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Replacing the volume pot on a Kenwood KW-60

Mr.White

Mr.White

AK Subscriber
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I want to replace the volume pot on my Kenwood KW-60 receiver. There's a scratchy spot that is ok for awhile after cleaning but the scratchiness always returns in that exact same spot. I see on eBay there is one seller that has a new replacement part. It's newly manufactured not NOS. My question is this: I have no soldering experience but I do have a soldering iron that I bought but never got around to trying out. Would replacing this pot be a fairly easy task for a novice? Obviously I'd do some test runs soldering/de-soldering on some junk electronics first. Thanks.
 
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Yes! and no.
It is a straight forward replacement. Just a couple of solder connections. Desoldering can be tough; I may just cut old connections.
But access to the pot could be difficult, and taking off the part/installing may require patience.
If you are interested in the repair element of this hobby, this can be a project to try. This could also an inexpensive project to farm out to a professional.
 
Mr.White said:
I want to replace the volume pot on my Kenwood KW-60 receiver. There's a scratchy spot that is ok for awhile after cleaning but the scratchiness always returns in that exact same spot. I see on eBay there is one seller that has a new replacement part. It's newly manufactured not NOS. My question is this: I have no soldering experience but I do have a soldering iron that I bought but never got around to trying out. Would replacing this pot be a fairly easy task for a novice? Obviously I'd do some test runs soldering/de-soldering on some junk electronics first. Thanks.
Click to expand...
If that ebay seller is hifiaudio I wouldn't buy one. They sell these new pots for many different pieces of gear and many folks have complained about the bad quality.

Some will have uneven volume levels on each channel, some would be too loud at a low setting. This happens because of poor manufacturing.

Somehow they have a way of removing their bad feedback. I once left negative feedback for a different seller who sold me bad parts, but my negative is now gone.
I think my feedback was removed because I was given a refund. I guess ebay figures that since I was given a refund the feedback doesn't count.
 
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kwayde said:
If that ebay seller is hifiaudio I wouldn't buy one. They sell these new pots for many different pieces of gear and many folks have complained about the bad quality.

Some will have uneven volume levels on each channel, some would be too loud at a low setting. This happens because of poor manufacturing.

Somehow they have a way of removing their bad feedback. I once left negative feedback for a different seller who sold me bad parts, but my negative is now gone.
I think my feedback was removed because I was given a refund. I guess ebay figures that since I was given a refund the feedback doesn't count.
Click to expand...
Oh, ok thanks for the heads up. Yeah that's the seller.
 
Have been wondering about that seller.

It's hard to make a good volume control, If the QC sucks you get these types of problems.

I've noticed just using a cleaner/lubricant doesn't always last a long time.

Does Caig "Fader lube" work? Or the Caig Gold?

What other brands have people had experience with?

Most common problem is a Worn carbon track, Cleaning will not fix that.

Another one is when someone has used Foam Tuner cleaner, This solidifies and interferes with the contacts.

Hard to clean, Pot should be removed and ultrasonically cleaned.

Buck
 
Buck Rogers said:
Have been wondering about that seller.

It's hard to make a good volume control, If the QC sucks you get these types of problems.

I've noticed just using a cleaner/lubricant doesn't always last a long time.

Does Caig "Fader lube" work? Or the Caig Gold?

What other brands have people had experience with?

Most common problem is a Worn carbon track, Cleaning will not fix that.

Another one is when someone has used Foam Tuner cleaner, This solidifies and interferes with the contacts.

Hard to clean, Pot should be removed and ultrasonically cleaned.

Buck
Click to expand...

I have typically used CRC Contact Cleaner and it usually does the job for quite a while on other components. According to the tech that got my Kenwood up and running the volume pot has some corrosion that cleaning only does so much for. I've cleaned this one myself and it's usually good for a few months then it acts up again. I was thinking to try the Caig Fader Lube as well next time.
 
Some use a contact cleaner like CRC QD contact cleaner, but then follow up with Faderlube. The contact cleaner can dry out the resistive surface, so a bit of Faderlube will lube it enough to keep it from getting damaged.

I use CRC QD on metal to metal switch contacts. I use Deoxit F5 Faderlube on resistive surfaces like volume/bass/treble pots and sliders.
 
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You might need to replace the control with a standard 1M log (audio) pot with no tap. That would disable the Loudness switch, but this isn't a critical function.

Jack
 
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