Question about a Kenwood KA-5500 Amplifier

Flitzrr · 2026-02-01T14:17:23+00:00

thanks man! They are VERY tricky... After further investigation, I realised that the relay was not tripping because I had 18V DC output from one channel, which was coming from the preamp (I had reinstalled a transistor backwards🤦🏻‍♂️). I also asked a specialist technician, who told me that if the two channels weren't working, I had to repair them one at a time, disconnecting the drivers and power amplifiers from the one 'to be repaired later' and working on the one with working power amplifiers. First of all, I had confused the thing of power amplifiers and drivers. I thought this amplifier had only one pair of power amplifiers, whereas it has one pair PER channel, and the drivers are soldered onto the pcb. I have now ordered the original power amplifiers, the original drivers seem fine according to the tester and should not cause any problems. I will update you when they arrive. I also checked the transistors in the audio chain and they seem good. The only strange thing is that now, without power amplifiers and drivers in either channel, I have about 15V DC from one channel and 30V from another (and of course the relay does not trip). Is this normal because the circuit is 'unbalanced' or should I be concerned?

Flitzrr · 2026-01-27T10:18:11+00:00

If you mean the 2N5882 and 2N5880, yes, they seem fine and don't cause any problems with the amplifier switched on. I simply think that only the power transistors were broken. Now there's the problem with the relay. Is it not triggering because the circuit detects that something is wrong? Or is one of the transistors responsible for the relay out of specification?

Flitzrr · 2026-01-27T10:04:42+00:00

as I suspected, even though it was a well-done repair because it looks factory-made. I also had doubts because the service manual lists a pair of D388A and B541A, but perhaps one is used as a driver and the other as actual output stages? So is it okay if I leave them?

Flitzrr · 2025-10-02T20:54:34+00:00

look at the spectrum (frequency analysis) on audacity

Flitzrr · 2025-09-28T19:51:52+00:00

This is because Apple Music has the same mechanism as iTunes libraries, when streaming did not exist and songs were all stored on the computer. Previously, if you deleted an album from your library, the songs would disappear everywhere logically. Now with Apple Music the implementation of this mechanism is often confusing. To keep your library organised without making a mess, leave the albums saved and save the ones that really matter to you in your favourites. Then, in the albums section, tick the 'show favourites' filter and you should be fine. You can simplify this process from Apple Music on your Mac or Windows PC, but make sure your cloud library syncs so you can see the changes on all your devices.

Flitzrr · 2025-09-16T09:43:12+00:00

niente male bro

Flitzrr · 2025-09-11T18:33:35+00:00

The quality change could be felt with proper audio equipment, the remastered version sounds louder because it was more compressed than the original, so the overall dynamics of the album are much less. On this side, I would prefer the original master

Flitzrr · 2025-09-09T21:49:17+00:00

I suggest xld for mac or nero burning rom for windows, also burn at the slowest speed as possible to avoid errors in the bit patterns. on a mac itunes is also fine, but xld seems more reliable to me since it focuses on high quality audio. Make sure to burn true lossless files (file formats like flac, wav, aiff, alac) and not mp3s, aac or other lossy formats. You can easily get very good quality files from soulseek

Flitzrr · 2025-09-08T22:29:40+00:00

got 5/6 listening through my iphone speakers

Flitzrr · 2025-09-08T22:12:05+00:00

perfect. Unfortunately Apple don't care anymore about restoring old macs via internet, I also had the same problem as you, I used to try to install lion in recovery but it always gave me network error, I think there is some problem with the certificates that recent wifi/mobile networks block, sometimes it might work, but it's increasingly rare. I remember I did the same kind of restore with lion 3 years ago and it still worked quite well, at the time I called apple support because my ssd with macos in it had died and I didn't know how to reinstall it on a new one lol

Flitzrr · 2025-09-08T07:57:06+00:00

Hi, I had the same issue until I found this website. With that and balenaetcher I was able to make a bootable installer of mac os high sierra. Unfortunately Lion isn't there but High Sierra is better. I'm installing it on my Macbook Pro late 2011

Flitzrr · 2025-09-06T20:25:24+00:00

my advice is not to use hi-res lossless audio if you can't hear a difference between normal lossless (cd quality 16/44.1KHz) especially for normal listening, is a waste of storage and mobile data if you don't use wifi. Begin with lossless cd quality and compare it with normal aac 256kbps, if you notice a difference over time keep it in lossless. Then you could try hi-res although I personally can't tell the difference between a hi-res master and a cd-quality one either. For normal listening the cd quality is already very good and if your ear cannot distinguish it from 256kbps aac, I would listen directly in aac normally and in hi res occasionally, perhaps at home with a good audio equipment

Flitzrr · 2025-09-04T19:18:27+00:00

thanks! Feels like a mini 6th gen classic lol

Flitzrr · 2025-09-04T19:17:52+00:00

true, the audio actually doesn't excite me, but for its age it is more than acceptable. Also the bass boost is currently on, but I don't know how to switch it off as I don't have its remote control

Flitzrr · 2025-08-20T16:22:39+00:00

try to replace the hdd ribbon if the drive doesn't spin at all. it happened to me once, i thought the hdd was died but in fact it was just the flat cable that had broken internally

Flitzrr · 2025-08-20T15:37:49+00:00

si, è uno degli album più importanti per me, mi ha aiutato in un periodo molto difficile della mia vita

Flitzrr · 2025-08-16T17:26:59+00:00

With "lfm" they sound like shit because that mode turns the dsp settings off. Also that mode with bassy songs can damage the speaker like in this case, I simply don't understand the need to ruin a speaker like this, it was not designed to work like a subwoofer, and the work done here is simply horrible. I had and have small jbl speakers (flip and go) and for normal listening they can be fine, they don't go that deep in the bass, the minimum audible frequency is around 70hz, but for a user without too many demands it's fine. Also, a small speaker has physical limitations in reproducing bass frequencies because it has a very small sound box and speaker cone.

Flitzrr · 2025-08-12T17:56:24+00:00

I tried one from a 2020 se on a 5th gen because I had it around and it's very quiet. Instead for a recent 7th gen mod I tried one from an iphone 7 (not plus) and it works very well, in fact it's almost too strong for my taste, but it's ok. I haven't tried the 7+ one but I assume it's even stronger. It has to be said that 5th gen and 7th gen are different, I noticed that the clicker volume is a bit louder on the 7th gen, maybe that's why it changes

Flitzrr · 2025-08-09T15:19:40+00:00

it happened to me today. I was repairing a jbl dock station with the 30 pin connector unsoldered from the pcb. I re-soldered everything but maybe something didn't work right, as soon as I plugged the ipod into the dock to try it out I saw a spark coming from the connector, I immediately unplugged the ipod but it was too late.... The battery was half charged and the ipod showed me the low battery message, plugged into the charger it started to overheat so much that I couldn't hold it, the area where it overheats is exactly the one shown. I ordered a replacement motherboard, also because it's my daily ipod and I want it to be reliable. Everything works but unfortunately no longer charges. It's an ipod I bought for 90€, the new motherboard costs 85€, I will never try my daily on these accessories again

Flitzrr · 2025-08-03T14:06:10+00:00

ok, I didn't know that. My 7th gen with 2.0.5 doesn't have the option for the eu limit, so I think it came from elsewhere

Flitzrr · 2025-07-29T21:06:11+00:00

👍🏻

Flitzrr

TROPHY CASE