For fun: What speakers would have sold with a Kenwood Supreme 600?

I have been drooling over the Kenwood Supreme 500 and 600 integrated amps lately. I would love to own one someday. So just for fun, for my hypothetical daydream, what speakers in the days that the 600 sold would have been an option? Specifically speakers sold during the time frame that the integrated amps were sold and at the same price or more than the Supreme 600.

What got me thinking about it was my upcoming purchase of the JBL L96. I had my typical foolish thought that these would indeed be my last pair of speakers. So I imagined what my dream amplifier would be. I feel like the Kenwood is at such a higher level than the L96's (not that it matters, please don't lecture me). I was wondering what JBL's would have been the likeliest match for the 600 (or 500). Obviously it would have been an older model that wouldn't necessarily sound better than the L96.

ANYWAY (I'm long-winded tonight), I am basically just looking for my future dream speakers after I acquire my present dream speakers for whenever I get my hands on my present dream amplifier. I am curious about all popular speaker options during those days. Not just JBL. And I'm also interested in your opinions on the models.

I don't even know what the MSRP of the Surpeme 500 and 600 were or the years they were manufactured. Can someone shed some light on that for me?

Thank you all.

Bump.

Hmm...

Kenwood Model 7's?

Wish I could answer more specifically, but since Kenwood was not big into upper-scale speakers, then it would have been a matter of the buyer simply sampling what was available and grabbing whatever he thought was appropriate.

...pretty much the same thing a buyer might have to do now.

77-79 $550 and $750

Seems Magnepan was starting to produce speakers, the TimeWindow was available the Bose 901 needed power and these had power, The Epicure line had some higher end models, McIntosh had speakers, ADS was making good stuff...do I need to go on?

Kenwood speakers don't get much mention for reasons already discussed.

Wow! $550 and $750. That's so cheap. I figured these would be more expensive. I always thought the supreme series were above the top of the line.

nickrobotron said:

Wow! $550 and $750. That's so cheap. I figured these would be more expensive. I always thought the supreme series were above the top of the line.

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That was a fair amount of money back then, if you needed any more gear with the deal then you could be reaching used car cost territory.

nickrobotron said:

Wow! $550 and $750. That's so cheap. I figured these would be more expensive. I always thought the supreme series were above the top of the line.

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Kenwood pricing, reasonable.

Luxman L-100 100 wpc integrated was 995. But that was a lot of money just for the Kenwood. The KR-9600 was 775.

I would think that the KR would have a higher markup than the 500/600 and therefore offer a bigger discount. I don't recall exactly. I do remember that Pioneer was generally available for 30% off list at sales or all day long by mail order.

The Supreme Series gear was all special order. And although the regular gear was heavily discounted, you'd end up paying list price (or very close to it) for any of the Supreme stuff.

I have an original receipt for my 600 and it was $500 in June of '78 plus tax. There is no store name on the receipt however. Just a generic looking receipt. The previous owner did tell me he ordered, or bought it when his McIntosh had to go in for repair. His speakers were Klipsch Cornwalls, not that he bought them for the Kenwood. He may have had them paired with the McIntosh. But I bet they sounded good with the Kenny.

I'd like to hear these Kenwoods being pushed by a Supreme stack,

tbminc said:

I'd like to hear these Kenwoods being pushed by a Supreme stack,

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That's cool. Kenwood was not known for high end speakers I guess it is true but they made some fairly obscure good ones like these pictures represent. I happen to like my LS-890s made for Japan only. I think the model 7s mentioned by EW are a cut above.

The 7s were nice speakers. I have heard a number of others that some here on AK gush over and mostly, they made me want to stop listening to music.

hwystar said:

That's cool. Kenwood was not known for high end speakers I guess it is true but they made some fairly obscure good ones like these pictures represent. I happen to like my LS-890s made for Japan only. I think the model 7s mentioned by EW are a cut above.

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Yeah I'd agree that the model 7's are very likely a step above but I figured it would be good to mention other TOTL (or close to it) Kenwood speakers like the ones you've got.

Would love to hear any of these on a Supreme for sure,


Model 7's, LS-408, LS-407
LS-1900, LS-1600, LS-1200
LS-1000, LS-800, LS-500
LS-990, LS-707, LS-890, LS-770

Thanks for the replies, guys. The thread was not supposed to be about Kenwood speakers though.

I've got a pair of LS-990s that are similar vintage to the Model 600. The build quality is pretty stunning, but sonically they're like most of the big Japanese speakers I've heard...a reason for tone controls

That said, they're a lot of fun with the Loudness control on at high volumes!

Whoops...just saw your last post nickrobotron.

Guess you'd would have been looking at JBL L100s and maybe AR3s in the showroom?

When I bought mine:

It was my first Audio purchase. Worked all summer doing construction and purchased a 600 for just under $600.00. Stole the large advents from my parents then the next summer bought my Canton GLE-70's for around the same amount and a Denon DP-1100 TT. These 3 pieces are still the heart of my system today. I don't recall seeing any Kenwood speakers at the time. I did lust after the big JBL's but they were out of my price range.

I have a pair Kef Concerto's that go really well with both my 500 and my 600. I'm thinking the 600 needs a little restoration work though.

I had Jensen Model 25's (15" with fried egg tweeter) being powered by my 700c/700M back in 78/79

1978 newspaper ads

I thought this might help. Kinda like a virtual time machine. http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...9QVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-BEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6875,5437971