The Killer Kenwood L-07D - Buy One If You Can Find It
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- Опубліковано 22 лип 2024
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SkyFi Audio is a small startup business specializing in the purchase, reconditioning, and reselling of select high end audio equipment. We only buy equipment that we admire and are passionate about. No mid-fi, no gimmicks, and no junk.
Each piece of equipment is cosmetically restored and fully tested in our well-equipped lab by an engineer with 30+ years of experience in the HiFi world. If it does not meet or exceed the original manufactures specifications, it will not be sold. We are very selective about the equipment we purchase, focusing on mostly analog, high-build quality, American, and European built units.
![If you can't hear this then you're not an audiophile [See description for link to followup video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/48PxwspDvrE/mqdefault.jpg)
How very nice to see a turntable that I actually have on your channel. I bought mine new in 1981.
The main part of the plinth is not cast aluminum. It's made of a concrete and resin composite, that Kenwood called ARCB (Anti-Resonance Compression Base.) An aluminum subframe, that holds the motor and tonearm assemblies rigidly coupled together, is molded into the ARCB plinth. The bottom-most part of the plinth, where the KENWOOD logo is printed and where the handles attach to, is mahogany.
The "super aluminum" in the platter is Duralumin. The platter is a three-layer sandwich, aluminum-duralumin-aluminum, and on top of that sits the stainless steel platter mat.
That's not the original headshell you have on there. The original is a 7-layer carbon and boron laminate. I have noticed that when an L-07D comes up for sale, it's not uncommon that it comes with an aftermarket headshell, because the original has been lost.
The main bearing is not totally service-free, even though the instruction manual says that it is. While it is true that the bearing has a Delrin thrust plate, which is self-lubricating, the bearing well also holds a small amount of oil to lubricate the motor shaft. It could be wise to check on that oil after 40 years ;-) I clean and re-lube mine every 4-5 years.
Cheers and thanks for the video!
hang on to it, there is one on eBay for $9K.
Hello Ragnar
To complete my comment in view of your last addition:
I bought my Trio Kenwood new also. I may have not looked correctly to the excallent video
But I also noted that the L07D came with rubber pads under the feet. Great vdeo. Claude in Montréal Qc
Makes sense since it so much heavier than aluminum. Thanks Ragnar.
How much was it when you bought it? And how did you happen upon it in 1981? Was it in a local audio shop or did you have to order it?
This turntable is beyond cool, I love the way it looks. Gorgeous!!
Actually the L-O7M that was the amp in the series was hands down the leading model from the Kenwood Audio Purist line. One of the first mono blocks. 150W, DC-50Khz! Harry Pearson of Absolute Sound was so impressed he bought a set and considered them his reference amps. I was a Kenwood rep at the time and helped introduce the line to the market.
And you have to have a set of the TS-10 Ceramic Platter Sheet, DS-20 Outer Disk Stabilizer and DS-21 Inner Disk Stabilizer. They were in my travelling samples with the L0O7D.
The L-07 series was and still is one of the best lines to ever hit the market. I own and have serviced many of the L series pieces. Truly top performers, and very elegantly designed. I would love to hear more about your time at Kenwood, especially on the topic of the L series.
I have been think about buying a L series monoblocks. Can you give us a little more insight into them?
@@Gnofg The L-07M’s are extremely tight, controlled and transparent amplifiers. In my experience, they sound like the best of both worlds of solid state amplifiers and tube amplifiers between their bass control, fantastic and emotional midrange, and clean top end. Their technical performance is also extremely good, being DC amplifiers with a bandwidth past 200KHz (600KHz for the L-07M Mk2)
The issues with the L-07M’s lie within the high bandwidth capabilities. These amplifiers love to oscillate when parts drift out of spec, which could be a death sentence if not caught in time. This is a bigger issue with the L-07MII, most of which are already dead if not already restored properly. I have restored multiple sets of L-07M’s, and they suffer from many of the same issues as similar vintage amplifiers such as cracked solder joints, corrosive circuit board glue, failing capacitors, and out of tolerance resistors. These issues can all be addressed by a competent technician. One other thing to look out for is the RCA jacks on the backs of the units. Kenwood, for some reason, decided to utilize a crimp connection for the ground pickup on the RCA Jack. This fails overtime, and if it does, the amplifier will shoot DC out to your speakers which can fry speaker drivers. It’s best to replace the RCA jacks entirely for this reason.
If you manage to find a pair of L-07M’s and restore them properly, they will blow many amplifiers multiple times their price out of the water. There’s a reason I’ve kept mine for so long while rolling through other very expensive amplifiers. They hold their own plus some. Kenwood/Accuphase really knocked it out of the park with these series of components!
@@PrimeHiFi I have had a Dynaco ST 70 and right now I am using a completely updated Dynaco ST 150. I also had a Belles and when I I tested the Dynaco it blew away the Belles in terms of clarity. I have a Van Alstine preamp. The point is this L series intrigues me. I have a great tech who has done multiple things. He restored a couple of Pat-5's with new opamps and my old Sansui AU-7500 who I sold to a friend( I bought it new). I was thinking more of the L-05's.
@@PrimeHiFi I has a complete set of the L-O7 series as samples when they first came out. I hated loaning them out as they made my Maggie IIIa's sing! But the fall back KA-801 was no slob! And the KD-500 either. But Fat Julien's HiFi in Atlanta wanted to try them. When I got them back he told me he had just listened to the most technically perfect amp ever built! But he was not sure how he felt about that! LOL! And it turns out mine was the pair Harry Pearson evaluated with him.
Did you know the output devices had that extreme bandwidth because they were developed by Kenwood's RF/ Amateur Radio group? (Kenwood Trio, stereo, RF and Test. Mikasa dishware also!) So they literally could extend out to 150MHz! With high power! And they were NOT an Integrated Circuit! They were massive parallel transistors to reduce internal eddy current to get the power and bandwidth from one device!
They also introduced an L-O1 series that was price no object! Integrated amp had 7 power supplies in a different box before that was heard of! All made from nonferrous materials to stop cabinet interactions with signal paths. The turntable had a massive sold lead bar running between the platter bearing and tonearm mount.
Fun story when I was doing booth duty for Audio Purist at their 1st CES attendance. Room was me and some Japanese engineers with poor English day one of the show. Things were not sounding good in the smaller room downstairs a McCormic. I noticed their florescent display lights were flicker. Not high enough voltage to light them up! Too much line loss at that room! I grabbed one of the display signs and carried it out to the hall to plug in out there to test. If you know Chicago Unions! They had ignored our request to check line voltage! But once a non-union person was walking up to an outlet to plug something in while not paying a Union electrician to do it? WOW! did I get attention! But they saw the light issue (amazed them it was happening!) and they dropped a transformer behind our room! I was a hero to Audio Purist!
By my recommendations, one some owns a pair of L-O7Ms and L-O5Ms for his AR9s (I also repped). Another a pair of L-O7Ms for his AR91s. And I have a pair of L-O9Ms on the bench working on protection relay issues for my Maggie 1.7i.
I repped Marantz, AR, Kenwood, Cerwin Vega, Audio Technica, Maxell, Empire, Nagatron, Nagaoka, Pioneer Car Audio, ... in 6 SE states, Gave lectures and clinics. Ran a regional Kenwood repair Center in Atlanta for a while.
Best table ever made and even the original head shell is amazing in reducing resonance. Everyone is now a holding company with profit margins over engineering with many cost cutting parts. No original technology as even Class D was in Infiniti in the 1970s. I love that page and the Kenwood page. Great video!
Great review, Fernando. I honestly never knew this turntable exists. Very cool
Hi
I bought mine in 1982 and it is still my main TT today. In the following years I found and purchased the other equipment of the L07 models: Mono amps L07M, control préamp L07C and the L07T tuner. I don't really use these but they are all in good working condition. Finally I found all the excellent instruction and charts papers. I don't want to forget the original cables : 1m speaker and more than 3m interconnects.
You sure are lucky to have a full system. Would you mind sharing a picture or two??
Do you want to sell them? I was a Kenwood rep when they came out. I provided the demo units to Harry Pearson at Absolute Sound that he later purchased a set as his standard reference amps for years. Between myself and two of my sons we have a number of LO-7Ms, LO-9M. LO-7Cs.... and integrated amps, tuners,....
@@glenncurry3041 Hello Glen
I’m open to offers.
What a piece of kit! 👍 Sad to see Kenwood in such a state of decline.
good old days. Sure miss these crazy statement pieces.
but accuphase is live and kicking
Beautiful turntable and Kenwood has thought of everything. Formerly Kenwood knew how to make high-end audio devices.
Another gem from the past. Kenwood/Trio made some great products back then. The surpreme series is one of them.
No doubt!
Always something super interesting on this channel.
I always look forward to these videos 👍😄
Came from the vintage hifi info, subbed for e30 cluster breakdown. Keep rocking man, love to hear about others vintage one offs like this.
Than Will. Got a cool Sony piece coming next week.
Great video. I have never seen this model before. It looks great and I'm sure it performs great too. To me this is another example of how vintage can be equal or even better than new products of today.
Thats the favorite part of my job.. finding vintage gems that can compete with modern stuff.
the Trio lives! love it, and you all rock
I have this table aswell, insane piece. Not matched by present tables.
For sure you need to source the accessoires aswell. I see that you miss the head shell, which is almost always missing when people have these for sale.
I also have the HS07, DS20, DS21, TS10
soy de la vieja escuela y nunca vi este bello aparato, obvio . puedo suponer q valia una fortuna cuando salio al mercado. en esa epoca era un joven de 21 anos.
The Marantz TT-1000 was also another beautiful turntable from the same era.
I own 2 pairs of Kenwood L-O7m amplifiers, the original version, and the MKII version.
Over 50 years old, sill going strong, and sound great.
glad to hear. enjoy
I remember it. Interesting design aesthetics but not much else other than "another Tokyo manual direct drive with user replaceable tonearm" which kept most buyers at arms length. It was basically a Technics SL-1000 clone but without the lava stone plinth. Thanks for the yesteryear trip down memory lane....
Glad you enjoyed it Dan and thanks for your thoughts.
I like nice stuff, I found 2 with a quick search, the cheap one was $15K!
wow, good to see one of these, super rare
Indeed!
Beautiful, I would be interested buying it.
L-02T FM tuner was also probably a companion L-0 model in that series. I have a Kenwood KT-917 tuner which was the flagship tuner model prior to the L-02T. Some rate the L-02T as Kenwood’s best ever but I prefer the styling of the 70s era.
I thought about the Kt-917 but I also liked AM at the time. I do have the KA-907 love that amp.
Looks fantastic
Bought one of these beauties in Kuwait back in 1981. Took it back to UK with me and got burgled one day in sunny Manchester after about 2 weeks. 😡. They must have been determined to carry this out along with the other components. A couple of big Tandberg amps and a Pioneer reel to reel. Bastards.
Hi guys, if someone is interested in buying a Kenwood L07D, I have one for selling. It's a new one, conserved in the basement for the last decades. I checked all the functions and it's working well. In fact it's a new device, because it was simply in the showroom during the early 80s. Since 1986 in unused in the basement stored.
Yes i want it but would like to retire some day so can’t afford it.
Kenwood receivers are often undervalued in the market. If you have a good FM station in your area, consider a Kenwood receiver or turntable. I say this because Kenwood built a LOT of communications receivers, ham radios, etc., and their FM tuners reflect that heritage of fine RF design.
I couldn't agree more about what the Japanese manufacturers did in that period, with those huge budgets. Unfortunately, I can't afford one of these but I'm very happy with my KP-990.
They certainly had deep pockets and huge facilities with lots of experts. I doubt any audio company will ever exist again like these did back then.
Hello, question for you. In your opinion, how does this deck compare with the Sansui SR-929, in terms of overall build quality and performance?
I’d also love to see one of your reviews/breakdowns of the 929, if possible ?
Critical to the performance of this is the center clamp and the outside ring the goes on the outer edge of the record
Until now I thought I had a logical but practically unfeasible idea, but the Outer Disc Stabilizer DS-20 from Kenwood existed much earlier.
Audiophool nostalgia for the vinyl era. Suckers!
haha.
Great video! I know the L-07D and its stable mates of matching components were the crème de la crème from Kenwood/Trio back in the day, but was the KD-650/600 a more affordable, trickle-down version of this? I have a KD-650 and it sure packs a mean punch far above its price point-both in comparison to higher end decks back in the day as well as current decks in the $3k to $5k range.
I once gutted a KD-650/600 and did not find anything in common with this piece. Nice table never the less.
@@SkyFiAudio Thanks for the info.
UA-cam algorithm just threw up a video of the same turntable with the second tone arm attached and playing. UA-cam channel name SkyD.
Make a video about Onkyo model E-30, the worlds rarest EQ, please?
A mean machine indeed
I want one badly but no way I’m paying what they are listed for. Will be a great day to stumble soon o e at a yard sale😊. The L-07c preamp and L series mono blocks also wonderful but don’t go for as crazy of prices.
Great video!, however, it would help to check your voice recording levels, this video was low in volume, had to increase audio levels on my end! Thanks 😊
I noticed that too. Perhaps the orientation of the mic. Will be more careful not the next one. Sorry B.
clean that record!
Thats the beater record I use to set tonearm height and stuff. Never actually use it. Sure is a mess.
Love to have one , please let me know when and if you want to sell it. Thanks
i have the KD-07 my cat jumped on the dust cover and broke it a few years ago, I've already given up looking for one because in addition to being a rare model, its peculiar design makes it almost impossible to find a dust cover for it.
forgetaboutit! Like finding a unicorn. Good luck Elias.
What do you think of the Sony, CDP- XA7ES CD player, I have one, and, I absolutely love it!!
Nice one. I love early Sony players. The earlier the better. Watch out for next weeks video.
@@SkyFiAudio 7ES is not early model......
Micro Seiki almost certainly made this for Kenwood.
Im pretty sure the arm was made by them, Thanks for sharing.
Do you guys sell replacement power supplies for a Nagra III tape recorder. Sorry off topic.
no sorry, check ebay.
No pitch control? I need two for battle scratching and mixing. 😎
They sure have the torque for it.
Netztreuber how much, and your location
Feet shouldhave been polished or brushed brass finish vs black coat, though the coating prevents tarnish ;)
brass feet would ruin the battleship aesthetic :-)
Wasn't this available in Japan under the Trio brand name?
It was in the UK they had to use the Trio name.
turn up your volume.
Lovely turntable.
No wristwatch today?
good catch. Will remember on the next one for sure.
Incredible TT. Looks like it's being designed by George Lucas... still, a Sony PS-X9 would be my all time ultimate.
It certainly has that late 70s early 80s design aesthetic.
battleship aesthetic in my opinion :-)
@@SkyFiAudio 100%
good
To the guy that thinks the arm is inferior the reviews are with the factory tone arm always good to be prepared before you go to court
Kenwood needed two tonearms because the first one was so inferior they needed a backup. Ultimately they both failed. Which is why we all moved to Kraco 8 Tracks with Dolby built in.
good one Jeff.
He’s on the wrong YT channel he’s got a daewoo with too bad wiper arms
My all-time favorite turntable was the Bang & Olufsen Beogram 8000. It was a great table. What other turntable has a Pause button or knows when there is or is not an LP on the platter? Instead of a motor, it had two magnets of the same polarity placed close together and the lip of the sub-platter ran between them. Since the magnets had the same charge, it pushed the metal sub-platter through and made it spin. You can regulate the current going to a magnet extremely accurately, so the platter speed was very, very accurate. The platter was so perfectly balanced and used such high-quality bearings that it would take 30 or 40 seconds for the platter to stop spinning if the unit's own braking system was not used. I also really liked the tangential tracking. Those who like to use their own tonearms and cartridges wouldn't like the integrated design of the unit, however.
I had an 8000, it was very unreliable, and B&O of North America didn't seem terribly interested in getting it to work properly. When it had the next problem after the warranty expired, I replaced the 8000 with a Linn Sondek. Even with the Basik arm and cartridge, the Linn was clearly superior, even on my mid-fi system back then
@@louisperlman8030 Sonically, I agree the 8000 was not the best. I have a restored SL1200 today with a Nagaoka cart that I think sounds better. I even had a Clearaudio Concept before that. At one point I even had a tangential tracking Pioneer deck......but none of these had the style, features, or coolness factor of the 8000. It's still my favorite to this day.
I also have a Beogram 4002 estetically perfect but needs small repairs to be in working condition. When I dont use the L07D, I use my Thorens TD 125/Sme III/Goldring 1042
@@claudechasle4154 Weren't the turntables from the 4000 series belt-driven?
and you use vm95 with bonded elliptical on it?!!!
My thoughts exactly!!
For demonstration purposes, who cares?
When you want to really use it, you put on the $6,500 special.
Thats just the cartridge that was on a random head shell in the shop. Dont actually use this table, its just for display. Some day Ill mount something special on it.
Just the platter itself on eBay is over $700 😁
Nice indeed, but not a cheap one.
2 to 3 grand and even found one asking 5000,-
Then a lot more is there thats great too...
But still a nice find!
I doubt you could ever find one of these under $10k.
there's one for sale in my country, but it costs ... 8000$ )))
It's called a Statement Piece.
or a halo product.
Never understood why Quartz speed lock never became defacto standard among most/all turntables through today.
Seems the most basic, known, cost effective way to ensure accurate speed/wow/flutter control
Don't know if there are some audiophile-ese downsides to it, other than elitisms re: Quartz lock in low cost tables of the past, therefore avoided by association
Quartz lock was the de facto standard for Japanese DD turntables. However, the Japanese mostly stopped producing those and modern turntable (with the exception of Technics and a few others) are all low tech belt drive affairs using commodity parts. Many are very well made with precision CNC manufacturing, but that's the sort of thing that doesn't require much of an engineering budget or the resources to create bespoke parts like motors, control circuits and switches. He gets at this in the video.
you be surprised how good an AC motor synced to the electric grid frequency can perform. Much cheaper too.
obviously Kenwood had a budget. but the way it was spenz, like on mx Sanui XR-Q7 TT,is interesting-budget went on super-accurate electronix speed contro, not on strobe,lamp,adjusters. the footprint is pretty big, hard for a disabled person to shift.
every year, the top makers compete to get the best engineering graduates in Japan. I think Trio-Kenwood got a lot of the cream. until the great withdrawal from hifi, by Japan Inc. in the mid-90's, the investment in research and matketing effort, primarily aimed at the USA, with higher-end hifi there, was astounding. - the AV market was their next industry-wide move.
only in the last few years, Yamaha and Technics(Panasonic) re-entered the high-end hifi dpace, pccuüpied mainly by specialist brands from smaller companies. this time more for profit, than making 'halo' products, maybe. as the mass-market digital (inc. streaming) gear market is saturated, by the massive output from China and the tiger countries in SE Asia. now JVC Kenwood, it remains to be seen if delicious,desirable products like this ever appear again under the Kenwood name. ?
eBay listing 6-29-2022 $9,000...............Stainless steel non-magnetic turntable mat $700...........2nd tonearm without shell.......$4900.00
Here is your chance to get one from a good seller. Definitely pickup the second arm too.
Only 360p? Video quality is not so good. I really like your reviews 😃.
When the video first posts, its low res. gotta wait a bit for the 4k version
please pay more attention to your audio levels.
2 pounds per foot is 12 pounds?
Nah.....I'll stick with my VPI HW-19 with the SME series V tone arm.
Ummm, how does it sounds?
As good as the cartridge you put on it :-)
@@SkyFiAudio exactly haha
What ? No gold plating . That thing could be used as a foundation block for my house.
haha, I'm sure you can find someone to gold leaf it for you.
One for sale on eBay. $19999.99
its silly to think they didnt make profit. its a record player not a rocket ship.
Halo.
To the idiot that criticized the arm you forgot the “fact” audiophiles don’t use DD TTS cheap ones yes
You have to wonder if digital music really caused the demise of HiFi. Maybe just like EV’s will cause the demise of some of the finest engines.
That's just Overkill. Perhaps it is built for the radio broadcast industry. I am into audio. But I'm not that into audio.
Haha Keith. Sounds like your a practical kinda guy. This is for the crazy audiophiles.
All top of the line units are technically overkill.
And a 20€ needle 😆
This table is a show piece in our shop. Dont really have a cartridge mounted or calibrate for it. I just put on a head shel I had sitting around. Some day Ill put it to good use. What cartridge do you reckon would work well?
Or, one could just get a good pair of headphones and a mobile phone. Cheaper, more convenient, better audio.
thats no fun!
still not as good as a 1210, it can have all the fancy connectors in the world and it still would not be a patch on the technics, I mean look at that pathetic crappy looking cartridge, When ever I see an audiophile gushing over some space grade turntable that costs stupid money really is Stupid or ignorant. 😂😂😂
What an ugly creation , if i had one i would immediately sell it :-)
You'd sure have some takers if you did.