Once upon a time, I didn’t know anything about the concept of the home cinema. I started reading (paper) magazines, most notably Home Cinema Choice which was, at that time, the reference.
In 2001, Home Cinema Choice reviewed the then new Kenwood KRF-V7030D AV Receiver and praised it for its performance and value.
Of course, at that time, it was not possible to purchase one in Mauritius… Fortunately, some time later, my sister-in-law had to go on a business trip to Hong Kong and I asked her to purchase one for us. For many years, she would complain how heavy the Kenwood KRF-V7030D was and how we will in her debt for life :-)
I built my “home cinema” around the Kenwood and I wrote a blog post in 2005 to explain what equipment I had. The Kenwood KRF-V7030D worked great from 2001 to around 2007 until one day when I could not switch it on anymore.
I brought the amplifier to a number of technicians for a diagnostic and to see if it was possible to repair it. None could…
So we purchased another AV Receiver when we were in vacation in Thailand, a Pioneer, which was OK and completely forgot about the Kenwood KRF-V7030D.
Five years later, I stumbled upon a technician who told me he could revive anything. I left the Kenwood KRF-V7030D with him for about four months (with a very low level of expectations) and, lo and behold, he repaired it.
By that time, I had moved to a Yamaha AV receiver (and left the Pioneer with my parents) and I used the Kenwood KRF-V7030D as a stereo amplifier in my bedroom. It worked really great… until one month ago when it stopped working once more. I could switch it on this time but the audio level from my speakers was very low, nearly inaudible. Either there was a problem with the amplifier circuit or the volume circuit.
I called the technician which had revived the amplifer once and he tried and tried and tried… Today, he called me and told me the truth: my amp was dead. A microprocessor which controls the volume is faulty and this component is not made any more.
My Kenwood KRF-V7030D is finally and truly dead this time, 21 years after I bought it.
Thanks for the trip. We had a great time.
