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  1. #1
    AR Newbie Registered Member
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    Vintage Kenwood DP-7050 CDP - keep it?

    Hello all,

    New member - first post. Did some reading on the forum and it looks like some real knowledgeable people on here. Can I impose on you for an opinion?

    I have a Kenwood DP-7050 CD player. Purchased in Europe in ~1994, so 240-volt. Now back in North America, I plug it into a 240/120 transformer. Playing through a harmon/kardon AVR 247.

    Sometimes I think to myself, 16 years old, even though in the day it was a top quality cdp, surely it's painfully obsolete technology nearly two decades later. DACs must be infinitely more "pure" in thier conversion today.

    OR, is this a fallacious assumption? Maybe components like DACs have just gotten cheaper and crappier and I should hold on to this gem.

    Which is it?

    Thanks.

  2. #2
    Chicago IL
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    Looks like a very cool cd player! I don't know about the quality of the player because it was made for Europe and the gear there is a little different.

    Kenwood wasn't known with their cd player and later on they went to the mass production like every other company!

    If you like the player and it doesn't give you any problems why not to keep it.

    I am a Kenwood fan and I would keep it if it was me, it looks to be built pretty good by the pictures I saw!

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    My vintage gear!!! http://i48.tinypic.com/t66o1v.png

  3. #3
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    You are correct that digital playback has excelled by a great deal since 1994.

    Try an experiment, I'm sure the Kenwood has a digital output, either optical or coaxial, go from one of those into your HK digital input. This would bypass the Kenwood internal DAC and then the HK internal DAC would decode the signal. You may get better sound that way. If not, then you could still use the Kenwood's digital out to an external DAC. External DAC or new player, if you are interested in better music playback I would upgrade the Kenwood. On the other hand, when you listen to your music and nothing is really bothering you about it, why go the expense if not necessary.

    I had a Kenwood KD-3300d. It was a great sounding player. Even though it was 16 bit it still outperformed the newer 20 bit 8010. Unfortunately, it didn't live as long as your 7050. It did get a lot of use though. Kenwood could make a good sounding player when they wanted. They had an 1100 I thought was incredible for it's day, very analog sounding when everything else was etchy. This unit had some quality issue though and sadly wasn't around long.

    Welcome to AR

  4. #4
    Retro Modernist 02audionoob's Avatar
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    I tend to think replacing the CD player wouldn't be the biggest bang for your upgrade buck. I still find my Adcom GCD-575 from the 1990s to be very nice and suitable for the level of my Adcom amp's quality. Just for grins, I have dragged my old 1980s CD player...a Pioneer PD-7050 out of the garage and am listening to it through the headphone output. It's still nice. I wish I had a place for it in the house.

  5. #5
    AR Newbie Registered Member
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    Thanks, all, for the replies.

    Ya, it's a beauty. Built like a tank. Real solid. It's had lots of use and runs like the day I bought it.

    I'll try Mr Peabody's suggestion of the direct digital to the HK and see what that produces.

    Hadn't thought of an external DAC - the Kenwood's a great reading mechanism, like I said, rock solid - an external DAC would let me try different DACs....

  6. #6
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    I loved the Kenwood displays. One of the few that would count a song time backward, great for recording to cassette back when I did that. My last one even had a track number display that looked like a calendar. If they were still doing home I bet they'd make a nice display for a music server.

  7. #7
    _ Luvin Da Blues's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
    I loved the Kenwood displays. One of the few that would count a song time backward, great for recording to cassette back when I did that. My last one even had a track number display that looked like a calendar. If they were still doing home I bet they'd make a nice display for a music server.
    I have a older Technics CDP that not only counts down but will also find the peak level for any given song. Great for the ol' cassette days.
    Back in my day, we had nine planets.

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