Price Paid:  $15.00 from thrift store

Summary:
I bought it today and haven't had a chance to use it yet. I only tested it in the thrift store with one cheap speaker to every channel to know that they all worked. Since then, I've been reading these reviews. I haven't had a decent reciever in years. I sadly went down the 'plastic fake' route for Dolby Digital. I'll have to incorporate the two somehow. Should sound magnificent. Wasn't built on slave labor like today.FIFTEEN DOLLARS DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Strengths:
real power.

Weaknesses:
none. equipment was real back then.

Similar Products Used:
N/A

Price Paid:  $400.00 from iwakuni japan

Summary:
kenwood kr 9600 purchased in 1978. is the best sounding stereo receiver i ever owned and never had a reason to buy another. this receiver still looks and sounds great and if something should go wrong i will get it fixxed.

Strengths:
great power, great looks, great sound.

Weaknesses:
it's to powerful for most speakers.

danfalk

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 6.00 votes

Price Paid:  $198.00 from ebay

Summary:
This receiver has the best punch of any receiver I have owned. I would compare it to the pioneer SX-1050/1080/1250/1280. All of which I have heard. I wish I could put them all in one system one at a time for evaluation. But all these high power low distortion machines are sonicly wonderfull. I am a Pioneer fan for sure but this Kenwood 9600 sounds equally as good even though it uses smaller capacitors in the power supply.( 4)10,000uf the pioneer sx-1250 uses(4) 22,000uf. But the sound doesn't suffer at all. I see a lot more broken Pioneer receivers on Ebay than broken Kenwoods. There just may be way more pioneers out there. Also the Pioneer uses discrete components and the Kenwood has 2 big ICs for outputs. Very reliable it seems but not avalable anymore. If they never break I guess it dosen't matter. The Kenwood has very good specs .0025% distortion at rated power. Thats magnificent! I have only owned mine for about a month. Love It! I prefer a metal case instead of a wood case to mess up.The midrange contol and 2 loudness controls are nicer than Pioneer. At $198 its a steal. The aluminum face is much more rugged on the Kenwoods. If you can afford the Pioneer SX-1250 or 1280 go for it. If you like the look of Kenwood (which I do ) you will love the sound. For about half the price. I would rate this receiver dead even with the Pioneer SX-1250. Do to the lower distortion and better reliability it evens out the larger components the pioneer used in the SX-1250.

Strengths:
Powerfull, perfect sound. Nice features, midrange control, 2 loudness settings, power meters. Turned it up to one half volume with my HPM-100 speakers and I thought my walls were going to shake loose from the floor. Run Volume below 3 most of the time and thats plenty loud with full solid bass. No distortion, None, nata, Since there is never a need to turn it above half volume it will never clip.

Weaknesses:
Your wife and kids will have a hard time getting you away from it. You play with your stereo too much. Really the only weakness is that some parts are only available as used only. As with every single vintage receiver made.

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer SX- 750 thru 1250, Kenwood Kr-6600 many more. I am a stereo nut.

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Bucky

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $325.00 from eBay

Summary:
After my Nikko two channel receiver calfed on my, I headed off to the local electronics chain. Once there I was looking for a two channel but was told technology has far surpassed that and ended up leaving with a high priced Yamaha Surround receiver. As soon as I had it all hooked up I was dissapointed in the sound. When my wife had asked me what I thoughtof the new receiver. I told her either my hearing is going or this new technology isn't all it's craked up to be.It sounded ok as a surround system for movies, and had all these different effects, for Stadium, Concert, etc. Simply put, the sound was off from what I was used to. It wasn't until a friend told me about the Vintage analog receivers from the seventies and very early eighties, that I started online researching. After price watching the Kenwood KR-9600 seemed like a logical choice, and eventually ended up with one from eBay. At first I was a little set back from the size and weight, but all was forgotten once she was all hooked up and set to go. The sound was better than anything I could have imagined, crisp and clear with several different settings and filters. If you are not thinking you need that kind of power but want good sound, remember it is better to have 160 watts rms per channel at a two volume rather than 60 watts rms at an eight volume. By the way the 5 fm gangs this receiver has can pull in stations from Mars, where others won't come close. Grab one if you can find one, as they are getting scarce.

Strengths:
Quality unit, controls, Sound is awesome, great reception, clear Highs with good mids and base. Seperate controls for all three.

Weaknesses:
Size, Weight and no remote. Parts may be hard to come by

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer SX-1250 and Sansui G-9000..all are great sounding but i still prefer the Kenwood.

cool.101

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.33 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $378.00 from japan naval base

Summary:
This is by far the most complete full-featured receiver that Kenwood or any other company for that matter has ever made.. Back in 1979 when I was in the navy, my ship was under way for Japan. It wouldn’t be until 6 mos before we arrived. So all of the electronic Tec’s sent away for all the information on every receiver and amp that was available that year. Including the Pioneer SX-1280, Sansui G-9700, Yamaha CR-2020, Marantz 2330BD and the Kenwood 9600. So the Tec’s studied all the literature for 6 mos and all of them bought the Kenwood eleven GX. So I copied them and bought the same. The combo of features is incredible. It has a REAL Dolby system. Meaning instead of a switch that you either turn on or off. Its Dolby system is adjustable. Because every recording requires a different measurement of Dolby. This isn’t just one of those filters that clean up hiss but kill the symbols in the process. This Dolby system cleans and in the process makes the dynamic range wider. Therefore you get a better signal to noise ratio. It has a separate Dolby decoder for the FM. I wouldn’t be without the Dolby system for my vinyl. It cleans up ticks and pops on vinyl while leaving the source completely undisturbed. The mic mixing is another great feature. I have been playing my bass guitar through there for the 25 years that I’ve had it. Instead of high and low buttons (either on or off options) this receiver has adjustable filters. So if you want the button on just a little bit and not full you have that option. Most receivers they are either on or off. Sometimes on is too much and off is not enough. The five-band equalizer is the most sensitive EQ I have ever operated. Great compression. Just barely move the slide and the sound changes quite a bit. I’m running electrovoice mids and highs and a 15in dual voice coil black widow and I have never had any of the sliders over the flat position. The low frequency sliders are almost at the very bottom and the bass is still incredibly strong. There are more powerful receivers out there but none with these features and sound quality. This is the best sounding receiver that Kenwood ever made.115 d/b s/n ratio. It’s the biggest and heaviest also. Almost 70 lbs. I’ve probably had 40 to 50 other receivers hooked up to the same set of speakers and if any of them sounded better, then that would be what I would be listening to today. I think it’s more beautiful than any other receiver I’ve seen. These were never available to the public. Only military personnel. It would have cost over $2000.00 for all those features packed in. Four of my friends now have one after hearing mine. I’ve bought a few broken ones and repaired them for my friends. We kind of have a club. 120 watts per channel 3 sets of speakers a two hour timer, 2 phonos, 2 tape plays, 2tape monitors that interloop with the Dolby system for coding and decoding and for playback and recording .Aux and mike mixing. Unit does get hot so I installed a fan. Now she’s running cool. I plan on having it another 25 years. Worst thing about this receiver is the screw on speaker terminals (hassle) so I replaced them with the push button holes. Hate hearing about people getting rid of their vintage receivers just to get surround sound when they could keep the vintage receivers and just add on a surround sound processor. These new receivers just don’t have the sound quality and they all have a much lower dynamic range and signal to noise ratio.

Strengths:
Great sound quality and plenty of power to spare.

Weaknesses:
speaker terminals

Similar Products Used:
marantz,pioneer,sansui