Good facilities - in theory!

Awful build quality

This one's a little bit off the wall, since the model I purchased was a Kenwood Avino SE7 system - not the one listed (I live in Asia and the product #'s differ).
However all you potential purchasers out there should read on.
After 3 months the cassette mechanism broke - door jammed tape broke.
Took it back, and the store replaced it.
3 months later the same thing happened, ie broken tape door jammed, store replaced.
Then, recently one year later the cassette player won't play at right speed. All tapes sound like Tiny Tim tiptoeing through the tulips.
Now of course the system is out of warranty, and despite Kenwoods offer of a replacement, my opinion is somewhat jaundiced. They should stick to food mixers and blenders as far as I am concerned. I'll get a Denon next time!

Stylish appearance and compact design. Wood veneer speakers Pure class A operation (user-selectable to class AB for high volume levels). Good quality CD mechanism and player for the money. Quality binding posts on speakers and rear of unit. Does not contains tons of plastic like other small stereo systems. Has multiple source inputs (i.e. MD, CD, AUX, TAPE). Has a natural bass feature that has three settings. setting one turns it off, two turns it on independant of the volume, and (my favorite) setting three enhances the bass and the treble depending on the volume level of the system. the user manual is well written so even semi-intelligent people could figure out how to setup and operate this unit. I expect this unit to last me quite a while with normal operating parameters.

Unit runs warm due to class A operation. Remote not backlit. Unit came with spaghetti speaker wire (must upgrade to decent cable). Speaker facade is a little to over-designed. Would have prefered just a normal speaker cover like paradigm, BA, or the countless other speaker manufacturers. But at this price range, its more often the visual impact that sells the unit, not the sound. Unfortunately for me, the look of the speaker front(s) detract from the overall impression of the unit. I would have to hunt down and beat severely the person(s) who actually would pay the full MSRP of $699.99 though. If you can get this thing for under $300.00 than you will be spared my evil wrath.

I purchased this small system with one goal in mind: To be able to play CDs while i practice along with my guitar. This system is ideally suited for a small home studio setting, where all you're doing is playing CDs at low to moderate levels. The CD player mechanism seems to be built well, and it accesses the disc quite quickly. In pure class A mode, the sound is noticeable better than class AB mode. I have already invested many thousands of dollars in my marantz home theatre system, so i didnt want to spend alot for just a mini system like this. But for the money ($219.99 USD) i couldn't find a better sounding stereo. I absolutely loathe most of the compact and mini systems on the market because they're over hyped and designed with more plastic panelling and cheap components than they're worth. This model seems rather elegant in comparison. No "super boom sub" or some pointless technical jargon screen-printed on the front panel (which is too common at this price range). Unit is pretty heavy which is a good indication that there is more quality than you'd expect at that price range. I would have to admit, i am not a huge fan of kenwood, or any other domestic brand name electronics company (i.e. JVC, panasonic, etc) and i usually buy only top notch equipment. This unit doesn't even register on the scale when compared to high-end component systems from Marantz, nakamichi, et al. But i emphasize that at this price range, I would be hard pressed to find a unit that looks as elegant, sounds as good, has high quality interconnects, features and ease of operation as the Kenwood HM-601. Remember though, ditch the spaghetti wire and buy some real cable. Please note that the overall rating that i gave this unit is on a different scale than the high-end electronics. This rating is for the HM-601's relationship to other units in its price and performance class. Contact me with any specific questions or comments.

Similar Products Used:

Denon, JVC and other comparable mini systems.