Vintage Car Audio

6/1/2013

My early years in the Car Audio industry were as a complete fanatic, devouring anything and everything relating to Head Units, Equalizers, Amplifiers, Speakers and Subwoofers, that I could get my hands on.
It was a really great time and the very beginning of my career as an expert in the field in Latin America.
These are some of the early products I loved or had at the time, and my memories about them.

6 Comments

Andre

11/29/2014 06:08:37 pm

Hi. I stumbled on your little blog looking for photos of the infamous Kenwood KRC-999 Mark 2 head unit…anyways, with your extensive know-how in the car audio field, what is your take on the KRC-740 head unit - is it worth keeping? As it's old as the car itself, in fact it came with the car - a one-owner '91 Civic Si I've acquired back in 2006. I did hear that Kenwood was on par with Alpine back in the '90s, is that true? Also, I've scored a pair of Boston Acoustics RX-67 speakers - were they really the best co-axials from the era bygone? Thanks, I'm looking forward to your reply on the subject.

Kaleebo link

1/15/2016 12:04:50 pm

Hello there Andre, so sorry it took such a mighty long time to answer your comment! I hadn't checked this blog in ages, but since I keep paying for the domain and now have more time to post, I guessed it's better late than never!
The Kenwood KRC-740 was a unique piece in the Japanese brand evolution from anti-theft pull-out chassis models (which they kick-started in Car Audio), to the detachable faceplate units that came later when Pioneer debuted their Premier KEX-M800.
It was unique (at least in my view), because it showed how Kenwood was forced to change their game completely, and I remember hypothesizing they likely weren't prepared because they could only offer a partially-detachable faceplate feature with the KRC-740.

Nonetheless, it was their 1st model of such kind if memory serves well, right before the missteps in one of their following line-ups, when they decided to save money and use fully-detachable faceplates BUT without any electronics, just a cosmetic plastic with buttons that only pushed through the visible panel, the real keys behind it. Those looked really ugly when you detached the front panel.

Anyhow, going back to your original question: if you still have the KRC-740 and it's in really good condition and fully working, it would be worth saving from a historical viewpoint (notice I didn't say "keep using") Otherwise, I'd recommend just focusing on higher-end models in NOS/NIB (new old-stock/new in box) condition, if you can grab them inexpensively. Those (like the KRC-999, KRC-999mkII, KDT-99R and similar models will be worth more in the future if in really good condition.
Hope that helped!

Andre

1/15/2016 12:42:08 pm

It did, from a historical point of view. Condition-wise, at least aesthetically, the unit itself has seen better days. I've even bought a derive manual for it.

I noticed you've answered my question regarding the speakers, but if you can, what would you recommend in the shallow dome 6.5" category, in-amped if that helps? Do I just buy anything, as long as the specs are good, or do specs even matter at that size? Thanks.

Kaleebo link

1/18/2016 10:57:05 am

Hello Andre.
Sorry I missed the part about your Boston coaxials, and that I'm replying just under my previous answer, since the site isn't offering a Reply button under yours for some reason...

I never tried the Boston RX-67 coaxials back then, but the brand was really good and their PRO series of components was great and widely used competitively. I think the RX-67 use the same design cues in the basket (although not an alloy construction) and even featured ferrofluid in the Tweeters' voice coils which helps damping the resonant frequency for smoother highs and cool the coils when you crank up the volume for extended periods. But like I said, I can't really attest to their Sound Q.

As for newer option of 6.5" speakers, I'm not really up to date to be helpful since I've been using component speakers for the longest time, but I recall Infinity always made the effort to put together well sorted-out models even with bigger than standard cone diameters for better bass reproduction. They typically have three levels of coaxial models in their "Reference" series, then you can jump to their upper "Kappa" series which usually has no more than two coaxial options in 6.5".
The only problem would be choosing a model with a shallow-enough tweeter protrusion to fit your locations, and the better the model, typically the higher the tweeter protrusion over the cone's suspension level.
JL Audio also has good sound and solid construction.
Obviously, if you can afford +$200 on a set of coaxials, then I'd suggest looking onto point-source options from Morel, Illusion Audio and so on.

Definitely don't pay much attention to specs other that mounting dimensions to make sure the speakers will fit, and try instead to have a listen session, even if just out of a demo board at a local car stereo shop, like best buy or similar.
Likely you won't be able to foresee how good their bass response will sound like from being on a wall board or demo rack (the enclosure being smaller than a typical car door), but what you can actually tell, is if you like how the speakers resolve the high frequencies, which obviously requires you to carry your own Audio CD or tracks on your Smartphone, to test with material you know well.

Hope that helps and thanks for writing!

Pacman

11/8/2015 11:04:06 pm

Hi there.
Do you happen to have the Pioneer RD170?
Great unit - haven't seen one for years.

Kaleebo link

1/15/2016 11:40:46 am

Hello there Pacman.
I don't and never did to be sincere. I remember seeing it displayed inside an electronics store in the San Andrés island in the Caribbean, and it was a gorgeous piece of single DIN visual awesomeness!
You were supposed to connect a mic to measure and visually confirm a real-time-analysis of your sound system's output by frequency, so you could EQ your system, but that's as far as I recall. If memory serves well, it was rather expensive and more of a side-show in the line of Centrate component series from Pioneer.
Cheers!

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