Veru nice indeed!
Had Kenwood KD-900 TT back in the days and it was very nice player for the price range at the time! Also got mine from German ebay and ended up selling after got some heavier DD solution before my current Garrard/MS era
Location: Finland
Posts: 1,184
I'm Mika.
Veru nice indeed!
Had Kenwood KD-900 TT back in the days and it was very nice player for the price range at the time! Also got mine from German ebay and ended up selling after got some heavier DD solution before my current Garrard/MS era
Loricraft / Garrard / SME / Transfiguration / Dynavector / Ensemble / Auditorium 23 / Shindo / RA / Audio Note / Duelund / Altec
The KD-990 is a lovely looking deck in the flesh, bigger than you would think and the arm is a lovely thing but the real beauty lies in the chassis.
With regard to the Yamahas' sonic presentation, dare I say they're very natural sounding. (I'll get my coat.) Due to my limited exposure to decent kit I don't really like to come onto forums and talk my kit up. That said, I'd characterise them as fast, predominantly neutral in character with good grip and bass control. They sound really good in the context of my system. Really nice quality of bass, lucid midrange and a nice open airy treble. The imaging is really superb. Definite keepers but better than the Kenwood? Time will tell. Well worth a listen in my book if you happen to see a pair.
It was indeed serious kit and I'd like to think it still is just affordable now to mere mortals. I got the original sales brochure and some manuals with the amps. The rest of the system was a Yamaha T-7 tuner and K-960 cassette, NS1000 speakers and a Revox B795 turntable. The whole lot cost about 7,500 DM back in 1980.
Cheers Mika. I love your Micro Seiki by the way. A real thing of beauty.
It's a fine deck indeed, love mine. I replaced the feet with some oak cones and it improved the sonics IMHO. One question as you are using the standard head she'll Paul, is the azimuth ok on you cartridge. Looking form the front is it square to the record surface? Mine wasn't as I think the mat is slightly concave so I'm using an adjustable heashell to work around it....
Listening in a Foo free Zone...
Only a Sith deals in absolutes.
Thanks for the tips Neal. I checked and the azimuth seems true on my arm. As for supports, I just got a set of round SDS isofeet from Brian of this parish and it turns out that they're the same diameter as the KD-990 feet which preserves the look and stance of the deck It's early days but they seem quite effective.
Thanks to Nial of this parish I have been able to add a Yamaha T-7 tuner and K-950 cassette deck to my C-4/M-4 combo.
I also sorted some shelving for my albums.
Finally I picked up a functional but somewhat shabby Thorens TD-125. It has a Grace arm fitted and the best part of another for spares. This is just as well because the arm lift is loose/broken and the black plate that the lift sits on is cracked at the corner. Also the lid is very rough but I'm hopeful it will respond to a polish. I've never tinkered with a turntable before and I'm thinking this deck could be fun to learn on. Lots of research required.
Last edited by hermit; 17-01-2016 at 20:15.
Since my last post, the final pieces of the jigsaw have fallen into place:
A good few weeks ago my tech guy came and bypassed the control pots on the Berkeleys, I thought to good effect, and would recommend. Seemed to clean things up a bit. Then today....
a set of stands for the Berkeleys arrived on a pallet. My first pallet delivery! I must be an audiophile now . The stands were made by Les of Sound Damped Steel. What a difference they have made. Now the speakers are at the right height, imaging has improved but the bass has also improved. There's more bass and it's much cleaner. I'm well chuffed. Les did a great job and his technology is really very effective at stopping the energy going into the suspended floor.
I also picked up a second hand lid for the KD-990 which was lucky. Now no crack in the side
Location: gone
Posts: 11,519
I'm gone.
Impressive - those stands look the biz.
.
Location: Snowdonia
Posts: 393
I'm Nial.
Your system had pretty good bass before. Mind you I'm a bit behind - it was before the new Yam kit too.
You must be well pleased!
And looks just great too.
Look forward to hearing it and having an afternoon of chunes again.
Yes. Stands make a big difference with larger Tannoys. My Cheviot II Tannoys were much better once I got them 9" off the deck. I swear the ceramic magnet speakers sound better than the Alnico items. Dunno why though. I had the HPD Cheviots and definitely find the Mk.II better. Have you compared your Berkeley IIs to the HPD type Paul?
It is impossible for anything digital to sound analogue, because it isn't analogue!