The Official Kenwood KD 500/550 and 600/650 Owner's Thread

[Blue Shadow]

Does anyone know what thickness I should get

It does not matter, much. The height of the mat on some tables is critical because the arm cannot be raised/lowered to adjust the vertical tracking angle of the needle (usually a horizontal tonearm). The KD-550 original arm has this adjustment and it is detailed in the owner's manual.

Your mat choice is up to you. The one from the 770 is probably a fairly thick mat and it would work fine, but I like the Herbies Way Excellent.

I have yet to do the mat testing on the KD-500 or KD-600 but they are in the works.

 

[Ninjalife27]

It does not matter, much. The height of the mat on some tables is critical because the arm cannot be raised/lowered to adjust the vertical tracking angle of the needle (usually a horizontal tonearm). The KD-550 original arm has this adjustment and it is detailed in the owner's manual.

Your mat choice is up to you. The one from the 770 is probably a fairly thick mat and it would work fine, but I like the Herbies Way Excellent.

I have yet to do the mat testing on the KD-500 or KD-600 but they are in the works.

Right on, thanks Blue Shadow.
What diameter & thickness did you opt for on the Herbies for your Kenwood?

 

[soundoc03]

The Hiraoka SE-22 mat is also a good fit aesthetically (see photos), and it’s heavy weight dampens the platter effectively. I once had a Herbies mat and some of their other products but think of them now more as marketing gimmicks than true upgrades.

 

[Blue Shadow]

My 600 has the Marcof Glasmat from when I bought it off CL.
My 500 had no mat and is sporting whatever I took off a turntable nearby that isn't a table anymore.
I have a Herbies on the Thornes TD-125 that it came with and when we were listening to mats the TD-160Super I have it was the best.

I have a KD-600-750 or whatever mat, thick small holes on top, large holes on the bottom, the Herbies, the GlasMat, and a couple others I want to try on the 500/600 when the boys come over. We did the Platter Matter, Marcof Glasmat, Herbies and Thorens stock mat on the 160 and there was a huge difference. Not so much on the TD-125. Need to do the Kenwoods.

Pics of the 600 mat, not mine, from an ad on CAM. Mine is not the same part number and the number of holes is slightly different but from the same era tables as the 600/750 etc. Maybe what Sgt is talking about.

 

[Sgt Shultz]

The KD-770D mat is quite dense, as such has considerable weight, it's also super flat. The two sides are different in texture with the bottom being smoother and harder, the top more satin like.

Here are pics of the mat including the model number. The odds of finding one are most likely small, but you never know

Top


Bottom

 

[Ninjalife27]

The Hiraoka SE-22 mat is also a good fit aesthetically (see photos), and it’s heavy weight dampens the platter effectively. I once had a Herbies mat and some of their other products but think of them now more as marketing gimmicks than true upgrades.

Where do you get one of those? I searched but can’t find any, not even on the company site.
It kind of looks like the one Sgt. Schultz has…

 

[Sgt Shultz]

Where do you get one of those? I searched but can’t find any, not even on the company site.
It kind of looks like the one Sgt. Schultz has…

I saw one on eBay that looks like the Kenny mat, asked the seller for more pics, I'll let you know.

 

[Sgt Shultz]

The mat from the KD-770D is identical to those on all of the later audiophile decks even the TOTL KP-1100.

KP-1100, it's no secret how great this table is with it's cast aluminum sub chassis.


The mat


These tables have large platters, that mat is the same diameter as a record.

 

[soundoc03]

The mat came with the TT but I have seen them come up on eBay from time to time. It is very substantial and initially I assumed it was stock until I later researched it. I would recommend a thick heavy dense mat over the light weight Herbie’s foam

 

[Blue Shadow]

. I would recommend a thick heavy dense mat over the light weight Herbie’s foam

With our listening tests the mats were turntable specific. The platter Matter on the Thorens 160Super was horrible, thick, heavy sound. The Herbies was best...on That turntable. I have my ideas on why the 160 showed big differences in mats and the 125 did not.

That's why I want to do this again with the mats I have now, the Platter Matter sold and the Marcof similar to the Kenwood ceramic mat made for these tables back in the day along with the stock mats, the thick rubber mat that came with the 600/750.

I would not specify a winner without hearing the options.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Ok you are going to laugh, but the "isolation mounts" are Lego Pick-A-Brick cup caps from when I used to build with Legos. I put them there because the tonearm base is so tall that the DIN cable was protruding from the bottom. They just happen to work perfectly and are somewhat "springy". The tonearm is an Acos Lustre GST 1, but I just bought a Sumiko MMT to put on this table so I can put the Acos back on my other table.

A nice solution to give the arm cables enough clearance. Sumiko made some nice things, also would make a great name for a Siamese Cat.

 

[Blue Shadow]

Turntable Listening Test Results, part 1

Kenwood KD-600 and maybe KD-500 preferred mat test. | Audiokarma Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums

 

[MotherSauce1]

Does anyone ever put a safety riser on a KD-500? Something like the AT-6006R for instance.

 

[MotherSauce1]

Photo of my KD-500/Infinity Black Widow. This pic is from several years ago; I no longer have the Grado Reference Platinum, long since replaced with an ADX ZLM Improved, and the stock rubber platter mat has been replaced with a Herbie's Way Excellent II mat.

View attachment 1859133

And a close-up of he Black Widow:

View attachment 1859134

Notice much difference with the Herbies ?

 

[MotherSauce1]

KD-500 complete. Cover arrived today. Very Happy.

View attachment 2137609 View attachment 2137611

Wow, where did you find a cover? So hard to track down. I'm still looking for one!

 

[Blue Shadow]

Does anyone ever put a safety riser on a KD-500? Something like the AT-6006R for instance.

The KD-500 will easily accept a Safety Raiser but the SME mount on the ∞BW and the SME arms makes positioning difficult. Many arms leave a lot of armboard able to accept the 6006.

 

[Tedrick]

Notice much difference with the Herbies ?

I don't have the 'table anymore and it's been a long time since I heard it but I recall that the sound was cleaner and more focused and the bass was better, as well.

 

[MotherSauce1]

The KD-500 will easily accept a Safety Raiser but the SME mount on the ∞BW and the SME arms makes positioning difficult. Many arms leave a lot of armboard able to accept the 6006.

Right -- that darn SME is in my way -- hmm...

 

[Kit Carson]

Not Kenwood's TOTL table but marketed and accepted as an affordable "audiophile" table with a better than average tonearm chosen by the buyer to install, find it difficult to believe Kenwood would of used a cheap inferior mat on the KD-500. Same applies to the KD-550. Went down the aftermarket mat road and ran into a dead end with nothing improved, your results might or might not differ.

 

[НИКОЛАЙ]

Всем владельцам усилителей ,где и как купить KENWOO модель-500.