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Kenwood KD 500 and Sumiko MMT Setup Question

Isaac C.

Isaac C.

Cat Hoarder
Hello everyone, I just acquired a Kenwood KD 500 for which I will be mounting a Sumiko MMT. I have a friend making a blank armboard for it. The Sumiko has a spindle to pivot distance of 221.7mm. On the stock armboard the pivot to spindle distance is 222mm to the dead center of the armboard (I have a different tonearm on this armboard). Since .3mm is almost impossible without a CNC machine, is it ok to just put a hole in the center of the custom armboard and mount it at 222mm instead of trying to get it to 221.7mm? It might seem like a silly question but I'm really OCD with measurements.
 
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I have a Sumiko MMT too but its on a JVC QL-50 table. I bought it used from a stereo shop I used to frequent and the owner mounted it on a blank arm board for me. He had the template for it. I am sure that his precision was not down to tenths on a millimeter. I think you will be fine. The proof will be if your preferred tracking angle geometry tool allows the cart's stylus point to hit the one or two sweet spots (depending on the tool) and the cart body is square with a radial line from the spindle.
 
Thanks! That's what I was thinking, I just wanted another opinion. The arm I mounted on the other board has a sliding base so I wasn't as concerned since I can adjust it.
 
The instructions for the arm say to use a good protractor and a 17.3mm overhang. Since you are putting the arm anywhere you see fit on the armboard and not in that tenth of a mm precise position, ignore that overhang number and use a proper protractor for the alignment you want and go with that. Putting the arm off the mark so to speak should be easy to compensate by moving the stylus some on the other end in a typical slotted headshells.
 
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So the more important thing then is maintaining the effective length? If say I mounted it at 222mm then I would want an overhang of 17mm to maintain the 239mm effective length instead of 17.3mm for 221.7mm?
 
No the overhang will be determined by the alignment protractor and I don't know if the move of the arm equals the move of the nail for overhang so use a protractor. My tonearm pivot is well off from the position of the vertical post of the tonearm. I use a protractor and get great results and don't worry about overhang, don't care, not needed to be known.
 
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