Kenwood KX-800 Stereo Cassette Deck

This Kenwood KX-800 is a stereo cassette deck with Dolby B noise reduction, it was first sold by Kenwood in 1979 with a recommended retail price of USD $365 and discontinued 2 years later in 1981.

The main features of the Kenwood KX-800 are: 3 heads and no off-tape monitoring to save production cost, mechanical 3 digit tape counter, manual tape type selection and capable of handling normal, chrome, ferro-chrome and metal tapes, belt driven single-capstan transport.

Typical front loading cassette deck with the cassette compartiment located on the left side of the deck. Tape eject is operated mechanically and the cassette needs to be placed with the side to be played facing forward in the cassette well.

Level meters used on the KX-800 are analog needle VU reading meters. Full-logic transport controls used on the KX-800 let it respond to the slightest finger contact for fast and effortless transport function selection.

The Dolby-B system reduces tape hiss on tapes recorded on the KX-800 by as much as 10 dB at the highest frequencies. The 19kHz multiplex pilot slgnal present in FM stereo broadcasts can cause false triggering of the noise reduction system. The switchable MPX filter of the KX-800 filters out the pilot signal, and assuring proper Dolby processing of FM stereo programs.

To make live recordings this deck has 2 microphone inputs to connect microphones with a jack connector. For undisturbed listening a jack connector for a pair of stereo headphones is supplied. Connection to other audio components for plaback can be achieved by a RCA cable and recording from a source by a RCA cable.