KX-1030 Cassette Deck

Mike Sweeney

Mike Sweeney

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
I just picked this up to fill out the set of the Kenwood receiver, amp and turntable :) I got it and they said it "powered up".. that was the extent of their testing.

I got it and yes, it powered up.. even played somewhat.. bad speed control, sticky controls etc.. pretty normal.

I opened and found the remains of the old belt with what used to be masking tape holding it to the inside of the case, a rubber band on the capstan drive and yucky grease. I worked out the easiest way to change both belts but not the counter belt.. that will take more work than I want to do right now. I also want to recap it but that will wait for a while because cleaned up, new belts, cleaned head and path, she sounds really good. I use my old Apple HiFi speaker since the tape drive output is a good match for what it expects.

There are two screws on top and two on the bottom holding a solenoid in place.. but the kicker is a tie post for a spring that has a hex head on it. Loosen it and you can push the bracket apart enough to slide the belts into place using a hemostat or other slender tool.
s-l1600.jpg IMG_9492.jpg IMG_9497.jpg IMG_9498.jpg IMG_9499.jpg IMG_9500.jpg IMG_9506.jpg 2019-02-03_21-50-04.jpg
 
Nice fine. I believe it was Kenwood's TOTL 3 head deck in 1978.

I found a similar deck on CL a few years back. After replacing the belts and a good cleaning of switches and levels, she played great...for awhile. Eventually I started getting static in the output. After searching AK, other members experienced the same issue and fixed their decks by replacing caps C27, C28, C89 and C90. It seems they used poor quality caps in manufacturing. I'm still in process of replacing these 4 caps (inexperienced at soldering on a circuit board). Just wanted to pass along this info in case you run into a similar problem.

Also, If you need a pdf of the owners manual or the schematic, I can share one. I have not been able to locate a service manual, so if you run across one, please share.

Good luck. It will make a nice addition to your Kenwood set-up.
 
93SCMax said:
Also, If you need a pdf of the owners manual or the schematic, I can share one. I have not been able to locate a service manual, so if you run across one, please share.
Click to expand...
Nope.. have not found one yet. I have the OM and schematic. Plus a few ads :)
Good to know about the four caps.. I was debating on opening it back up to rebuild the PS for now.. maybe I'll do that plus those caps before I put it into use. My Fisher Studio died yesterday so my time frame of restoring this got bumped up a bit :D It was my entertainment while watching a boring super bowl game.
 
I will say that the KX-830 is the baby brother to the 1030 and I have seen that manual. It will get the job done since the tape/motor are the same. In fact, the 830 manual refers to the 1030 manual. You can get that one from Hifi
 
Thanks Mike.
I already have a copy of the 830 service manual, courtesy of HiFiEngine. I didn't realize that it is so applicable. I'm new to stereo repair, and a little anal so I try to get the exact documentation that matches the model I have. The KX-1030 has been a tough one to find, but based on your input, I'll spend more time looking thru the KX-830 service manual.

Yeah, most boring Super Bowl in a long time...half time show didn't impress me and no commercials blew me away.
 
Yeah, I'm running a KA-5500, KT-5500 and KX-1030 with Bose 301 (Series 2) speakers in the garage workroom. Once I eliminate the output noise in the KX-1030 by changing out the caps, I'll be happy as can be working in the garage. I've got tons of old tunes on cassettes that I don't have on CD's or iTunes so it will be really fun to hear those old tunes again while toying with the cars.

Enjoy your Kenny's!
 
Problem caps replaced with Wima films ( red square caps).. I'm recapping the power supply right now. One of the caps came out and measured almost 9 ohms vs the .3 ohms of the replacement. 40 year old caps are 40 year old caps. Even without the PS board completely done ( i'm waiting on the 2200uf 35V, will be 4700uf 35V) the units sounds really good now.. and the motor is running smoother.
IMG_9516.jpg IMG_9517.jpg
 
Wow, great job. And fast. Keep posting about your repairs...I may need to do the same with the PS board.

Thanks for sharing.
 
So progress.. I've replaced almost all the PS caps... waiting on one which will be here saturday. Interesting thing. The unit has a 2200uf 35V cap.. but the prints call out a 4700uf 35V.. I had already decided to bump it from 2200 to 4700 at 35V. I'm following the same basic ideas I used succcessfuly on my Marantz restorations. Main filter caps get a bump on capacitance and often a bit more in voltage. In this case, I didnt need 8 4700s at 50 volts but I could get 2 at 35 volts so that won the day. I just dont use that rating very much to keep a bunch laying around. I did sub out Q501 with a TIP31. A more heavy duty NPN power transistor. On the Marantzs, these PS transistors tend to take a beating over 40 years so I just replace them with modern stuff. As it was, the old didnt have any thermal paste between it and the heatsink. Between the new paste and transistor, the temps dropped 10 degrees when I measure it on the case of the transistor. And I saw that Kenwood very nicely already had the hole in the right place for the new transistor. They have two and the OEM uses the top hole. The new TIP is shorter and will use the lower hole if you bend the legs right. I'm using all Nichicion audio electrolyics. Not because I think they are great but I've had very reliable results using them. I noted that Kenwood used all carbon film resistors so they were expecting a higher precision in their design than normal which was to use carbon composite resistors which tend to drift.

I did find a bad cap on the main board by measuring temps after 30 mins of playing at a relatively high output. All the caps at 69 degrees ( cold garage) but this one cap is 81 degrees which tells me it has high resistance ( most likely) So I'll replace the batch of 4 caps. I did see that I misread my Wima caps and where it should have been .027uf caps, I put in .22uf caps :/ The caps are labeled 0.22uf and I missed the stupid itty bitty dot. Not that I see or hear any difference :) Also, the one remain cap on the PS board is running about 10 degrees hotter than the rest so I'm betting it will have high internal resistance.. a few of them I've pulled have been upwards of 5-8 ohms vs the expected .4 or so. I used a relay burnisher on the couple of contactors I've seen on the tape assembly. All in all, she's coming along nicely.

IMG_9531.jpg IMG_9532.jpg IMG_9534.jpg IMG_9537.jpg IMG_9538.jpg IMG_9539.jpg
 
Yeah.. about that easy to work on thing ;) The main board is a b**h.. not from layout or anything like that. But, the copper is THIN and fragile to the point, you breath wrong, the crap lifts from the board. I just did the four caps and one lift one pad completely and the other was hanging in space :/ And I'm out of magnet wire which is what I normally use to patch this stuff. I ended up with some lead cutoffs and just soldered them in. Not a bad job but the lacquered magnet wire does a cleaner job. I'll scrub it all and put some hot glue on it when I'm done to make sure everything stays put. The joys of old electronics.. I'll say this, the marantz stuff might not be as elegant but it's tank tough :)
IMG_9550.jpg
 
Mike, I can tell you the lowly kx-620 (two head) main board is packed. I've been fighting dirty switches (seems to come back after a playing for a bit). Now I think found the play/record switch is the problem. time will tell.

I've only worked on one Marantz, a 250, so I don't have the same experience as you but don't recall any lifted traces on the Marantz boards (and a lot of parts where replaced). I think it is key to remove as much solder as possible from the kenny board. sometimes I reflow with fresh solder too.
 
Got the final caps in... tested playback and record.. now to put the case on and put into the office with all the rest of the Kenwood brethren
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Camtwo69
WTB kenwood KX 1030 cassette deck
Replies
1
Views
901
aileenamegan
aileenamegan
R
Kenwood KX-1030 Belt Replacement
2 3 4
Replies
66
Views
27K
Mxaudio
Mxaudio
P
Kenwood KX-1030 rewind button problems
Replies
4
Views
437
Peter K0801
P
Mistca77
Kenwood KX-4520 cassette deck - Need Help
Replies
0
Views
570
Mistca77
Mistca77
P
Kenwood KX-1030 (Cassette) Lid Adjustment
Replies
3
Views
221
Peter K0801
P
Back
Top Bottom