Help Request for Kenwood Series 21 System

PhilSherry

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I hope this request is allowed.
A friend of mine has a Kenwood Series 21 stack system, its been in storage for 18 months. We connected it all up recently but no sound. All the displays light up, remote works and CDs seem to operate but no sound and the graphic equaliser display shows no movememnt.
Consists of
G-EQ300 Graphic Equaliser
X-5300 Cassette Deck
D-R350 CD Player
S-F100 Speakers
I dont have the model of Power Amplifier right now.
Could there be a problem with an internal fuse (clutching at straws)?
Thanks
Phil
 
I'd suspect wrongly wired first. Do you have the manual(s)? Looks like there should be what Kenwood call an AV Control Centre, which would be the pre-amp & input switching unit. You haven't referenced that?
 
Thanks for your reply. We have the manuals for each item but we dont have one for setting up initially (if there was one). We have checked the wiring sveral times and they are correct. Yes there is an AV Control Centre I will ask him to send me the model number. One of the Control Cables was missing but we replaced that with the same type.
Thanks
 
P.8 of the GE manual details the connections to the Tape 2 connections of the AV Control Centre & also the critical need to set the Tape 2 Monitor switch. If still no joy I'd try removing the GE from the setup & see if that works.

As always, pics of the connections may help pinpoint the issue.

 
Apologies for my intermittant replies, were both mid 70s with health issues aand Im a carer also so free time is rare right now.
The missing numbers are
AV CONTROL CENTER C-V150
POWER AMPLIFER M-A100
I will get to see him this week and will take a photo of the conections
Many Thanks
Phil
 
connect the AV center and the amp only
connet the speakers
power on if you get sound then connet each component.

If that don't work, try resetting the AV center.
to rest the AV center

1. Turn off the AV Center from the power outlet from the wall (the plug)
2. Hold the power button on the AV Center
3. (keep power button pressed on the AV Center) Turn on the AV Center from the wall (the plug)
4. Release the power button on the AV Center after 5 seconds.

hope this helps
 
We rechecked the wiring on the back and reset the AV centre but no change, we had trouble finding the Tape 2 Monitor switch but eventually found it on the remote. The remote has new batteries and it does power the system on and off but none of the other buttons gets a response so were wondering if there is a provlem with that. Next time Im there we will try conecting the AV centre and amp only, were hampred a bit by dodgy knees so we will be putting it onto a table for easier access.
I had seperate HiFi components during the sixties and seventies and i did have a similar Yamaha stack system in the eighties but this system puzzles me, Im getting past it for sure
 
As @CBMAmiga1200 alluded to, start with a basic setup of CD, AV Control, Power Amp & speakers.

Connect the CD to the AV control's CD input via red/white RCA/phone connectors.
Connect the AV Control to the Power Amp with the ribbon cable.
Connect the speaker to the FL & FR terminal on the power amp.
Select the CD input on the AV Control with the buttons bottom left, next to the headphone jack.
The Tape 2 Monitor should be next to those & should be off.
Play a CD.

If nothing is broken, that should work. If it does you can consider trying to add the graphic equaliser. If it doesn't, something's probably died. For the remote to control all units they need to be connected by (probably) 3.5mm jacks to the System Control sockets.
 
As @CBMAmiga1200 alluded to, start with a basic setup of CD, AV Control, Power Amp & speakers.

Connect the CD to the AV control's CD input via red/white RCA/phone connectors.
Connect the AV Control to the Power Amp with the ribbon cable.
Connect the speaker to the FL & FR terminal on the power amp.
Select the CD input on the AV Control with the buttons bottom left, next to the headphone jack.
The Tape 2 Monitor should be next to those & should be off.
Play a CD.

If nothing is broken, that should work. If it does you can consider trying to add the graphic equaliser. If it doesn't, something's probably died. For the remote to control all units they need to be connected by (probably) 3.5mm jacks to the System Control sockets.
Thank you so much for replying, Im sorry Im only able to get back intermittantly. Im hoping to see him tomorrow and will try again. I shall report back.
 
We had sound today, deep joy, but discovered that the CD player isnt working, it rotates to select a disk but no more, cant hear the CD spinning up and no sound. He told me today that the CD player isnt the original, that packed up so he bought this one second hand. I know that the CD player packed up fairly quickly on my Yamaha stack system so Im wondering if these were a weak point in the system. I dont know how it could be repaired but will see if I can locate a second hand one.. The radio arial isnt attached yet but we got white noise so I guess thats ok, I will find some tapes for him to try, the record player worked well. We do have a problem in that all of the displays are very dim and difficult to read, Im not sure if they can be adjusted or if its due to it being in storage for some time.
Thank you all so much for all your help, I must say I now have a hankering for seperates again too.
I did take some photos so will attach them.
 

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Hi
I have a similar setup without the graphic Equalizer
I was wondering what @PhilSherry did to resolve this as I'm having the same problem
No sound output

D-R350 CD Player
AV CONTROL CENTER C-V150
POWER AMPLIFER M-A100

I don't have a System Control cable not sure if that just for the remote or not?

The remote works and seems to operate the components but I can't get any sound from radio or CD player

on the remote there is a "Test Tone" button I thought this might send a tone to each speaker therefore testing the amp without the inputs
Unfortunately I can't locate a User manual to workout how
 
My amp has separate power cable

Sorry if pics a shaky

The pic by @RBZ5416 look right
The CD, Tape and AMP all have 2 green ports these look like they could be 3.5mm jacks
 
Last edited:
Apologies i should have replied earlier. The problem was the CD player had failed, we bought a second hand one and it all worked. There was an issue with the tape monoitor switch which confused us. We still have a dim display. Im seing the chap tomorrow and will see how things are now.
 
The CD, Tape and AMP all have 2 green ports these look like they could be 3.5mm jacks
Apologies, I misunderstood the terminology & thought you were referring to the ribbon cable being missing. You're correct, the 3.5mm jack ports are just for inter-connectivity for remote control purposes. First make sure that the ribbon cable is firmly seated at both ends & there are no damaged pins.

As was suggested to the OP, strip the system back to basics with just the control unit, power amp, one source & front speakers. Start with the CD player & if no joy, try it connected to other inputs (except phono). If still no joy, try the cassette deck (assuming you have a tape). If neither seem to work, try a 3.5mm jack to RCA cable connected to the headphone socket of your phone/tablet/PC.
 
Hi
Removed, inspected and replaced the ribbon cable this re connected with a satisfying click
All other cables seem to be in good condition

Stripped back to bare minimum as suggested by @RBZ5416 and tried each input except tape as I couldn't find 1
Trying each in tern
Still have no sound

Anything else I can try or is this pointing to a fault with the AMP?
 
Did you try more than one source?
Yes
CD several differant they spin and display shows progress,
Radio tuned both MW and FM to know stations nothing not even static
and via 3.5mm jack to RCA cable
 
About the last thing I can think of is the Tape Monitor button, make sure that's off.

You could also try headphones in the control unit to at least see if there's sound there.
 
Update
Waiting for a mate who fixes electronics to return from holiday, to have a look see

As every suggestion above hasn't worked
Will report back with results (This could be 3 - 4 weeks)
In the mean time thanx for your advice
 
connect the AV center and the amp only
connet the speakers
power on if you get sound then connet each component.

If that don't work, try resetting the AV center.
to rest the AV center

1. Turn off the AV Center from the power outlet from the wall (the plug)
2. Hold the power button on the AV Center
3. (keep power button pressed on the AV Center) Turn on the AV Center from the wall (the plug)
4. Release the power button on the AV Center after 5 seconds.

hope this helps
Thank you this just worked for me…
 
Hi, I have a similar setup, stereo and stereo 3 works fine but when i switch to surround i just get high pitched squealing!

Any ideas?
 

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