Kenwood 5090
my first lampizator player ever.
Y. 2005.


This is a fantastic player. Built circa 1998 but with 24 bits already. Maybe one of the first 24 bit players. The DAC is on separate additional green PCB next to the stock 4090 model PCB. In fact it has BOTH PCBs inside. old 4090 20 bit  Kenwood's own chip and new 5090 24 bit. - Matsushita National MN35502

This is the list of other players which have same or similar chip:

YAMAHA CDX-496  MN35511AL
YAMAHA CDX-396   MN35511AL
YAMAHA CDX-390  MN35511
VICTOR XL-V1-N  MN35502

JVC XL-V464   MN35500
JVC XL-V264  MN35500


The player has abundance of free space for transformer and tubes and power supply. So we can build the lampizator, even a balanced 4 tube arrangement - all put neatly inside.

It has the coolest drawer of all budget players. It has the most legible display of all players except Mark Levinson.
It comes in two colours - black and silver. It costs pennies on  ebay.  And it has a CD text which is cool.  
I recommend it to newbees.









The Lampizator in this case is a 6H6P type, SRPP config, mounted horizontally just near the output RCA's
Power supply and transformer are in another corner.

he brown PCB is the original 4090 model, the green is an addition for making it 5090.




The new transformer sits in the upper left corner, the huge PIO capacitor and high voltage section is on the left from the original yellow trafo.



This is the add-on PCB which has the DAC circuitry. The old brown PCB is having the second DAC, disconnected but existing and ready to work. Apparently that was cheaper for them to keep the old board as it is and waste the 20 bit DAC , than making a new PCB.


These silver wires are Russian military silver antenna cables, screened and teflon insulated. They pick the DAC signal and take it to the tubes.



This is the rectified 12,6 VDC power supply of the tube heaters (in series 2 x 6,3 V)







A warning: the signal straight from the 24 bit DAC chip has a residual high frequency noise. To remove it we need to add some passive filtering, like a RCR T shaped network, maybe 1K series, 5nF parallel, 1 K series again. Some experimentation is needed.




look - my proposed lampization signal stealing points.



Kenwood DP5090




Upgraded caps - Audionote Copper Foil Paper In Oil - the ULTIMATE decoupling signal caps.

The DAC is a V out type, so the tube has to be low gain like 6H6P or 6H13C

ZE SOUND

Ze sound of this player is very dynamic, very detailed, it is a goose-bump generator, it has spectacular depth and width and height. People who hear it lampized for the first time think they are listening to Wadia 860 and they are not far from truth.

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