Vintage Kenwood KH-32

[gat300175]

Hi everyone,
I have been reading on this forum for quite a long time and really enjoy it.
This is actually my first post and I hope you guys have an idea or two for my current problem.

I bought a used old pair of Kenwood headphone at a vintage hifi store in the netherlands. The owner let me try it out for a long time with my mobile phone where I use a Deezer membership for listening purposes. After comparing the cans to a pair of vintage Jamo headphones I decided to buy them in very good shape for 69 Euros (probably around 60 dollars). I was willing to pay maybe a little more than regular ebay prices, because the owner there takes care of his stuff and you won't get a faulty unit.

On the net it is difficult to find information on the headphones, but apparently they are open-back and have 150 Ohms (https://www.hifi-wiki.de/index.php/Kenwood_KH-32)

My problem here at home is, that they sound excellent on Phones and on my laptop jack, but on my main stereo unfortunately it sounds much worse, especially when the recording is poor. It seems that it distorts at certain frequencies, when I turn the volume down a little bit it is like a relief and sounds better.
The stereo I use consists of a vintage Yamaha A-1020 amp and a Dual 1246 record player with Ortofon M20 stylus.
I always thought that the headphone amp in the vintage amps are suppose to work fine and with my other cans (Beyerdynamic TD150, NAD Visio 50, Sennheiser HD280) the sound is IMHO very good. Of course I have also tested the sound with my Klipsch speakers and on this route there seems to be no problem.


Does anyone have any thoughts on the matter? Do the impedience of the amp's headphone jack not match with the headphones impedience maybe?? Also any information or personal experience with these headphones is welcome.

Many thx in advance

Gerrit (from Germany)

 

[GREQ]

And output impedence 'mismatch' shouldn't cause audible distortion.
In the very worst case, you should only really get a strange frequency response adjustment, like an incorrect EQ adjustment.

If you've tested the amp with your other headphones and it sounds fine, it's a really odd problem.

My first thought is that maybe there is some gain being applied somewhere in the audio chain, which the other newer headphones are more capable of handling without distorting.
Perhaps the 'Loudness' knob is turned up too high?? - this will add gain.
I guess the the KH-32's older 40mm mylar dynamic driver just can't handle the gain.

To troubleshoot for gain issues maybe try listening to the same music using your phone and hifi... if there is gain applied on the hifi, the music should sound a bit more compressed and less dynamic, even with the newer headphones.
The differences should quickly become obvious when switching between the two.

 

[gat300175]

Thanks for your reply GREQ. I think you are on to something. I fiddled around with the loudness knob and things have improved substantially. On the weekend I will try to follow your advice and compare different sources of the same albums.
I noticed that the headphones seem to not handle classical music that well. Regular Rock/Pop Music like for example Tom Petty or the beatles are being handled well, also Jazz like Wes Montgomery or Grant Green sound too my liking.
Unfortunately nobody here seems to have information on the headphones,I assume that these cans are rather rare.

 

[GREQ]

Yes, they are on the rarer side and not very popular since they were an entry-level model.
Most of the vintage enthusiasts aim for the old high-end stuff, understandably.

If you google-translate this page you can get a bit more info on it
http://20cheaddatebase.web.fc2.com/TRIO/KH-32.html

 

[gat300175]

Great did not find that japanese site. Despite their low price I enjoy them quite a bit. Since I normally listen to closed headphones for better ability on sound leakage, it might be possible that I enjoy the open-back design

 

[GREQ]

There's a lot to love about both closed and open back for sure.

If you want to try out more open back vintage headphones, I would recommend trying out the Sennheiser HD430 next (late 70's).
They often sell for less than 30-40 Euros and various replacement ear pads can be found very cheaply online, since it's a very common size pad.

If you don't mind spending a bit more (+100 EUR) , a vintage Beyerdynamic DT880 (early 80's) is also an easy recommendation.
At least, they're both VERY easy to find in Germany

Or if you want to stick with more obscure Japanese stuff, I can give more recommendations, but the sky is the limit with some of the insane collectors prices these days :/ and some of them can only be found on yahoo! Japan (Japanese equivalent of eb@y).

 

[gat300175]

hehe, now you got me started.
There is a pair of Sennheiser HD 420SL for 25 Euros on sale close to my house. The HD430s would all be around 50 Euros, some with new pads sell for more. I heard that a lot of folks like the Sennheiser HD595, which I assume are much newer, but also open back.
Since I like vintage japanese stuff, I would be interested in a recommendation there also. Unfortunately I do not want to spend a fortune, my max would probably be around 200 Euros. As written in my first post I have an old Yamaha A-1020 receiver and in storage I also have a vintage Yamaha CA-1000 amp. I think it is from the late 70s and is ridiculously heavy. Both amps were being serviced and on the A-1020 I especially like the phono. stage. I also still use a Sony DDII walkman and a Pioneer tapedeck ( from the early 80s. I sometimes use a 160gb Ipod classic, but nowadays the smartphone is more handy. I also own a portable dacmagic headphone dac, but have no headphone amp for my main stereo. Thx for recommendations and kind conversation. Gerrit

 

[gat300175]

I forgot to mention what other headphones I had and did not like:
Beyerdynamic T51p
AKG K271 II
I sold both of them, also the AKG on certain days were sorta pleasing, but overall thin sounding.

 

[GREQ]

If you're patient, I'm sure you can find an HD430 for less than you expect

I forgot to mention what other headphones I had and did not like:
Beyerdynamic T51p
AKG K271 II
I sold both of them, also the AKG on certain days were sorta pleasing, but overall thin sounding.

Oh yeah... they're both horrible for different reasons.
The K271 is one of the absolute worst modern headphones I've heard and measured ... it's just gross in every way... completely understandable.

Since I like vintage japanese stuff, I would be interested in a recommendation there also.

Oh that's great news ^^ I love Japanese stuff too.

For late 1970's and 1980's under 200 euros I can recommend the following:

• Sony DR-Z5/Z6 - they're not worth more than 200 Euros, despite the sellers trying to sell it for 600-800 euros
- There is also a German branded Wega version of the Z6 called DSH-500, from when Sony owned the Wega brand.
• Pioneer SE-11 (SE-eleven)
• Trio KH-83 - same driver as the Fostex T10, but is more open back and sounds better - also very early planar technology.
• Fostex T20RP - the earliest RP studio monitor version with round drivers like the original T20 (just needs a simple pad swap to sound awesome).
• NAD RP18 (rebranded Fostex T50) - sounds best modified, but has it's charms in stock form too.
• Technics EAH-320 is kinda fun
• Technics EAH-820/830 are good but sound best with mods :/ and are usually very overpriced.
• Yamaha HP-1 - early planar with an EXTREMELY fragile headband, but sounds good.

Then going into the early 1990's:

• Technics RP-F1 is fun - very bassy
• JVC HA-D810
• Denon AH-D950

Most of them are extremely difficult to find though

 

[gat300175]

Thanks for all the recommendations. Those headphones are indeed tough to find. I will keep looking for them, maybe I get lucky. In the meantime I have stacked up on some vintage Sennheisers and am very pleased so far. All are ultra comfortable and sound awesome, actually much better than the Kenwoods I bought and I also got better prices on them. The models are Sennheiser HD 480/II, HD430 (which you recommended) and HD530. I also bought a cheap Douk U3 headphone amp in good shape used, but so far I feel like my vintage Yamaha's headphone output sounds more refined and it can also drive these cans with no problem. Some people mention that the Douk needs a good power source, so I might not give up on the device too soon. Again many thx for getting me to dive into the world of open headphones somewhat deeper. Now I just have to handle my wife's bitching about sound leakage, hahahah...

 

[GREQ]

That's a good list
I have the HD450II - almost identical to the 480II. I quite like it, despite my general dislike of on-ear headphones; and I think it's one of the best looking headphones Sennheiser ever made ^^
I used to have the HD520 too. I quite liked that one while I had it, and also basically the sibling to your 530.

I hope you're enjoying the HD430.
With your Yamaha amp, I think just adding a small bass boost should make them sound close to modern higher-end headphones.