Concept 2QD cart recommendations/alignment questions.

[Music2Myear]

I have a Dual 1019 that the head isn't quite level but I can live with it. lol Then the Technics I have you need to level it then tighten it . They don't go on perfectly level .

Probable glued on ,I think the 1019 is like that .

 

[Phydeaux]

Yeah I just didn’t know if it’s causing it to track improperly. It seems like its doing a good job but I think this stylus is a little more prone to snapping and it seems pretty much irreplaceable to my knowledge. Still sounds great but I’m thinking once it’s set properly that it’s gonna shine that extra bit.

 

[Music2Myear]

Did you come across this site maybe you could email the guy he might be able to give you some info.
https://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=64842

 

[Phydeaux]

Did you come across this site maybe you could email the guy he might be able to give you some info.
https://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=64842

Yeah I did see that site before,
Need to sign up there but I coulda swore I’ve seen his posts on here too. Eh, maybe I’m mixed up

 

[emedeles]

Yeah I did see that site before,
Need to sign up there but I coulda swore I’ve seen his posts on here too. Eh, maybe I’m mixed up

FYI

PS usted to be active here but after some friction decided to buy tapeheads and move along. I am on his wait list for a total restore of my concept 11.0 and 16.5 receivers. He is a very generous and understanding fellow and will answer you if you msg him. To my understanding, and it is limited btw, he is, aside from Richard Shram himself, the utmost authority on everything Concept.

 

[Phydeaux]

FYI

PS usted to be active here but after some friction decided to buy tapeheads and move along. I am on his wait list for a total restore of my concept 11.0 and 16.5 receivers. He is a very generous and understanding fellow and will answer you if you msg him. To my understanding, and it is limited btw, he is, aside from Richard Shram himself, the utmost authority on everything Concept.

I’ve seen those restorations on the PS site and he does an incredible job, that 16.5 he has on there looks like it just came out of the box!
You are lucky to have two of the best receivers
Of the era from what I’ve heard. I just missed out on a 5.5 for very cheap... someone snagged it and is already selling it on eBay out of my budget

And thanks I’ll sign up for tapeheads when I get the chance.

 

[emedeles]

I’ve seen those restorations on the PS site and he does an incredible job, that 16.5 he has on there looks like it just came out of the box!
You are lucky to have two of the best receivers
Of the era from what I’ve heard. I just missed out on a 5.5 for very cheap... someone snagged it and is already selling it on eBay out of my budget

And thanks I’ll sign up for tapeheads when I get the chance.

My son and I are working to make his 5.5 play fm stereo. Chasix tried helping me with a few pointers but I need more electronics training and equipment to correctly diagnose. We get clear stereo separation with everything except fm. I recommend you getting one if you can find it reasonably priced. Prices have gone through the roof at Ebay for these things. You wont regret it. Those 5.5 sound incredible! We paired my son's with a pair of large advent speakers and it rocks.

 

[Phydeaux]

The one I missed was 100 with some pretty decent realistic speakers thrown in...
probably won’t find that sweet of a deal again for a while.

After cranking this Harman/Kardon 230A that just got here, I’m thinking it wouldn’t hurt to go for even a 2.5-4.5 until I have more room, would probably sound great in this small room.

Hope you and your son get the fm working properly. It’s gonna be satisfying to hear that coming in clear when you do.
I’m pretty intimidated to open these up and get to work but I’m gonna try to do a thorough cleaning and learn how to identify and understand what’s what. Now that I’m hooked on this more than is healthy..I’m sure you’ll be seeing me post some kind of concept receiver, that’s the club I first gravitated towards when I saw pioneer prices.

 

[emedeles]

The one I missed was 100 with some pretty decent realistic speakers thrown in...
probably won’t find that sweet of a deal again for a while.

After cranking this Harman/Kardon 230A that just got here, I’m thinking it wouldn’t hurt to go for even a 2.5-4.5 until I have more room, would probably sound great in this small room.

Hope you and your son get the fm working properly. It’s gonna be satisfying to hear that coming in clear when you do.
I’m pretty intimidated to open these up and get to work but I’m gonna try to do a thorough cleaning and learn how to identify and understand what’s what. Now that I’m hooked on this more than is healthy..I’m sure you’ll be seeing me post some kind of concept receiver, that’s the club I first gravitated towards when I saw pioneer prices.

My first concept was a 2.0 that I gave to my brother. I sounded great, that is what got me hooked. I use as my bench unit a concept 3.5 and it is no slouch. You can't go wrong with these. Even those smaller units are really expensive though. $100 dollars for a working 5.0!? With speakers? Wow, you just can't pass those opportunities buddy. I paid a lot more for my 5.0 Oh well, take care.

BTW you'll find a million threads on cleaning of pots on any receiver you do get. Yes, learn to do it, it's not bad at all and if you start with that it will help you feel more comfortable. You will also read that Deoxit is the best and everybody swears that it has no equal and to not buy anything else. Well, at $15 for a small little can it's really expensive to me. I have found that WD40 makes a product (WD40 contact cleaner) for half the cost, double the product and for cleaning pots you can't go wrong. It dries very fast and clean. And if you over spray one of the boards, it's ok. Does it lubricate like Deoxit? No. But even people that use Deoxit tend to follow with a shot of Deoxit gold so... I mean, if you have the dough, go ahead, I'm just saying if you're strapped for cash (like a lot of us are in these trying times) it is a good option. Ok, I'm way off subject.. off I go lol!

 

[Phydeaux]

My first concept was a 2.0 that I gave to my brother. I sounded great, that is what got me hooked. I use as my bench unit a concept 3.5 and it is no slouch. You can't go wrong with these. Even those smaller units are really expensive though. $100 dollars for a working 5.0!? With speakers? Wow, you just can't pass those opportunities buddy. I paid a lot more for my 5.0 Oh well, take care.

BTW you'll find a million threads on cleaning of pots on any receiver you do get. Yes, learn to do it, it's not bad at all and if you start with that it will help you feel more comfortable. You will also read that Deoxit is the best and everybody swears that it has no equal and to not buy anything else. Well, at $15 for a small little can it's really expensive to me. I have found that WD40 makes a product (WD40 contact cleaner) for half the cost, double the product and for cleaning pots you can't go wrong. It dries very fast and clean. And if you over spray one of the boards, it's ok. Does it lubricate like Deoxit? No. But even people that use Deoxit tend to follow with a shot of Deoxit gold so... I mean, if you have the dough, go ahead, I'm just saying if you're strapped for cash (like a lot of us are in these trying times) it is a good option. Ok, I'm way off subject.. off I go lol!

Trust me I know, I waited to long. It was a local sale but out of my area about 3 hours and with everything going on and the state of my vehicle at the moment I just couldn’t pull it off. I asked if he would ship just the receiver but no go.

mans right now all I have is some crc electronics cleaner, from what I understand that’s safe to use but didn’t want to just start spraying it without knowing first..seems to dry fairly quick but doubt removes the kind of corrosion and gunk that the deoxit will. Still probably wouldn’t hurt, i Noticed that some of the lights on this are a bit finicky and I have to flip random things on and off to get the power light on.

 

[emedeles]

Trust me I know, I waited to long. It was a local sale but out of my area about 3 hours and with everything going on and the state of my vehicle at the moment I just couldn’t pull it off. I asked if he would ship just the receiver but no go.

mans right now all I have is some crc electronics cleaner, from what I understand that’s safe to use but didn’t want to just start spraying it without knowing first..seems to dry fairly quick but doubt removes the kind of corrosion and gunk that the deoxit will. Still probably wouldn’t hurt, i Noticed that some of the lights on this are a bit finicky and I have to flip random things on and off to get the power light on.

Yeah sometimes all it takes is a good cleaning. I bought a kenwood kr-6050 about 3 years ago and it was really dirty and noisy and the volume would go up all of a sudden so I thought I had bought a dud. Well I have time and my kid and I opened it 3 weeks ago, cleaned it very well switches , pots and the cabinet and voila! It sounds very nice indeed. You may want to consider a unit like that also.

 

[Phydeaux]

Yeah sometimes all it takes is a good cleaning. I bought a kenwood kr-6050 about 3 years ago and it was really dirty and noisy and the volume would go up all of a sudden so I thought I had bought a dud. Well I have time and my kid and I opened it 3 weeks ago, cleaned it very well switches , pots and the cabinet and voila! It sounds very nice indeed. You may want to consider a unit like that also.

I was gonna jump on a KR-9050 locally, he has it listed for 200 but I’m thinking that’s just to get peoples attention. Messaged him back on how much he really wanted for it and haven’t heard back. If he’s serious I’d find a way to go pick it up for sure. Seems like another gem to me, of course we’d all like an sx-1980 or 16.5 but I have to be realistic haha.
Heading down to the hardware store to see if I can get some decent tools to get started on this.

 

[emedeles]

I was gonna jump on a KR-9050 locally, he has it listed for 200 but I’m thinking that’s just to get peoples attention. Messaged him back on how much he really wanted for it and haven’t heard back. If he’s serious I’d find a way to go pick it up for sure. Seems like another gem to me, of course we’d all like an sx-1980 or 16.5 but I have to be realistic haha.
Heading down to the hardware store to see if I can get some decent tools to get started on this.

You're kidding of course $200 NO WAY. I have in my collection the whole KR-6050, kr-7050, kr-8050 and the kr-9050 line as well as teh kr-9600. These are all great. The difference though from the kr-8050 to it's big brother is dramatic. If you can get it don't hesitate. I purchased my kr-9050 bare bones, no wood case, missing knobs and a little abused. After a couple of years of borrowed knowledge from sites like this one and I have managed to get it into shape, not restored, but working. They are definitely worth it. Never owned the sx-1980 and never heard it in person neither. If you ask me though, there is nothing that I have ever heard (in my limited experience) that comes close the the Concepts esp. the 11.0 and the big boy 16.5

I'll post some pictures later for you. As an FYI, if you're ever listening to these old beasts and suddenly notice the bass get weak and get a whiff of some god awful smell, just turn it off and don't worry. The caps are old and they will leak but nothing bad happens, you just replace the culprit (which will be really noticeable BTW because of the smell and the liquid around it) and all will be good.

 

[Phydeaux]

Well I just messaged him back to see if he’s serious or not, I imagine if he is than it’s probably not around anymore but we’ll see.

And that’s what I’ve heard, particularly about the 11.0 and 16.5...but before I didnt really understand that BOTL doesn’t necessarily mean worse overall quality in terms of all of this stuff, just less power and some missing features maybe lacking in improvements...but something tells me if I got my hands on any single digit concept model I’d be pretty impressed and happy until i have a bigger space to really get the full concert experience from something with some real power.

Was really holding out for a 6.5 because I hear they have some significant improvements over the 5.5, not seeing too many of those though.

 

[Phydeaux]

You're kidding of course $200 NO WAY. I have in my collection the whole KR-6050, kr-7050, kr-8050 and the kr-9050 line as well as teh kr-9600. These are all great. The difference though from the kr-8050 to it's big brother is dramatic. If you can get it don't hesitate. I purchased my kr-9050 bare bones, no wood case, missing knobs and a little abused. After a couple of years of borrowed knowledge from sites like this one and I have managed to get it into shape, not restored, but working. They are definitely worth it. Never owned the sx-1980 and never heard it in person neither. If you ask me though, there is nothing that I have ever heard (in my limited experience) that comes close the the Concepts esp. the 11.0 and the big boy 16.5

I'll post some pictures later for you. As an FYI, if you're ever listening to these old beasts and suddenly notice the bass get weak and get a whiff of some god awful smell, just turn it off and don't worry. The caps are old and they will leak but nothing bad happens, you just replace the culprit (which will be really noticeable BTW because of the smell and the liquid around it) and all will be good.

So I guess he’s serious, you think I should go for it? I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to make it out there though cause my car wouldn’t be a smart move to take, he said he’s willing to ship but I imagine that won’t be very cheap.

 

[emedeles]

So I guess he’s serious, you think I should go for it? I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to make it out there though cause my car wouldn’t be a smart move to take, he said he’s willing to ship but I imagine that won’t be very cheap.

Wow! At that price even if shippinf is $150 it's still a bargain. I guess damage may result but that's a risk you take anytime. Did he send you pictures? Is it working? It's really a no brainer. Kr9050 IS A MONSTER receiver and possibly kenwoods claim to greatness IMHO. Go for it or give me his info to proceed lol!

 

[Phydeaux]

Can’t believe it’s been almost two years but I finally figured out how to level the head shell on this tonearm…it was out of commission the past year and a half but decided to get it out Nd play some records.

Haven’t bought a proper headshell level but was smoking and looked down at the ground and found this in the yard.

I set it on the head shell and wow! I didn’t think it was that far off…I noticed some channel imbalance a while back when doing backups to my computer and now I can definitely see why.

I took the tonearm off and realized there were two tiny set screws on the bottom of the headshell where it meets the arm…so it can be removed/adjusted!

The set screws both stripped almost immediately and after a few hour headache using a knife to shave down the slots to where I could fit a bigger screwdriver they came out…finally at home stretch right?!…wrong….
the headshell would not budge with the set screws removed…thought maybe it was glued but it was just seized from the years and with some careful elbow grease it came loose.

Now at last the headshell is level (or much closer to being level at least)

Now time to give it a listen

 

[ElTee]

Can’t believe it’s been almost two years but I finally figured out how to level the head shell on this tonearm…it was out of commission the past year and a half but decided to get it out Nd play some records.

Haven’t bought a proper headshell level but was smoking and looked down at the ground and found this in the yard.

I set it on the head shell and wow! I didn’t think it was that far off…I noticed some channel imbalance a while back when doing backups to my computer and now I can definitely see why.

I took the tonearm off and realized there were two tiny set screws on the bottom of the headshell where it meets the arm…so it can be removed/adjusted!

The set screws both stripped almost immediately and after a few hour headache using a knife to shave down the slots to where I could fit a bigger screwdriver they came out…finally at home stretch right?!…wrong….
the headshell would not budge with the set screws removed…thought maybe it was glued but it was just seized from the years and with some careful elbow grease it came loose.

Now at last the headshell is level (or much closer to being level at least)

Now time to give it a listen

Congrats on your hard work and getting those little buggers loose. For me, when I couldn't get mine off, it turned out to be a blessing for the moment because I don't think that would have fixed my problem. The blue lead that goes into the cart broke off while I was changing it (cause I'm an oaf!) and I can't figure out how to replace it. I bought some of the regularly available 2 inch long leads, but the ones for the Concept all run well into the tonearm and seem impossible to get out. If you have ANY advice on what I can do to change out the lead, it would be so greatly appreciated.

 

[Phydeaux]

Congrats on your hard work and getting those little buggers loose. For me, when I couldn't get mine off, it turned out to be a blessing for the moment because I don't think that would have fixed my problem. The blue lead that goes into the cart broke off while I was changing it (cause I'm an oaf!) and I can't figure out how to replace it. I bought some of the regularly available 2 inch long leads, but the ones for the Concept all run well into the tonearm and seem impossible to get out. If you have ANY advice on what I can do to change out the lead, it would be so greatly appreciated.

it took me quite a while, they are really easy to strip….I’d recommend replacing the set screws if you can find them at a hardware store.

I think the only way to replace the wires would be to completely disassemble the tonearm. There are set screws on the opposite end of the arm where it couples to the tonearm base.
you’d have to buy longer wires and run them all the way through the arm.

if it’s just the clip that connects the wire to the cartridge pins that came off you could try soldering it back on. I have the same thing wrong with the green wire on mine but just used tweezers to get the wire back through the hole on the clip and used a tiny spec of electrical tape to make sure it doesn’t move

 

[ElTee]

it took me quite a while, they are really easy to strip….I’d recommend replacing the set screws if you can find them at a hardware store.

I think the only way to replace the wires would be to completely disassemble the tonearm. There are set screws on the opposite end of the arm where it couples to the tonearm base.
you’d have to buy longer wires and run them all the way through the arm.

if it’s just the clip that connects the wire to the cartridge pins that came off you could try soldering it back on. I have the same thing wrong with the green wire on mine but just used tweezers to get the wire back through the hole on the clip and used a tiny spec of electrical tape to make sure it doesn’t move

Thanks for the reply and the info! Think I'm gonna have to go the solder route, which will be the first time I've tried to solder anything in 20 years, but no pressure right? haha

Since I still have these 2 inch leads, I'm thinking about crimping an extra one down on the exposed wire and securing the extra wire to the arm to see if that's a quick fix while I wait for my (surprisingly affordable) soldering iron to show up in the mail.