Monday, May 21, 2012

Radio Palace

So I have the world's best tuner, Kenwood L-1000T, in my living room system.  I can simply play that system and hear it all through house.  It sounds sweet and transparent everywhere, often drawing me into the living room chair to listen more closely.

And I have Marantz 2130 scope tuner by my fingertips when seated at Kitchen table.  I can play that when I'm at the kitchen table when I haven't turned on the living room system first, or if I want to listen to something different.  An analog scope tuner like this invites you to explore the dial and find new stations.

What could be better?  Well on Monday I hooked the Kenwood variable output (buffered) into the input of the Sonos Zoneplayer in my Living Room.   Now I can play the Kenwood in Bedroom and Kitchen systems as well, connected through a 16-bit digital system.  It sounds nearly as good as in the living room.

Only a few minutes transpired after hooking up Sonos to hear the Kenwood from the bedroom before I also wanted the remote.  So I hooked up a Radio Shack remote extender in the living room, and pointed it right at the Kenwood.  Unlike many other negative experiences with these extenders, this time it worked perfectly right off, and I can use the KT-6040 remote to control the L-1000T perfectly from either the bedroom or the kitchen through the Remote Extender transmitters I have in those rooms.

Not many tuners have full function remotes.  Even though I don't have the correct remote, I can tune new stations in either the automatic or manual modes using the remote control, and memorize them.  Even the Yamaha TX-1000 only lets you select presets, and the Onkyo T-9090 MkII is the same.   I like the way the Kenwood clicks when tuning, has a vintage feel, but I worry if eventually some of the relays will wear out.



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