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Name that Tonearm

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New Member
I'm trying to identify the tonearm that came with my vintage Kenwood KD-500. I can't find any markings on it anywhere and the person that I bought it from told me that it came with the table when he got it. It looks similar to the Grace G-640P and G-660P.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Mike

PS: Thanks everyone. Here's the pictures.
 

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The KD-500 with a stock tonearm was called the KD-550. The tonearm in a photo of a KD-550 looks very much like the one on my KD-5077 (minor differences in the base), so if that's what you have then it's probably OEM (CEC-sourced?).
 
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jeremyjustic said:
photos would help out a lot.
Click to expand...

Yep, pretty much imperative.

I was just looking at a Grace 707 MKII on a KD-500 at a friends place and I know it was not an uncommon match. Here's the Grace on my (since sold) Rega Planar 2. The ones you mention though I believe were S shaped arms.


DSC_0016 by Buhduh, on Flickr
 
So far, on this series of Kenwood turntable I have seen installed. SME 3009 II Improved, SME III, Infinity Black Widow, Grace 707. And some of this series did come with a Kenwood tonearm factory installed. The KD 500 is a very nice turntable and performs well. Never owned one but visited a few folks who were friends and owned them. Liked them and still do.
 
And I have seen Mayware Formula IV and Magnepan Unitracs mounted on the KD-500. There are others that were popular at that time, too. So there is a pretty good list of arms that were probably mounted on that table.
 
The counterbalance certainly resembles those used on some Grace arms, and it sorta looks like the Grace G-565F on the Vinyl Engine site, but it is difficult to tell from the available photo.
 
I can't help you out with the arm manufacturer......I will say though i own one of those headshells. Extremely microphonic. Regardles of what cart you have, you need a better headshell. The cheap (under 6 bucks) ones sold on that auction site are 100X better.
 
marcmorin said:
I can't help you out with the arm manufacturer......I will say though i own one of those headshells. Extremely microphonic. Regardles of what cart you have, you need a better headshell. The cheap (under 6 bucks) ones sold on that auction site are 100X better.
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Popular style of shell in the "Low-Mass" era, the Pioneer PL-L1000 used a composite version F.I..
BTW, websearched Lustre and that specific arm didn't show. Someone else?
 
Doesn't look like any of the Grace arms I'v ever seen. ? Japanese Grace knockoff. I wouldn't be too hasty to toss the headshell till you find out what it is, weight/material etc, possible baby in the bath water situation. It might be extreme but with a few headshells going for $600 what kind of headshell are you going to get for $6?
 
Acos/Luster

rcspkramp said:
I think that might be an Acos/Lustre arm. They often found their way onto Kenwoods.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the imput everyone.

Judging from some of the pics I've seen on the web I think that it may be a Acos Luster, or at least one based the Acos design. Thanks for the tip. As for the headshell, I'm thinking of replacing the table in the near future or at least the tonearm and cable, so I don't think I'll replace it at the moment.
 
If you replace the arm I would recommend you consider the arms that were traditionally mounted on the KD-500 during that period that all turned out to be excellent matches such as the Grace G707/747.
 
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