Hello all

W

wardh2o

Junior Member
Hi,

My name is Alan. I’m a music enthusiast and audiophile from Pueblo, Colorado. I listen to a wide range of genres and enjoy both analog and digital.

I found this site searching for info on the Kenwood KD 750 turntable. I have two of them. The first one I bought was a little rough, especially the tone arm. But I absolutely loved it so when I came across a nearly pristine one, I jumped on it. I’ve been using it for several years now with no problem. I have loaned the first one to my daughter. The tone arm on that one was pretty jacked up so I replaced it with a Fidelity Research FR-24 Mk II. That’s about the only arm I could find that was the same length. It’s not a bad arm, but it is a little fiddly compared to the stock arm. Not the best for a newbie to vinyl like my daughter. Would love to find an original arm if there’s any out there.
 

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Hi Alan.
Welcome to the Haven.

Wish I could help you on the arm situation. I sold both of mine after replacing them with FR-24s. The sound quality improvement was not subtle, so I couldn't imagine going back to the stock arm again.

I think all I have left is a tonearm cable and maybe a head shell. Or at least a partial headshell.

Anyhow, enjoy the Haven. Please let us know more about the rest of your system.
 
Thanks for the welcome, Prime Minister.
My speakers are Revel Performa F208s, and amplification is a NAD M10 (I’m a big fan of Dirac Live room correction).
Main digital source is streaming via Roon to the M10 and an Oppo BDP-95 for the occasional disc.
Analog source is a Hana EL mounted on a Kenwood KD-750 through a Sweet Vinyl Sugar Cube SC-1 Mini/Phono.
 
Welcome to HFH! If I were you, I'd swap turntables with your daughter and let her have the one with the stock tonearm - one, because of the aforementioned fiddly-ness of the FR-24 and two, because the FR-24 is arguably the better and more versatile arm. I think the Hana would be a very good match with the FR-24 Mk2.

I made it easy with my (high-school) daughter - she got a Technics SL5 with a new stylus for her turntable.
 
Thermionics said:
Welcome to HFH! If I were you, I'd swap turntables with your daughter and let her have the one with the stock tonearm - one, because of the aforementioned fiddly-ness of the FR-24 and two, because the FR-24 is arguably the better and more versatile arm. I think the Hana would be a very good match with the FR-24 Mk2.

I made it easy with my (high-school) daughter - she got a Technics SL5 with a new stylus for her turntable.
Click to expand...
I must have a bad ear for tone arms. When I got the second turntable I was planning to move the FR to it, but then when I compared the two I didn’t notice any sonic difference so I stayed with the stock arm because I preferred the look and operation.
Your member name made me think of one of my favorite amps I’ve had - Butler Audio. Ever heard of them? They claim to use US patented thermionic technology.
 
wardh2o said:
Thanks for the welcome, Prime Minister.
My speakers are Revel Performa F208s, and amplification is a NAD M10 (I’m a big fan of Dirac Live room correction).
Main digital source is streaming via Roon to the M10 and an Oppo BDP-95 for the occasional disc.
Analog source is a Hana EL mounted on a Kenwood KD-750 through a Sweet Vinyl Sugar Cube SC-1 Mini/Phono.
Click to expand...
Oooooo. Dirac, huh? How's it working for you?
 
I should add some cartridges to my list. The Hana EL is what I have mounted now, but I switch around frequently - one of great advantages of a removable headshell. I also use a Ortofon Concorde Century, an AT-150mlx and an AT-VM610 for mono.
 
wardh2o said:
It’s great! Really smooths out bass response and everything sounds better focused if that makes sense. It‘s pretty easy to use but has a ton of flexibility.
Click to expand...
I also had a Lyngdorf with Room Perfect for awhile. It was pretty good too. A little easier to set up but not as flexible as Dirac.
 
Thermionics said:
Welcome to HFH! If I were you, I'd swap turntables with your daughter and let her have the one with the stock tonearm - one, because of the aforementioned fiddly-ness of the FR-24 and two, because the FR-24 is arguably the better and more versatile arm. I think the Hana would be a very good match with the FR-24 Mk2.

I made it easy with my (high-school) daughter - she got a Technics SL5 with a new stylus for her turntable.
Click to expand...
An SL5 - that’s cool. Don’t see those very often. I’ve wondered why linear trackers never seemed to really catch on? Seems like a great idea but maybe it’s not practical to implement. What did you think of the Sonics of the SL5?
 
wardh2o said:
An SL5 - that’s cool. Don’t see those very often. I’ve wondered why linear trackers never seemed to really catch on? Seems like a great idea but maybe it’s not practical to implement. What did you think of the Sonics of the SL5?
Click to expand...
Not bad for a basic turntable - it's the same thing my parents had when I was a teenager and I played many, many, many records on it. The SL7 and SL10 are miles beyond the SL5 (especially with the EPS-310mc moving coil that came stock), but the SL5 with a good stylus will still do a decent job with records.
 
Welcome to the Haven, I have a Hana SL and could not be happier. Those kenwood 750’s looks pretty sweet!
 
Last edited:
Welcome to the Haven! The KD-750 is a very nice table indeed. Mine keeps some pretty good company and has yet to embarrass itself. I have kept mine with the stock arm and have no desire to change it. I run a Denon DL-103 on mine but have also enjoyed a Benz Micro Silver in the past as well.

The rest of your system sounds intriguing. I’ll second @Prime Minister with interest in hearing more about Dirac.
 
marantzfan said:
Welcome to the Haven! The KD-750 is a very nice table indeed. Mine keeps some pretty good company and has yet to embarrass itself. I have kept mine with the stock arm and have no desire to change it. I run a Denon DL-103 on mine but have also enjoyed a Benz Micro Silver in the past as well.

The rest of your system sounds intriguing. I’ll second @Prime Minister with interest in hearing more about Dirac.
Click to expand...
One of the things I dig about the KD-750 is the service manual. I've never seen one with so much engineering detail on the design. It's full of complex equations and explanations about why every piece was built the way it was. They could be snowing me since most of it is over my head, but it gives me the feeling that a lot of thought and expertise went into every aspect of the design.

For me room correction is a must. My first experience with a good dsp system was the Lyngdorf Room Perfect. After hearing what that could do, going without just never sounds quite right to me. It's more important to me now because we moved to a smaller house a few years ago and I don't have a dedicated listening room in the new place so I'm not able to do as much acoustical treatment. Dirac is not a substitute for acoustical treatment but it sure can mitigate some of the problems that aren't practical to treat acoustically.
 
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