Enjoying an all Kenwood Setup

SoundsAlike

Super Member
In addition to my KA-9100 and KT-8300 I have, a KA-8100 & KT-7500 and KD-550 have all fallen in to my lap recently. So my stereo room is currently overflowing with Kenwood gear and it's marvelous.

David at www.dgwojo.com helped me out with the KT-7500 lights. I opted to use the green colors because that's the original color. I think it works well with the spectacular all silver front... It has me contemplating using green in the KA-9100/KT-8300 setup. The amp is sweet sounding, too, and cleaned up really well. Kenwood made the best looking separates from Japan, in my opinion, and they perform excellent as well.

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The KD-550 was practically in pieces but I had some spare parts from another unit I bought years ago and sold off all its parts. The TRIO tonearm cable/RCA was in poor condition, barely held together by a really sloppy job of solder and electrical tape. I was able to salvage it though! I was able to swap hinges from a spare dustcover part I had and now the dustcover work and stands up on its own ! The TT sounds excellent I'm just waiting on a new arm rest to arrive and I'll be ready to use this table as a daily driver. Luckily all the tonearm parts were present, otherwise. It did include an original head shell, too, but I need to take some steel wool and polish to it before using it because it's covered in patina and gunk.

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Not including speakers I'm also enjoying an all Kenwood setup, as my bedroom system; KD-770D, KA-7300, and a KT-7300. I also agree their vintage silver front equipment is some of the best looking out there.
 
Not including speakers I'm also enjoying an all Kenwood setup, as my bedroom system; KD-770D, KA-7300, and a KT-7300. I also agree their vintage silver front equipment is some of the best looking out there.


I'd very much like to have one of those rarer decks like the 770d or 990

The KD-550 is a breeze to work on too, completely different animal compared to a Sansui SR-717 that is like a complex MDF puzzle. I forgot that I wasn't using Kenwood speakers. Except for a few rare models I tend to ignore their loudspeakers. There was an AK'er selling some 1980's speakers that looked like Yamaha NS1000's I wonder if they ever sold .. I remember they were in black cabinets, were a three way sealed box, the woofer had a special cone on it that's about the best I can recall about them besides never seeing them before.
 
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Regarding the green,,,,, I replaced all the bulbs in my KR 9600, (Also from David), and it illuminates with green anyway, as designed , so I'm curious what difference the green LEDs made?

It's not an LED it's a regular bulb with a snug fitting green plastic cover.
 
It's not an LED it's a regular bulb with a snug fitting green plastic cover.
Yeah ok, but the main part of the question is did the green tint change the look a lot? I rhought the dials were green to start with.

Reason I'm asking is because I have thought about doing an LED upgrade on mine but don't know if I want to use colored LED's or not.
 
Yeah ok, but the main part of the question is did the green tint change the look a lot? I rhought the dials were green to start with.

Reason I'm asking is because I have thought about doing an LED upgrade on mine but don't know if I want to use colored LED's or not.

The dial was originally just white letters so they'll absorb any color you shine on them. I've seen lots of pics on the net of people installing pure white bulbs and that's exactly what fills in the gaps, pure white light.

I'd say go for it ... but it might make the light too bright. I like just enough illumination to see the dial and not too much that it lights up a dim room.
 
The KT-7500 looks nice with those lights , fixing to get a 8300 tuner myself , actually may end up with two . Still waiting on USPS to reimburse me for the one they damaged , hopefully no issues with that so I may have a parts unit also if the post office does not want me to drop it off to them . It definitely needs a faceplate .
 
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The KT-7500 looks nice with those lights , fixing to get a 8300 tuner myself , actually may end up with two . Still waiting on USPS to reimburse me for the one they damaged , hopefully no issues with that so I may have a parts unit also if the post office does not want me to drop it off to them . It definitely needs a faceplate .


This is the KT-7500 we discussed a few weeks ago.
 
My Kenwood is under the knife. KD-600 getting a new armboard for a different arm and well the walnut is cut, mounting holes drilled, just need to drill the tonearm hole and then finish the piece before getting the arm set up and the unit back in the rig. Always liked the white turntables from Kenwood and their tuners.
 
My Kenwood is under the knife. KD-600 getting a new armboard for a different arm and well the walnut is cut, mounting holes drilled, just need to drill the tonearm hole and then finish the piece before getting the arm set up and the unit back in the rig. Always liked the white turntables from Kenwood and their tuners.

Hey BlueShadow -- you're one of my favorite members here, just so you know... Anyways, you seem to have a lot of experience with these tables. How do I remove the feet from the bottom? Like I said, I have a really ugly KD-550 that I've been swapping parts from so I just used it's intact bottom plate and mated to the table in the pic. The original bottom plate (or wood slab) was missing a foot and I couldn't find way to remove only just the feet. It looks like they removed the screw heads?!?

I had a Micro Seiki DD-40 that had really nice adjust table feet on it, wish the KD-550's feet were adjustable unless I'm missing something.
 
Well that sure does make up for those that don't like me or what I say.

They should just unscrew. They have a height adjustment in them and that is how it is done. I haven't seen a 500 feet in a while but I just twist the 600 feet and they unscrew.
 
Well that sure does make up for those that don't like me or what I say.

They should just unscrew. They have a height adjustment in them and that is how it is done. I haven't seen a 500 feet in a while but I just twist the 600 feet and they unscrew.

Just after I posted I went over and messed with the feet on the bottom part I had removed and discovered they just twist off. I feel kind of silly for removing the base off the parts unit I had but it's in nicer condition than the other base so it worked out in the end. Thanks

I haven't heard all of them, but I was blown away by an SR-717. And I'm not easily blown away.

Love the oversized platter on the 770d and of course the black gloss flake finish on the plinth
 
In addition to my KA-9100 and KT-8300 I have, a KA-8100 & KT-7500 and KD-550 have all fallen in to my lap recently. So my stereo room is currently overflowing with Kenwood gear and it's marvelous.

David at www.dgwojo.com helped me out with the KT-7500 lights. I opted to use the green colors because that's the original color. I think it works well with the spectacular all silver front... It has me contemplating using green in the KA-9100/KT-8300 setup. The amp is sweet sounding, too, and cleaned up really well. Kenwood made the best looking separates from Japan, in my opinion, and they perform excellent as well.

kaWMgRV.jpg
UasNfaK.jpg


The KD-550 was practically in pieces but I had some spare parts from another unit I bought years ago and sold off all its parts. The TRIO tonearm cable/RCA was in poor condition, barely held together by a really sloppy job of solder and electrical tape. I was able to salvage it though! I was able to swap hinges from a spare dustcover part I had and now the dustcover work and stands up on its own ! The TT sounds excellent I'm just waiting on a new arm rest to arrive and I'll be ready to use this table as a daily driver. Luckily all the tonearm parts were present, otherwise. It did include an original head shell, too, but I need to take some steel wool and polish to it before using it because it's covered in patina and gunk.

5mtjWC5.jpg
zYVud6d.jpg

zxchGQE.jpg

Are the bulbs the 8volt 250ma dgwojo.com sells ? Saw other threads people are saying to use a 13 volt 330ma bulb. Are the bulbs holding up with no issues ?
 
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