Just picked one up from Grumpy, thought I would share my initial views.

Because my systems are separates or integrated amps, and because I'm too lazy to do a full review all at once, I will break down this receiver and evaluate the various sections over time.

First up- the tuner section. remember, my view in my system only

The only tuners I have available for comparison are a Kenwood KT-815 (1980 or so) and an Onkyo T-4010 (2000?).

Get this out of the way- the Tuner in the 9600 blows away the others for sensitivity (of course, the 815 has never been aligned since I bought it new). The 815 has a better sound throughout, the Onkyo sounds more compressed, with a noticiable lightness in the bass/lower mid and a hotter top.

Don't know if it's the broadcasts in this area, but NONE of the tuners give great sound. All around, the 9600 has a good tuner, but I would choose the 815 as top pick, followed by the 9600, with the Onkyo bringing up the rear.

Next time, will give the amplifier section inputs

Actually, this will include the preamp section also, except for the phono inputs, which I will do separately sometime in the future.

I will do several comparisons, placing the 9600 in the same system that the other component comes out of.

Let me say right off that I had high hopes for the big Kenny. I had owned a 9600 in the 70s, and it was the best SS receiver I had up to that point. I'm sure over the years my recall of it made it seem better. On with my present findings:

Musical Fidelity A-300, ACI Jaguars, Sony SCD-777
The MF blew away the 9600. Fuller sound all around, much better bass control, more detail and more musical. I did find that the 9600 has a problem in its aux input, had to use a tape monitor input. The MF also has more input flexibility, while the 9600 at least gives me tone controls

Hafler amp/pre, JBL S=312, Ah! CDP
This comparo is closer, but I still give the edge to the Hafler equipment. The 9600 has a fuller, more muted sound, mayhaps a bit more musical, but the Hafler gear has better detail, spacial info and an 'airier' sound. Which is better may depend on your preferences, but I find the Hafler hard to beat

Onkyo TX-2500, Sansui XP-8000, Pioneer CDP
This was a real blow to me. At the low volume levels I have to use at this location, the little Onkyo actually sounds at least as good as the 9600, at least with these speaks. Mayhaps synergy is involved.

OK, so many of you are fixing to blast me for this section. All I can say is, I would only rate THIS 9600 as adequate. It does have a kick-ass physical presence, the tuner section alone is worth the going price, but overall I find it to be an average performer.

Follow-up: the Aux input problem went away when I started to troubleshoot the unit and has never returned. Fixed by FM

Don't want their eBay prices to match their quality!

BTW, I do enjoy MY KR-9600.

I have the little brother a KR-5600. As perfect as I ever saw. Actually sold it on ebay, however the buyer came to pick it up and saw a tuner I had and wanted it more, I was glad to make the trade. This 5600 is absolutly perfect in every way, I have a line on a 9600 but not too hopeful. Love the red ball of fire on the tuning needle, in a dimly lit room listening to some "Moody Blues" dont get much better. I will say my 5600 will scare the neighbors, can only imagine what the 9600 can do. The 9600s tuner is rated high for a receiver and certainly sounds better than the 815, but I have a 8300 and a 917 that sounds better. Actually I think its a toss up between the 9600 and the KT7300 for sound quality, I prefer their laid back sound quality, easy to listen to and very forgiving. The 5600s tuner comes close to the KT7300 but a bit more laid back yet almost muddy but still pleasant sounding.
I will say in my opinion my KT8300 is about the finest sounding, most detailed, with good bass, a forward midrange and presise highs, IMO even better than the 917. . . .

I was somewhat disapponted with the performance of the 9600 as well. The problems I found with the 9600 (design-wise) are a ton of electrolytic caps in the audio path, and a cheap-ass opamp in the output of the tuner section. The amplifier section has back-to-back polarized electrolytics (to act as a non-polar) at its input as well. Lastly, the 9600 has no mechanism to adjust DC offset, and the old transistors have almost certainly drifted over the years (measure the offset you have..it could be excessive).

Sooo, I undertook a project to completely recap my 9600, with Panasonic FC capacitors for filter and bypass, and Black Gates for coupling. The amplifier section input got a nice Matsushita 1.5µf polypropolyene film cap to replace the back-to-back electrolytics, and the tuner section opamp was replaced with a new Burr-Brown OPA2604. Lastly, the amp section differential input pair was replaced with some crudely matched new transistors. Probably $100 in parts total, and a couple of nights work had it all installed.

The difference is quite apparent, and erases a pretty fair portion of my complaints. It does make it sound like a whole new receiver.

No matter what you do, the 9600 is always going to sound very 'solid-state'. However, after my mods I find it very easy to listen to. I went from being disappointed to quite pleased.

I had one that i sold on E bay last spring.

I was never a Kenwood person but this definitely changed my opinion. It had very good sound, though not as sweet as some of my other better Sansui and Harmon Kardon stuff.
But ver nice none the less.

The only negative - Get a handtruck to move it. This thing weighed roughly the same as my first car. A hopped up plymouth duster.

Nice piece of vitage audio, I loved it.

I just bought a Kenwood model eleven III that is in the shop because I got no output sound. I hope to have it back soon and i'll post on it.

I have a 4500 MK II and it has an incredible sound. Not a lot of power but it makes up for it insound reproduction.