[ecramer]

I picked up a Kenwood KD-3070 Direct Drive Turntable for free It has a Grado F3+ needle of unknown age Is this a good player to put a little money and time in?

Ed

[SET Man]

Hey!

   Well, you lucky dog... why this never happen to me

  Anyway, if the TT is clean, running fine, mechanically sound and tome arm still good moving freely. Than maybe all you will need is a new stylus for that old Grado or a new cart. And when you get new stylus or cart for it you will need to set it up and align it.

  Of course you will need a phono-pre to complete the set up also. Dose your preamp have a phono stage?

   Do you already have some LPs?

Take care,
Buddy

[ecramer]

Hello Buddy

I got it off an old friend been up in his closet for years i know he has a nice receiver and  set of speakers stashed away i may try to talk him out off 
Yes my Pre,  A Rogue Magnum 999 has a tube phone stage two 12au7 and two 12ax7. I threw it up on the rack out of curiosity and plugged it in It rock steady on freq. I will have to do a little work on cleaning it up but i have a couple of hundred albums so i dug one out and cleaned it Dang thing sounds pretty good for just throwing it up there will have to level it up and set the tracking force ect Don't know how involved i want to get yet but i know there's a lot of stuff i have i would not mind hearing again. I checked on a new stylus $55 may just pay to spend a little more and get a AT 440 MLa

ed


A nice record that i'v owned for 30 some years.  it's an old friend, glad to have the chance to hear it on vinyl again.

Hey!

   Well, you lucky dog... why this never happen to me

  Anyway, if the TT is clean, running fine, mechanically sound and tome arm still good moving freely. Than maybe all you will need is a new stylus for that old Grado or a new cart. And when you get new stylus or cart for it you will need to set it up and align it.

  Of course you will need a phono-pre to complete the set up also. Dose your preamp have a phono stage?

   Do you already have some LPs?

Take care,
Buddy

[SET Man]

Hey!

   Well, now you could put that phono stage in your pre in good use

   I still recommend that you change the stylus or buy new cart soon since you really don't know how many hours that cart got on it. A well worn stylus could eat away the groove of you vinyls. And of course you will need to install it and set it up.

   Now don't let your friend see and hear how his old turntable sound in your system and how much you enjoy it. He might want to take it back and spin his old LPs again.

   Anyway, enjoy and if you need help let me and other members here know.

Take care,
Buddy

 

[ecramer]

Hey!

   Well, now you could put that phono stage in your pre in good use

   I still recommend that you change the stylus or buy new cart soon since you really don't know how many hours that cart got on it. A well worn stylus could eat away the groove of you vinyls. And of course you will need to install it and set it up.

   Now don't let your friend see and hear how his old turntable sound in your system and how much you enjoy it. He might want to take it back and spin his old LPs again.

   Anyway, enjoy and if you need help let me and other members here know.

Take care,
Buddy

 

I wish he would come over and hear my system We never seem to get together any more. He was one of the few people i new growing up that had a decent stereo and was interested in music. He lost interest in audio years ago but i know i could get him back in it all though not to the extent of $ i have invested. Been 30 years since i really set up a TT  not sure how much fun it will be be.

Ed

[TheChairGuy]

I wish he would come over and hear my system We never seem to get together any more. He was one of the few people i new growing up that had a decent stereo and was interested in music. He lost interest in audio years ago but i know i could get him back in it all though not to the extent of $ i have invested. Been 30 years since i really set up a TT  not sure how much fun it will be be.

Ed

Hey Ed - good score! 

Not much to worry about setting up a direct drive model.  Assuming it's got a stock/fixed tonearm on it....there are no capabilities for azimuth (side to side fixing of the stylus) or VTA (vertical tracking angle...the height of the tonearm vertically in relation to the record surface).  As it's direct drive - levelling the whole thing isn't normally critical, either.

Make sure you have the right tracking weight for your cartridge (Grado's run best at about 1.6 grams....should be easy enough to do if you have a tonearm with has marks on the counterweight at the end of the tonearm) and make sure it's somehow isolated from ground vibrations (put it on thick piece of wood, granite, spikes, squishy puds....whatever you have have around to use to isolate it).  As a mechanical device, it's very prone to vibrational distrubances.

You might want to invest in a copy of an owners manual out there, too (normally $10 or so).  You have the set the cartridge in the headshell at the right place front and read....so that it tracks properly.  However, many of the Japanese tables had a specified distance from stylus point to the back of the headshell carrier where you placed our cartridge (my JVC specifies 47mm distance).  I say that as, otherwise, you'd need to buy or download an 'alignment protractor' to fix your stylus in the right place for the least tracking distortion possible.

All in all, just enjoy it - it's direct drive so it's pretty much set and forget.  But, some attention to a few matters, which you can relearn again in time, will help drive better performance from your new-ish deck.

Ciao, John 

[ecramer]

Thanks John

Been playing with it this morning leveled it up and balanced the tonearm and set the tracking weight by the marks on the counter weight. i will build myself a sandbox and snag a piece of granite for a bed I remember listening to this tt around 1977/78 when i was home on leave from the navy. I can see this might be fun to play with I know one thing it didn't sound this good 30 years ago 



 

I wish he would come over and hear my system We never seem to get together any more. He was one of the few people i new growing up that had a decent stereo and was interested in music. He lost interest in audio years ago but i know i could get him back in it all though not to the extent of $ i have invested. Been 30 years since i really set up a TT  not sure how much fun it will be be.

Ed

Hey Ed - good score! 

Not much to worry about setting up a direct drive model.  Assuming it's got a stock/fixed tonearm on it....there are no capabilities for azimuth (side to side fixing of the stylus) or VTA (vertical tracking angle...the height of the tonearm vertically in relation to the record surface).  As it's direct drive - levelling the whole thing isn't normally critical, either.

Make sure you have the right tracking weight for your cartridge (Grado's run best at about 1.6 grams....should be easy enough to do if you have a tonearm with has marks on the counterweight at the end of the tonearm) and make sure it's somehow isolated from ground vibrations (put it on thick piece of wood, granite, spikes, squishy puds....whatever you have have around to use to isolate it).  As a mechanical device, it's very prone to vibrational distrubances.

You might want to invest in a copy of an owners manual out there, too (normally $10 or so).  You have the set the cartridge in the headshell at the right place front and read....so that it tracks properly.  However, many of the Japanese tables had a specified distance from stylus point to the back of the headshell carrier where you placed our cartridge (my JVC specifies 47mm distance).  I say that as, otherwise, you'd need to buy or download an 'alignment protractor' to fix your stylus in the right place for the least tracking distortion possible.

All in all, just enjoy it - it's direct drive so it's pretty much set and forget.  But, some attention to a few matters, which you can relearn again in time, will help drive better performance from your new-ish deck.

Ciao, John 

[ecramer]

Well i ordered an audio-technica AT440MLa cartridge for this TT  and built myself a sandbox . Been spinning quite a bit of vinyl. Dug my stash of LP's out of storage so now i have 4 or 5 hundred albums to sort into order  Never throw anything out you never know when you will need it.

[TheChairGuy]

Hey, she's kinda' purdy, too 

Enjoy - John

[woodsyi]

Ed,

That sandbox looks nice.  Is it the TNT Sandblaster recipe?  Can I order one? 

[Wayner]

Make sure you put about 10 pounds of plasticlay on the outside.....make John proud!  aa

Make sure you don't cover up the Kenwood nametag with platiclay 

Wayner

[TheChairGuy]

Seriously, Wayner is not joking (much)...Plast-i-Clay is pretty impressive tweek for the hollow Japanese DD tables of yore.

8 lbs is about the max inside, tho, I've found.  Ya' never know until you stuff it, tho 

Optional is the sinfully ugly clay on the top plinth, but the results are stellar 

John

[Wayner]

Hey, the wife just got me some more plasticlay from the craft store so another couple of pounds will go into the Technics SL-Q2. And yes, I like the auto return on this drive, that is why it's out in the garage so when I get busy, I won't come back to needle riding the finish line.

Ed, does the Kenwood have auto return?

Wayner 

[yin86]

hey im new to this site but someone game me for free the same turntable you are discussing. but i need some help figuring it out, dont know what needs replacing or fixing if any. like how i can barely hear the music even at full volume on my speakers. just trying learn and would appreciate any help

[ecramer]

hey im new to this site but someone game me for free the same turntable you are discussing. but i need some help figuring it out, dont know what needs replacing or fixing if any. like how i can barely hear the music even at full volume on my speakers. just trying learn and would appreciate any help

Does you pre amp have a phono stage ? look on the back if not you need a phono pre amp first

[ecramer]

Ed,

That sandbox looks nice.  Is it the TNT Sandblaster recipe?  Can I order one? 

That's a home brew model.  I had a couple of slaps of 1 3/4"  Maple counter top left over from when i built my amp platforms and my rack I have one piece of counter top left big enough to make a sandbox with.

ED

[ecramer]

Hey, the wife just got me some more plasticlay from the craft store so another couple of pounds will go into the Technics SL-Q2. And yes, I like the auto return on this drive, that is why it's out in the garage so when I get busy, I won't come back to needle riding the finish line.

Ed, does the Kenwood have auto return?

Wayner 

Yes it's a semi auto model I also hate to have to Jump up and grab the cue lever . I guess i will have to peel the model number off and re stick it somewhere along the line it got shoved down and haven't got around to detailing the deck out yet.

ED

[sanlanman]

Hey, the wife just got me some more plasticlay from the craft store so another couple of pounds will go into the Technics SL-Q2. And yes, I like the auto return on this drive, that is why it's out in the garage so when I get busy, I won't come back to needle riding the finish line.

Ed, does the Kenwood have auto return?

Wayner 

And, this is why Audio Technica should bring their Safety Raiser out of mothballs and back into production.

[craig223]

Doc Watson's "Memories" is a great album.  I have a 30 year old vinyl copy as well as a CD.  The sound quality of the CD is so bad that it never gets played.  Gotta get my vinyl rig back in operation.

[ecramer]

Doc Watson's "Memories" is a great album.  I have a 30 year old vinyl copy as well as a CD.  The sound quality of the CD is so bad that it never gets played.  Gotta get my vinyl rig back in operation.

Your 100% right there the cd has none of the eloquence of the simple but powerfull presentation of Doc Watson. The whole  album is pure Americana.

Ed