The TRIO KENWOOD L-07D Turntable - Legendary Build with Legendary Sound

[Bacek]

Last week I have also joined L-07D club. Previously I knew it only from The Vintage Knob. But before transaction I looked all available information sources on the net. The Black Adder, your review was also good source of knowledge on it.

[struth]

lovely bit of gear... good you got one looks in great nick

[Bacek]

I was lucky enough to get everything that came in factory box (except of the boxes itself). Small nicks will be "polished", but anyway looks great. It's in great shape and electronic part was already addressed by previous owners (ex. exchanged old electrolytic capacitors)

[struth]

always a bonus that you have box and that the electrics have been fettled.. enjoy it and im sure you'll treasure one of the great decks...

[The Black Adder]

Hi Jacek.

Hey, well done on your purchase. It's a beauty!

Its a wonderful turntable.

Thank you for the mension regarding information about the L-07D... Credit goes out to the L-07d website too.

'm busy updating some pictures on my website but have a couple of new pics here of mine and the current Tannoyista system.

Its great that yours came with all the parts too... Mine had a few things missing but I've gradually managed to obtain most things including the official dust blanket.

I'm just looking for the original headshell now, although it would just to keep at the moment as I'm very happy with the funk firm headshell.

Any questions please ask.

[Bacek]

I've gradually managed to obtain most things including the official dust blanket.

You got me there. For sure I don't have the blanket and screwdriver so no 100% factory setup.

I'm just looking for the original headshell now, although it would just to keep at the moment as I'm very happy with the funk firm headshell.

Prices for this one are little bit crazy, for sure. Prpbably because it's reare and lot of second hand L-07D where sold without it.

How is your crank in VTA regulation? Mine is little bit loose and wiggles when turning around. I have managed slightly adjust it to improve it but it's least precise part of tonearm. Of course it does not matter for the sound or VTA mechanism work in general.

For now I love this table. Looks well preserved. For a start I will only check main bearing to be safe and play a lot. In near future probably I will address some small scratches on main plinth and edge of plywood part. It deserves to be in top notch form. For now I need to order some dust cover because of our family's cat, born in hell, don't have respect for any gear.

[The Black Adder]

Hiya.

Cool... To be honest I'd leave the main bearing alone... I'm 99% sure it will be fine.

If it's been looked after then it will definitely be fine. These aren't typical decks and generally have a quiet life.

Regarding scratches on the main body. Be very careful if you decide to try and remove them, eek! it's a strange material and if you make a mistake, it will look a mess and I doubt you will ever get it right.

As for the front silver area, that can be neatened up but again... One mistake and you will end up stripping it and having to get the logo and text re-applied.

My VTA control is fine. It has a little play but not much.





Sent from my 9001X using Tapatalk

[Rush2112]

My previous turntable was Thorens TD-124 MKII which I was in position for nearly 10 years. It was fully refurbished by Schopper and the sound was sublime. Running with an SPU GT with an SME 3009 it really rocked. Well, things change and I decided I really wanted to finally get my hands on an L-07D.

When one came on the market I snapped it up and after a full service, I'm really glad I did.

The Trio/Kenwood L-07D turntable hs always sparked my interest. I first saw one in a magazine back in the mid 90' and I was always impressed with its design. Not only that but the fact that it was made around the late '70s, mid-'80s.

There is a mystery about this outstanding turntable. Nobody knows for sure who designed it or how much profit Trio made on the production. But the general consensus is that Trio didn't make a penny back on these turntables, in fact, some say they were even in deficit. It was purely a loss leader, a 'Statement flagship'. Even Kenwood today don't know much about the people involved with the design. There are some who say Micro Seiki had major involvement in the design too.


The model name is actually an abbreviation of several different identifications.

1. L- = 'Laboratory series' which used the very best components.
2. 07 = The design team of 7 engineers
3. D = The identification of the production of turntables within Trio/Kenwood.

The Construction

The L-07D is a very heavy turntable, weighing in at 35kg fully assembled. It's high rigidity closed-loop construction uses a selection of specially manufactured laminated materials to eliminate vibration.

The extremely high inertia direct motor drive is kept perfectly in time with a crystal-controlled frequency generator and stays perfect no matter what influence the input mains voltage may have. And any abnormal external breaking of the platter is corrected instantly. So, when the designers set out to build a turntable with a 'zero tolerance' for speed errors, they did exactly that.

In fact, the team re-designed the idea of the turntable full stop.

The Plinth is a monster, a three-part affair utilising a huge aluminium subframe through which is bolted both the motor (via with 6 massive hex bolts) and the huge tonearm base. This massive machined aluminium casting is cast together into the main plinth section which is made from a concrete resin called ARCB (Anti-Resonance Compression Base). The last section is a large section of mahogany, seated and integrated into the ARCB base by 34 screws.

This ARCB section forms most of the plinth and weighs 10kgs, the aluminum frame which is embedded in the ARCB section weighs 2 kg and the Mahogany sub-plinth weighs another 7 kg. The 4 large adjustable feet are constructed of a two-piece machined brass billet and weigh 1.4kgs each.

The Tonearm

The tonearm on this turntable is also astonishing. The base of the tonearm weighs 3kg. It's a machined and cast unit allowing you to adjust the VTA on-the-fly whilst listening with zero tracking errors. The tonearm tube itself is made from a unique mix of resonant cancelling materials, hard aluminum, boron fiber and carbon fiber.

The construction of the tonearm tube has a different structure of these materials at the cartridge end than the weighted end with the materials being layered in such a way as to adapt to the greater vibrations from the cartridge. It's truly a wonder of how this was achieved and the whole assembly lives up to being a separate precision machine on its own and a thing of beauty in its own right.

Incorporating ultra hardened roller bearings which have zero play ensures precise tracking.

The highest quality Litz wiring is used internally and all pins are heavily gold plated. The tonearm cable is also Litz using 168 wires per conductor.

The Anti-Skate mechanism is an unusual yet ingenious mechanism. Using two machined metal end caps with a hair-like thread (Ethicon 689G suture thread) connecting both together. The thread has to be exactly 82mm in length between each cap. Each end cap has a machined hole in one end. These anchor to the tonearm and the arm base via a small peg. The thread is then wound around a small pully and then around a pivoted adjustable weight arm. Just this mechanism by itself shows the amazing attention to detail the designers went through.

The L-07D also has a space for a second tonearm to be fitted at the back left of the deck. The blanking plate the deck is supplied with shows the space holes and measurements.

The additional plates came in three forms:

TB-07-A - This fits SME 3009 R: 218.5mm
TB-07-B - This has a drill hole diameter 23mm, 3 pc 3mm bolt R 19mm and 3pc 4mm bolt on R 25mm from center main drilling R: 235mm
TB-07-E - This has only a single drill hole diameter 30.9mm R: 222mm use this for SAEC WE-308SX

The Platter

The Platter is also something of beauty. It's beautifully machined, no flaws. Constructed from a triple layer composite of anti-resonant materials such as Aluminium and Duralumin. Then the top platter mat is made from a 5mm machined slab of non-magnetic stainless steel.

Including the rotor, the combined rotational weight is 6.8kg. For even more stability, Trio included an inner weight (the DS-21) and an outer periphery stabiliser ring (the DS-20) increasing the rotational weight to 8.7kg, and if you were to include the ceramic platter (the TS-10) the weight jumps up to 10kg.

The Control Unit / Power Supply

The external power supply/control unit is a hefty bit of kit. Its umbilical cable contains 20 smaller cables and it uses a JAE connector to connect to the turntable. All the settings are adjusted here. When the turntable is serviced this unit also needs to be re-calibrated.

The Sound

A little bit about my system first. My system comprises of a Croft Epoch Elite which is highly modified. The internal phono stage is MM and so I'm using a Lentek SUT which has a great synergy with the Trio. More information on my Croft can be found HERE!

The main amplifier is the Tube Distinctions copper amplifier using KT-150's. Discover more information HERE!

My main speakers are Lockwood Majors with 15" Tannoy monitor gold drivers. More information can be found HERE!

The sound is astonishing. I could just stop there as it sums it all up. The pace and timing was the main aspect I noticed immediately. I had to reconfigure my ears I guess. The bass is voluptuously gratifying and the image is centre stage, rock-solid with everything fitting together perfectly.

The L-07D is a rare wonder. Something that was on sale when I was only 7 years old. Yet it's something that performs and looks like it was made much more recently. It makes me think how much this deck would now cost to design and produce. Okay, there are plenty of advancements in materials and components these days and even the control unit could now be the size of a Raspberry Pi. Probably smaller.

But I love old tech. I love the workmanship, the passion, and the over-engineering which used to go into development and the L-07D is an astonishing example of that.

The L-07D is a truly remarkable piece of engineering. For a company to indulge itself for the sake of prowess on a limited run of units is now unheard of. But in around the 1970s, 1980s and lastly the 1990s, large Japanese companies like this felt it was totally necessary and justified to give the reigns to it's top design teams to create one-off pieces of engineering to simply say... 'look what we can do'.

The price of this deck in 1979/1980 was £1,550, in todays money (2022) it would set you back £6,200. So, if you would like to buy one of these wonderful turntables, pricing one up today in great condition with all it's accessories be prepared to pay around £3500 - £4500 mark. Since I bought mine, prices have risen sharply and for very good reason.

For the price, finding a turntable which has so much going on like the L-07D, you'd still struggle to find something on an equal and legendary footing.

But, once you have one, you won't want to let it go. It's a true classic and becoming rarer to find.

Absolutely legendary Japanese obsessive overengineering super bit of kit and I am of course jealous.