Simple, you bought the Japanese version with the tuner designed for Japan and other countries that use it. I believe the Kenwood KT5020 was for Japanese market only and the Kenwood KT5200 was for the good ole USA.
Kenwood KT-5020 from Japan
So I bought a Kenwood KT-5020 tuner on eBay from a Japanese seller for what I thought was a decent price & free shipping. There are quite a few 5020s listed - all from Japanese sellers - for about the same $160ish price range. I received the tuner in short order, hooked it up and discovered - Japanese tuners do not have the fm tuning frequency range which we have in the US - it's a very narrow range from 76 to 90 MHz instead of our 88 to 108. Ok, I am not a sophisticated audio enthusiast, but I did my research and found the 5020 was highly thought of by some reviewers and was pleased to find several for sale on eBay but nowhere in my research did I find warning flags about the tuning frequency discrepancy between the US and Japanese market tuners. I started the return process w/ebay and was immediately refunded my money and never heard from the seller about returning the tuner. I find the whole experience curious and wonder if I am the only person to have bought one of these Japanese tuners on the 'bay because searching with Google reveals not a hint of discussion about it. This discussion may be the only touchstone for others with the same experience. - Chris
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as far as the return issues go, and the quick refund, you may have accidentally found the chink in the armour of ’japan to the west’ sales of items which sold at lower prices. meaning, in the zone of where refunds are less problematic than dealing with the expense of a return, even if the return is not warranted at all. the deceiving types might take advantage of this. (not saying you are, as you were seemingly surprised by it all). It would likely be, additionally, tied to the issue of the shipping costs for big items. At the core of it all... importing into Japan is, well..it’s all built like a porcupine quill that is oriented outward. Even manufactures have great difficulty, at times, getting product to their appointed Japanese distributors. Japan is pretty well militantly built in all ways, to allow for exported of items only. Imports are, in my experience, strongly hindered. Seriously. Just my experience when dealing with people who wanted products from at least two companies I was or am involved with, at the distribution shipping level (into Japan for distribution and sales). What I’m saying is that export from Japan is the sole one way street that is in existence. As silently enforced by the entire edifice of what Japan is and how it works/functions, both culturally and economically. Unless it is a raw product to be worked on in japan and sold at a higher finished item price as an exported item.. then the item is, in my experience, thoroughly discouraged from ever entering the country. To the point that getting that tuner back is an extreme and nearly impossible hassle for the orignal seller to navigate in any reasonable way. |
"To the point that getting that tuner back is an extreme and nearly impossible hassle for the orignal seller to navigate in any reasonable way." Yeah, that's what I assumed though I was more than willing to act on my end. But I think there is a bit of information shorting on the seller's end since none of these tuners being offered on the US market will work with our FM frequencies - but this information is not provided. Perhaps it is just ignorance on the part of the sellers - it certainly was ignorance on my part. As far as the first response from stereo5 - the Kenwood KT-5020 tuner was sold in the 90s in the US and Europe. The KT-5200 referred to doesn't seem to exist though a KR-5200 receiver was sold in the 70s. |
There is nothing stating that the KT-5020 is for the Japanese market. It’s not your problem! https://fmtunerinfo.com/KT-5020user.pdf |
Thanks for the validation yogiboy! Yes, the fmtunerinfo.com site is my go-to for tuner research. If you dig deep enough and long enough a brief mention of the frequency discrepancy can be found (after the purchase in my case) and they allude to sellers possibly not revealing the Japanese market tuner limitations. |
The KT-5020s which were sold in this country do have the 87.5mhz to 108mhz range tuning which the owners manual reflects. I assume the ones with the 76mhz to 90mhz tuning were strictly for the domestic Japanese market and had a spec sheet which reflected that. I did not receive an owners manual with the one I bought so I can't verify that. |