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Kenwood KX-1030 Worth Keeping?

How does this model Kenwood perform sound wise against the other high end decks out there?

I see these Kennys going on the used market for $500-700. That's not cheap. I think they are just rare and collectible. I have one that I'm going to be putting new belts on, but thinking about selling it after I refurbish and jumping into the world of Tandbergs, Naks, Revox, Aiwa.

If I find out it blows my socks off though I may keep it. I paid $400 for mine back in 2014. Probably overpaid for it.
 
Shakedown said:
How does this model Kenwood perform sound wise against the other high end decks out there?

I see these Kennys going on the used market for $500-700. That's not cheap. I think they are just rare and collectible. I have one that I'm going to be putting new belts on, but thinking about selling it after I refurbish and jumping into the world of Tandbergs, Naks, Revox, Aiwa.

If I find out it blows my socks off though I may keep it. I paid $400 for mine back in 2014. Probably overpaid for it.
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You used to be able to pick these up for under $100. Everything vintage is up now.
The performance is excellent. Not sure about wow and flutter, but you can look up the specs. Frequency response is excellent. 20 - 20KHz +/- 3dB.
 
Hi, I recently acquired kx-1030 and all the belts seem to be fine, FF, RW, PLAYBACK, RECORD all seem to work fine, but the right channel has very low volume when playing back a recorded tape. The right vu meter show very little movement. The same recorded tape plays well on another deck with both channels showing good volume. I read through this discussion and was wondering if the issue is related to the 4 Mylar capacitors. When I looked at the chassis, I’m not sue if they have been already changed, so I’m attaching a photo here hoping someone can confirm if they are the original ones. Thanks.
 

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I’m reposting a better picture of the chassis.
 

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They look original. My issue with C27, C28, C89 and C90 was static. Replacing them fixed the static and put the channels back to normal. I don't know if changing these will fix low volume in one channel, but they are likely to be a problem in the future.

You may have another problem, but eventually, those caps will need to be changed.

Good luck, it's a nice deck to have running properly.
 
Thanks for the quick reply! Yeah, it’s indeed a nice deck, I especially like the OSC and bias adjustment feature. It looks beautiful. I’m going to get those capacitors swapped out and see what happens.
 
The proper way to troubleshoot this is to go through it with an oscilloscope and see where the signal drops out. With no test equipment you are just guessing, but you could start by cleaning the record / play switch (I think it has one) it's a slide switch attached to the record linkage.
 
Thanks for the input. I have an old oscilloscope sitting there for quite a while, hope it still works, but I’m not good at using it. I’ll give it a try at some point anyway.
 
Curious about something. Does the top cover of the 1030 have a troubleshooting or adjustment chart from the factory? Mine did or does.
 
The left/right volume controls were stuck together on my 1030,I can hardly adjust the left and right volumes individually, is this normal? If not how do I loosen them up? Not sure it is related to the low right channel volume issue of my deck. Thanks.
 
Mxaudio said:
The left/right volume controls were stuck together on my 1030,I can hardly adjust the left and right volumes individually, is this normal? If not how do I loosen them up? Not sure it is related to the low right channel volume issue of my deck. Thanks.
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Pull off the knobs and see if the control shafts are stuck together. If so you can try to inject some TriFlo or Dupont silicone oil with Teflon down the inner shaft and see if it loosens up. You might have to heat it.
 
Can someone help identify what the part (circled) is on the attached picture (from a 1030 chassis)? Thanks.
 

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Got a question about replacing the 4 notorious caps, c27, c28, c89 and c90. Would it be ok to replace them with a .033uf capacitor on hand instead of the exact .027uf one? Thanks.
 
Mxaudio said:
Got a question about replacing the 4 notorious caps, c27, c28, c89 and c90. Would it be ok to replace them with a .033uf capacitor on hand instead of the exact .027uf one? Thanks.
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It looks like they are in the feedback loop for the Dolby. A different value will change the frequency response or cause it to oscillate. Use the correct value.
 
dr*audio said:
It looks like they are in the feedback loop for the Dolby. A different value will change the frequency response or cause it to oscillate. Use the correct value.
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Thanks for the feedback, I was concerned about that too. I’ll use the correct value and get the issue addressed for good.
 
Back to the issue with my kx-1030 where the volume of the right channel is low, after some diagnosis, I found the volume was pulled down by the muting circuit, if I disconnect c902, the right channel volume is as good as the left channel. C902 was not the problem though. I did try to spray (dioxit) the record switch, but it didn’t fix it. It’s hard to reach, not sure how much was spayed on it. I’d like to get some expert advices before continuing with my troubleshooting, so what’s the purpose of the muting circuit? Is it used in recording? What else is most likely causing it to pull down the play back volume? For your convenience, I’m posting portions of the schematic for your reference, thanks.
 

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Q902 is probably shorted. Use your meter on the diode setting and test the transistor. The purpose of the muting circuit is to short the output to ground during turn on and turn off to prevent pops. you can replace it with KSC1845FTA, available at Digikey. Replace both Q901 and Q902.
 
dr*audio said:
Q902 is probably shorted. Use your meter on the diode setting and test the transistor. The purpose of the muting circuit is to short the output to ground during turn on and turn off to prevent pops. you can replace it with KSC1845FTA, available at Digikey. Replace both Q901 and Q902.
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Thanks dr*audio for your quick advice! I really appreciate it. I’ll give it a try…
 
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