So I bought some home audio components...and have questions!

[Ziggy]

Looking at the pics, it does have a phono input. But dsh mentioned having a Sony turntable. A lot of the newer Sony tables (maybe all?) have a built in (but probably shitty) preamp that you can turn on and off. Obviously you'll wanna make sure it's off if you're plugging it into an actual phono input.

[dsheinem]

Looking at the pics, it does have a phono input. But dsh mentioned having a Sony turntable. A lot of the newer Sony tables (maybe all?) have a built in (but probably shitty) preamp that you can turn on and off. Obviously you'll wanna make sure it's off if you're plugging it into an actual phono input.

My Sony turntable is fairly old. I'm using the phono input on the amp, naturally.

Does anyone know much about these specific components? Are they pretty decent? Were they top of the line when they were new, part of a bargain line, or what?

[gtmtnbiker]

I didn't buy a nice system to listen to lossy or streamng audio... I have 1000+ CDs, and this is for them and my fledgling vinyl collection.

If lossless is your thing, you can hook up a small htpc to your stereo and play flac content to your heart's content. I'm skeptical that you could tell the difference between a 320kb/s & flac content in a blind test.

There was a forum poster over at avsforum who had some $20K+ system. He did a test where he swapped out monster speaker cables for a coat hanger. No one was able to distinguish between the two.

I still have a large CD collection (900+) and only still have them so that I don't have to rebuy the content. Nor do I have any romantic feelings for vinyls with all of their clicks/pops noise.

[CRTGAMER]

Does anyone know much about these specific components? Are they pretty decent? Were they top of the line when they were new, part of a bargain line, or what?

Very nice set! When I was in the Navy, the big stop over would be Japan for all the latest stereo equipment. Japan seemed to have the hugest selection along with Hong Kong and Singapore. In Japan, Kenwood was huge, any component made by them is considered a high quality product. Agree with others, you don't need really expensive cables, just decent shielded ones for the RCA connection and not too thin a wire for the speakers. Some where on the amp should have a wattage output to match the speakers.

I could make out the KT-80 on the tuner, what are the other model numbers? Maybe a spec chart can be found online for the amp. I love the the dark finish with all the readouts, common in equipment from the 80s.

[Ziggy]

If lossless is your thing, you can hook up a small htpc to your stereo and play flac content to your heart's content. I'm skeptical that you could tell the difference between a 320kb/s & flac content in a blind test.

It's not just about the quality though. I think we can compare this to playing a video game cart on real hardware versus playing a ROM in an emulator.

There was a forum poster over at avsforum who had some $20K+ system. He did a test where he swapped out monster speaker cables for a coat hanger. No one was able to distinguish between the two.

Hehe, that's awesome.

[dsheinem]

I could make out the KT-80 on the tuner, what are the other model numbers? Maybe a spec chart can be found online for the amp. I love the the dark finish with all the readouts, common in equipment from the 80s.

The other pictures show the model numbers somewhat, but here they are:
KT-89 (receiver)
KC-209 (preamp)
KM-209 (power amp)
DP-R99 (cd changer) - but this doesn't work, so I am going to auction it for parts and see if I get anything...

I also just won on eBay:
DP-R8040 (cd changer)
KX-W1060 (dual casette deck)

As for all the audiophile comments - I am obviously far from the insane people who need to spend boatloads of money on the latest audiophile trend, so let's put that to rest. That said, I do like to have equipment that sounds good when i have the option. Now that I have a new home audio setup, I am trying to figure out my new options...

And indeed: for most studio recordings from the past decade or so, there isn't a ton of difference between a CD/FLAC and a 320Kbps MP3 to my ears because of the fucking loudness wars in the recording industry have made master recordings sound like shit to begin with. That said, I listen to lots of older stuff where the difference in quality can be quite discernible. More importantly, I listen to a good amount of classical and jazz as well as lots of live audience recordings where the difference between a high quality MP3 and a lossless recording can be QUITE noticeable to even untrained or lightly trained ears.

[CRTGAMER]

KM-209 (power amp)

Found this for the speaker selection. The site shows a service manual if you login there.

http://www.hifiengine.com/manuals/kenwood/km-209.shtml

Specifications
Power output: 150 watts per channel into 8 ohms
Total harmonic distortion: 0.015%
Frequency response: 5Hz to 200kHz
Signal to noise ratio: 120dB
Damping factor: more than 35
Dimensions: 440 x 133 x 269mm
Weight: 8.8kg

[dsheinem]

KM-209 (power amp)

Found this for the speaker selection. The site shows a service manual if you login there.

http://www.hifiengine.com/manuals/kenwood/km-209.shtml

Specifications
Power output: 150 watts per channel into 8 ohms
Total harmonic distortion: 0.015%
Frequency response: 5Hz to 200kHz
Signal to noise ratio: 120dB
Damping factor: more than 35
Dimensions: 440 x 133 x 269mm
Weight: 8.8kg

I already found the service manual and/or user manuals for most of these online, but thanks for digging anyway

[ZenErik]

I can help with headphone advice but not so much with speakers. My headphone rig is about $3000+.

All about the DACs, amps, and full sized headphones.

[gtmtnbiker]

That said, I listen to lots of older stuff where the difference in quality can be quite discernible. More importantly, I listen to a good amount of classical and jazz as well as lots of live audience recordings where the difference between a high quality MP3 and a lossless recording can be QUITE noticeable to even untrained or lightly trained ears.

I came across a post in avsforum.com where someone linked to a study done on MP3 versus CDs at McGill University. Here's the presentation:

http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~hockman/doc ... on2009.pdf

Here's the person's post:

Their findings included:

Trained listeners can not discriminate between CD quality and mp3 compression (256-320 kb/s) while expert listeners could.

Note that this experiment was conducted using a high-end system in a dedicated listening lab under ideal conditions, with the subjects concentrating intently on trying to hear differences.