Tracking problems and occasional distortion - Kenwood KD-2070

[Dallas Bland]

Greetings all.
I am new to vinyl and new to the forum. I have recently pulled out my old Kenwood KD-2070 which I have had packed up for the last 20 years or so. I lubed the mechanisms and cleaned the pots etc and got it working quite well. I thought. It seems to skip really easily - I have to walk past on tippy toes for it to not mistrack from my footsteps so it is veeeery sensitive to vibrations. And I occasionally hear distortion in one one channel. It seems to cut in and out at different times.
I have read through a bunch of threads but and although there posts which have helped, I thought I best open a new thread as my issue may be more than one issue.
I looked into balancing the tone arm and the anti-skating adjustments. This model uses the antiskating weight as opposed to a dial, but the weight is missing.
In balancing the tone arm I don't know the recommended weight of the cartridge so I am levelling to zero then adjusting to 2.5 as an guess. In not having the correct anti-skate weight I attached a 2.5gm fishing sinker on a fine thread. All this is taking a guess at approximate weights.
After all this the problems are just as bad as before doing any adjustments. It seems to have made no difference at all.
Does anyone have any advice on how I should move forward with this? Is the weighting so crucial that being out by .2 or .3 of a gram will make this much difference? Is it more likely to be the actual stylus as I have no idea what kind of condition it is in.
Any guidance would be much appreciated.
Thanks all
Dallas

 

[revox-b77]

I would clean your stylus and listen again. What is the cartridge? We can tell you the proper tracking force. Might also remove the antiskate weight and listen. 2.5 grams seems like a lot.

 

[Dallas Bland]

I would clean your stylus and listen again. What is the cartridge? We can tell you the proper tracking force. Might also remove the antiskate weight and listen. 2.5 grams seems like a lot.

Thanks revox-b77. Last night I replaced the cartridge with an Audio Technica AT91BL which has tracking weight range of 1.5 - 2.5 grams. Adjusting it to 2.5 to match the fishing sinker weight has reduced the problems but it is still very sensitive. Any less than 2.5 grams and the problem was not reduced at all.

 

[sqlsavior]

All this is taking a guess at approximate weights.
After all this the problems are just as bad as before doing any adjustments. It seems to have made no difference at all.
Does anyone have any advice on how I should move forward with this? Is the weighting so crucial that being out by .2 or .3 of a gram will make this much difference?

Yes, weighting is that crucial, and not knowing what your weighting really is almost certainly explains your puzzling results.

Anti-skate forces are small compared to typical vertical tracking force. And weight-based anti-skating schemes must take leverage into account. Guessing that the proper weight is equal to the tracking force is not a reasonable assumption, imo. Tracking at the maximum of the range (2.5g) is probably helpful, especially if you are confident in the actual force. A 5-gram electronic scale is a worthwhile expenditure. It would pay to find the actual factory anti-skating weight specification. Fishing weights are fine, clever even, once you know exactly what they should weigh. Make sure the TT is level. Once you get stable and good-sounding performance while standing still, you can solve the footfall problems with a wall shelf, or a combination of one or more of hundreds of isolation and absorption schemes.

Good luck and happy listening!

 

[Dallas Bland]

Yes, weighting is that crucial, and not knowing what your weighting really is almost certainly explains your puzzling results.

Anti-skate forces are small compared to typical vertical tracking force. And weight-based anti-skating schemes must take leverage into account. Guessing that the proper weight is equal to the tracking force is not a reasonable assumption, imo. Tracking at the maximum of the range (2.5g) is probably helpful, especially if you are confident in the actual force. A 5-gram electronic scale is a worthwhile expenditure. It would pay to find the actual factory anti-skating weight specification. Fishing weights are fine, clever even, once you know exactly what they should weigh. Make sure the TT is level. Once you get stable and good-sounding performance while standing still, you can solve the footfall problems with a wall shelf, or a combination of one or more of hundreds of isolation and absorption schemes.

Good luck and happy listening!

Thanks sqlsavior. I have been looking for the factory specs on the anti-skating weight but no luck so far. If I can't track that down, would it be a good idea to use a 'groove-less' record and adjust weight until the arm stays in one spot without skating either way? Or would that just not work?

 

[sqlsavior]

I haven't tried the groove-less record method. I think some folks on here might recommend sizing or positioning the weight until the stylus doesn't get tugged to one side while landing, and looks centered with respect to the cartridge while playing. I haven't tried that method either, but it sounds plausible.

Welcome to AK!

 

[boza]

Hi all i just wanted to thank the op and all the guys who gave advice. Especially sqlsavior who's advice i followed.
Ive just set up a new cartridge and my anti skate weight is to heavy and pull's the cantilever to one side so using the method above the end of a pen, some blue tack, and some fishing line i was able to make a weight.

 

[TomInTacoma]

To double-check the anti-skate is properly adjusted I use a 12" laser disc. Place the the stylus about halfway into the disc and adjust the anti-skate until the stylus stays halfway in (versus sliding toward the center or the outside).

 

[cgutz]

My KD5070 and my KD550 work best at about 1/3 to 1/2 antiskate in relation to tracking force on my Ortofon cartridges.

See if it tracks well with the antiskate totally disabled. I once ran my KD5070 for some time without realizing it. Tracked and played beautifully without it...

Are your arm gimbal bearings ok? When floating while zeroing, does it move freely in all directions without any catching?

 

[ramentaschen]

Hi,

I too have an old Kenwood KD-2070 turntable that I am trying to restore. It came missing a headshell/cartridge/needle so I ordered a compatible Audio Technica one but I also need a counterweight. Does anyone know if this is specific to this model or can I use any Kenwood one? Also wanted to know if anyone knows where I can find one for sale. eBay doesn't have one currently and I don't know where else to look.

This old turntable is a little different than others I have seen. There is no little round anti-skate dial so I am unsure how to adjust the settings for this. Any help would be greatly appreciated here.

 

[TomInTacoma]

...but I also need a counterweight. Does anyone know if this is specific to this model or can I use any Kenwood one? Also wanted to know if anyone knows where I can find one for sale. eBay doesn't have one currently and I don't know where else to look.

This old turntable is a little different than others I have seen. There is no little round anti-skate dial so I am unsure how to adjust the settings for this. Any help would be greatly appreciated here.

Hello ramentaschen (love that name!), welcome to AK.

If it's not overly important that the counterweight be the exact original one, almost any one with the right shaft size and close to the required weight will do. If you can send me the counterweight shaft diameter (in MM preferred) and roughly how much weight it takes to achieve tone arm balance, we are likely to have a counterweight to meet your needs.

One way to determine how much weight is needed is to slide a socket midway onto the shaft going with larger ones until you can achieve balance. Then weight the socket. Another option is to slide large washers onto the shaft.

Regarding the anti-skate on that turntable - it doesn't have a dial. It uses a very small metal weight (about 2-grams) on a very fine line (like fishing line). One end of the line goes on a rod on the tone arm and then drapes over that metal 'hooky' thing allowing the weight to hang. Take a look at the owners manual here: https://www.vinylengine.com/library/kenwood.shtml