-105 125x2) but they look nice and actually blow you away how good they sound. With the right speakers they are actually wonderful and I have very little in them with the exception of my KT-8007.

Sometimes I'll just play solitaire and listen to this stuff for hours. I actually look forward to doing so.

[MRX37]

Uh... BPC...?

That's one acronym I don't get...

[Punker X]

Black Plastic Crap

[MRX37]

Ah. My KT 800 doesn't really qualify. It's black, but it's more metal then plastic. And from what I've seen so far, it does its job like I'd expect, so "crap" doesn't seem to fit in either.

Oh well, one mans trtash... eh you know the rest.

[geaugafletcher]

"One man's trash..."

...clutters up my back room until the WAF goes critical!

[soundweasel]

"One man's trash..."

...clutters up my back room until the WAF goes critical!

:lmao::lmao:

[MRX37]

"One man's trash..."

...clutters up my back room until the WAF goes critical!

No wife, and I never plan on having a wife, so the WAF does not come into play with me.

[gearhead]

Nobody PLANS on having a wife...

[MRX37]

Oh trust me, I hate people too much to have a wife. Just the thought of having to be around them day in and day out, having to put on that happy mask and deal with their problems all damn day... No, give me gear that I can turn off when I'm tired of listening to it. :)

Also I don't believe in marriage, as I have seen too many marriages fail. It seems a successful marriage is the exception rather then the rule.