Tír Na HiFi

Hi, I got vintage amp Kenwood A-3X with S-3X speaker set (Barn find you could say) I gave it to my son to get him into hi-fi, will pairing this amp with modern speakers improve the sound, or it is just waste of money, I thought about Diamonds 220 they are only 208€ on richer sounds, any thoughts on that ???

It's a tough one to answer. Not all modern speakers are necessarily better than old speakers. There are plenty of old speakers that can sound great.
Wharfdale though are a pretty decent speaker in that price range and reviews are good on that model too. In general they would have a bit more 'hifi pedigree' than Kenwood but that's never a guarantee. You'd really have to hear them to make a comparison.

As for the amp, speakers present a certain load to an amplifier and as long as it has enough juice to handle any weird impedence drops, it will drive them without issue. As for sound quality its all subjective - you'd have to listen to them to make a judgement call.

Things will definitely improve using modern speakers in place of the Kenwood ones, but I am afraid you will soon realise the amplifier is the bottle neck at that point. Anyway, if it a trial to test your son interest in hifi, then I would give it a try: I guess most of us have started in a similar way.

Best

I forgot to add that you could also buy the cheaper Lonpoo lp42 speakers, that received a brilliant review on tnt-audio.

Best

Max

Have you an option to borrow some modern speakers before having to buy new?

I’m probably stating the obvious here but have you hooked the Kenwood amp to your own system?

Thanks for all reply i will look into those lonpoo speakers, I see Amazon only, will they perform well as they 4ohm with 2x35w amp???

pink wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2025 12:59 pm Hi, I got vintage amp Kenwood A-3X with S-3X speaker set (Barn find you could say) I gave it to my son to get him into hi-fi, will pairing this amp with modern speakers improve the sound, or it is just waste of money, I thought about Diamonds 220 they are only 208€ on richer sounds, any thoughts on that ???

https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_libra ... a-3x.shtml

The Kenwood A-3X spec says 33W/8 Ohm so the Wharfedale 220 would be suitable because they are also 8 Ohms. I would avoid 4 Ohm speakers at all costs.

Cyndale wrote: ↑Thu Feb 13, 2025 3:33 pm

pink wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2025 12:59 pm Hi, I got vintage amp Kenwood A-3X with S-3X speaker set (Barn find you could say) I gave it to my son to get him into hi-fi, will pairing this amp with modern speakers improve the sound, or it is just waste of money, I thought about Diamonds 220 they are only 208€ on richer sounds, any thoughts on that ???

https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_libra ... a-3x.shtml

The Kenwood A-3X spec says 33W/8 Ohm so the Wharfedale 220 would be suitable because they are also 8 Ohms. I would avoid 4 Ohm speakers at all costs.

A couple of dips to 3.5 Ohms though if these measurements are correct
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/foru ... iew.16752/

pink wrote: ↑Thu Feb 13, 2025 2:05 pm Thanks for all reply i will look into those lonpoo speakers, I see Amazon only, will they perform well as they 4ohm with 2x35w amp???

Although there is no impedance graph for the Lonpoo, their stated impedance is 4-8Ohm. Considering the target of those speakers I guess they are an easy load for any amplifier. But I see their sensitivity is not very high (85dB), so sound pressure could be limited.

Best

Max