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Thread: Kenwood KD-990

  1. #1
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Norwich

    Posts: 2,814
    I'm Hugo.

    Default Kenwood KD-990

    My new (old) Kenwood KD-990 turntable sounds very decent indeed. I have a strong feeling that its signal cabling is letting things down quite a bit, but it's still rather good. The deck's silence, compared with the TD-124, is startling. Arm setup is easy (at least with a Clearaudio alignment jig) and the solenoid operated lift/lower device is a joy to use. So far, so good!






    One of my jobs for the coming week is to replace the external signal cabling with Van Damme Pro-Patch. I'll then know whether it's going to be worth re-wiring the arm (or rather sending it to Johnnie for re-wiring).

  2. #2
    Join Date: Feb 2013

    Location: W Lothian

    Posts: 99,005
    I'm Grant.

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    A very tidy deck Hugo. arm looks to be worth the rewiring if cable is aging
    Regards,
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  3. #3
    Join Date: Feb 2008

    Location: Down South

    Posts: 2,413
    I'm Neal.

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    Nice one Hugo, it arrived all in one piece, it's a great deck.
    Listening in a Foo free Zone...

    Only a Sith deals in absolutes.

  4. #4
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Norwich

    Posts: 2,814
    I'm Hugo.

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    I've removed the base board to take a look inside, and all seems well. There's no sign of any bulging electrolytic capacitors, but I'll probably change the two PSU smoothing caps, as a precaution. Following on from Neal's advice to ditch the stock Kenwood feet, a set of threaded Stillpoints have brought about a considerable improvement in bass quality and definition; indeed the KD-990 is now performing very well indeed. I still reckon that the signal cables need to go, so maybe I'll get around to replacing them tomorrow.

    So far, this buy has been an outstanding success. And the arm lifts off at the end of the record!

  5. #5
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Norwich

    Posts: 2,814
    I'm Hugo.

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    Here's the underside - clean and tidy.



    It's interesting to see that the ply/chipboard plinth structure is actually firmly attached to the cast alloy chassis at 4 points, towards the end of each leg. I did rather expect some sort of decoupling. Simply out of curiosity, I will remove the plinth and run the KD-990 'naked' to find out if the plinth contributes anything to the deck's sound characteristics. All harmless fun, but it will revert to standard fettle.

    (Apologies for the poor phone camera shot)

  6. #6
    Join Date: Sep 2018

    Location: amsterdam The Netherlands

    Posts: 66
    I'm Paul.

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    Sorry for the reply on annold topic. But i have an KD990 also and i am curious if uf you did the wire ugrades? If so did it give you an upgrade in SQ? Which cables did you use?

    Sent from my COL-L29 using Tapatalk

  7. #7
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Norwich

    Posts: 2,814
    I'm Hugo.

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    No arm internal wiring upgrades - I replaced the tonearm entirely (the lift/lower solenoid stopped working). My KD-990 has worked beautifully with FR-64S, Jelco 10” and Reed 3P 12” arms. The stock Kenwood arm is actually very good, but I would replace the external signal cabling with something better, such as Van Damme Pro Patch balanced microphone cable. I did that before changing the arm and it was definitely worth the modest cost.
    Last edited by Ammonite Audio; 04-01-2019 at 10:27.

  8. #8
    Join Date: Sep 2018

    Location: amsterdam The Netherlands

    Posts: 66
    I'm Paul.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Ammonite Acoustics View Post
    No arm internal wiring upgrades - I replaced the tonearm entirely (the lift/lower solenoid stopped working). My KD-990 has worked beautifully with FR-64S, Jelco 10” and Reed 3P 12” arms. The stock Kenwood arm is actually very good, but I would replace the external signal cabling with something better, such as Van Damme Pro Patch balanced microphone cable. I did that before changing the arm and it was definitely worth the modest cost.

    Why did you decide to use the Van Damme Pro Patch Balanced microphone and not the unbalanced version? Is that because you use an balanced Phono Pre?

    Or do you use the extra wire for grounding?

  9. #9
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Norwich

    Posts: 2,814
    I'm Hugo.

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    Mainly because it’s what Johnnie at Audio Origami uses, and I have followed suit for years, but the two signal wires are also much easier to solder into the tag board under the tonearm, than the coaxial cable. It also means that the chassis ground wire is just that, and nothing to do with signal ground. There is very little cost difference between the two cable types.

  10. #10
    Join Date: Nov 2018

    Location: Grimsby

    Posts: 398
    I'm David.

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    I'd be really interested to know how the Kenwood KD990 (un-modified) would stack up against these newer Technics 1200g/gr's. I assume you are still using your Kenwood Hugo.

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