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Kenwood KD 990 vs Revox B795

P

Poorbeek

Active Member
I have the opportunity to buy an Kenwood KD 990 it is in good cosmetic condition and equiped with an Ortofon X3MC it is unknown if it is good. But i have currently an Revox B795 which is in nice condition also and was renovated a year ago. I am using an Digitrac 300SE or an Technics 310MC with it both P mount.

My question is will it be an upgrade to buy the Kenwood and will the P mount fith because they are both high compliance.

Enclosed a couple of pictures from the Kenwood.

Looking forward to your replies?
 

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Me - I'd stick with the Revox. There's a certain something about that Linetrack arm that I believe travels truer in the groove than the Kenwood. I am sure you already know this but the Revox doesn't require nor was it designed to accommodate P-Mounts. Doesn't mean they won't work with the 1/2" adapter as you already know. Why not both...
 
The revox is absolutely avgoid tracker and sounds very good. Only due to the small arm it can not handle offcentre records very good. You can hear this that the needle hits the sidewall. Unfortunately a lot of records have this issue even expensive labels. My hope is that the kenwood has no issue with this.
 
I'd go Kenwood, easier maintained, and excellent performance. Linatrack arms are terrific when working right, but so much complexity waiting at some point to give issues with age.
 
The KD-990 is getting pretty close to the top of the heap in the Kenwood line and they don't show up often. If you have the funds I'd wouldn't pass it up.
 
Poorbeek said:
But will it be better then the Revox? I can buy it for around 500usd.
Click to expand...

The 990 is worth about twice that. You won't have trouble with off-center records and it's not a finicky table. The presentation is smooth with a coreless motor and speed correction is not abrupt. Don't know about your carts on there. The arm is a little heavy, but something like a 2M or 440 should be fine. You could substitute a lighter headshell.

This is not exactly a new table and could need service in future. Keeping both sounds good to me, but if you can only keep one I'd go for the 990. The 990 is a big league table. You could grow with it - carts etc. The Revox is finicky and lots of records are slightly off center. That would drive me nuts.
neo
 
Hey,
Kenwood kd 770d here, solid performer. Very attractive and large. Mine came with a audio technica at 14s cartridge. It's one of my favorites.
Not familiar with the revox so I can't comment on it. Eric
 
I have made the decision to buy it. The previous owner told me that the cartridge and needle are still good and that there are no visual damages to the lacquer. I have special speaker polish for highgloss lacquer which polishes also the smaller scratches and makes it even antistatic so no dust will stay on. Next saturday i will pick it up it will be a trip of 600km total but absolutely worth it.
 
Enjoy the new Kenny.
FYI. I've used a B795 as my daily driver since the 80's and it has performed flawlessly. Certainly never had to worry about inner grove distortion. Picked up a bit of a hum recently. Had it recapped and new power cord, ground wire and interconnect cables. It's quiet again. I have never had a single tracking issue regardless of the cartridge including most recently a Grado Gold1. It is a pain to change cartridges but I do have the coveted cartridge mounting kit. I have a JVC QL-F4 that I use when I want to easily change cartridges. I have several headshells for it.
 
That Kenwood is my dream table. My hope is that when the missus and I downsize and I downsize to just one system that I'll be able to find one.
Congrats to the OP.
 
Bugler said:
Enjoy the new Kenny.
FYI. I've used a B795 as my daily driver since the 80's and it has performed flawlessly. Certainly never had to worry about inner grove distortion. Picked up a bit of a hum recently. Had it recapped and new power cord, ground wire and interconnect cables. It's quiet again. I have never had a single tracking issue regardless of the cartridge including most recently a Grado Gold1. It is a pain to change cartridges but I do have the coveted cartridge mounting kit. I have a JVC QL-F4 that I use when I want to easily change cartridges. I have several headshells for it.
Click to expand...
What is your experience with offcenter records then? Mine was recapped 2 years ago. I have the kit also very handy indeed!
 
Poorbeek said:
What is your experience with offcenter records then? Mine was recapped 2 years ago. I have the kit also very handy indeed!
Click to expand...

I've never had a problem with any records, even off center. Maybe I'm just lucky. I also think it's one of the best designs. ever as far as ergonomics. The cueing is very accurate and repeatable. Keeps hitting the same part of a track every time. My son's was also great though he sold it to a buddy of his when he bought a Funk Firm Vector. Of all the turntables I've had over the years it has the best resistance to foot stomps. It's pretty much impervious to them. The worst I had was a Thorens TD-160 I bought new in the 70's. You'd look at it funny and it would skip. The cueing was also terribly inaccurate. I also had a Yamaha PX-3 and it was about as bad as the Thorens. It was a linear tracker but was clumsy to operate. Very slow to respond. It did accept interchangeable headshells though. I bought my eldest son a Technics SL-1700. It will skip fairly easy but not as bad as the Thorens. Cueing accuracy is terrible, though he doesn't care. I picked up a near mint JVC QL-F4 off eBay recently and am pleasantly surprised. Very smooth auto operation, sounds great and has the most accurate cueing of any other pivot arm I've tried. Also very tolerant suspension. Plus it accepts common interchangeable headshells. Wow, sorry to ramble on so much!
 
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Saturday i picked up the Kenwood.

It is in top condition. As mentioned by the previous owner the power button is not working. Friday we will check what the issue is.

Is it advisable to use the original headshell together with a p-mount for my Technics EPS310MC or Digitrac 300SE?

Or better an Orsonic AV11S?

For now it sounds really good and i have no issues with offcenter records anymore so i am enjoying these records much more.
 

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Poorbeek said:
Saturday i picked up the Kenwood.

It is in top condition. As mentioned by the previous owner the power button is not working. Friday we will check what the issue is.

Is it advisable to use the original headshell together with a p-mount for my Technics EPS310MC or Digitrac 300SE?

Or better an Orsonic AV11S?

For now it sounds really good and i have no issues with offcenter records anymore so i am enjoying these records much more.
Click to expand...

Any opinion if above mentioned carts will work?
 
Hey,
It looks to be in pretty good condition.
I forgot to mention on my kd-770d the dust cover hinges are a little weak. Does yours still have the strength to hold the lid up? Mine will but you have to open it all the to the top.
Again she's a beauty. Eric
 
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