The Dark Lantern

Keep it up Owen - Just loving this stuff - Sweet Dreams are Made of This....

The Kenwood arm is a masterpiece of mechanical and ergonomic design.

In my book nothing comes close, not even late model SME's.

The L-07D is truly worthy of a modern day reproduction.

How did you end up with just the arm and no table ?

Hey chaps, thks for your comments. Pleased that it is of some interest.

It's a circuitous story Michael, but L-07Ds had a reputation for failure in their motor controllers. The orig (dead) TT in this case was Dave Whittaker's... he at least two L-07Ds. I have yet to use it, so can't comment more on its functionality, but Dave had one on his own Aura TT, so I am guessing that it should pass muster sonically. It is destined here for a Technics SP10 plinth...one day...sweet dreams indeed Papa.

In my relatively limited experience, I haven't seen another tonearm like it. From memory, the Acos Lustre GST-801 has a rather nice helicoid threaded base too, but the arm itself shouldn't be seen in the same man cave as the Kenwood

You will of course be familiar with the unofficial Kenwood L-07D website?...
http://www.l-07d.com/
I think Dave may have sent his L-07D to this gent, in the end.

Michael, I've always wanted to play with a modern SME (IV/V etc), but usually out of my price league. Nice clamped sliding base system, should be easy alignment/setup.

very nice Owen. I wish that I had the vernier VTA adjustment on my arm,such a sensible idea.

I wish that the base was removable, so that I could use it on other arms...maybe it is?
But that would probably constitute vandalism!

Probably usable with an arm that uses the same geometry and fits in the base ?

How does the Kenwood arm stack up against your Fidelity Research ?

On second thoughts, the Kenwood arm is prob not dismantlable as it will have a helical treaded pillar.

I've really no idea yet how the Kenwood sounds, haven't mounted it since its arrival not long after Dave's passing.

The FR64 however, has been in use with an Orsonic hshell (before I acquired an orig hshell) & sounds fine with the Koetsu RS. The all-stainless construction gives a sl lively energetic character & my feeling is that the heavier orig hshell (unsurprisingly) would give a sweeter, less 'grainy' HF presentation vs the tensioned/lightwt Orsonic design... I have used the Kenwood + orig hshell only with a DL103 & can say that it presents that cart v musically indeed (within the HF limitations of the 103).

My phono rig has been undergoing some 'renovation' over the past yr & I really need to spend some more time spinning more vinyl.

Anyone else messed with any older tonearms?

Dave W had a Micro Seiki TT at one point (a pretty good looking one but not the big string-drive number) & I think he gave the tonearm a test run. However I noted that it ended up in his Dining Rm system, it did not make it to his main TT rig!

On his Aura IIRC, he usually had 3 arms!...2 x Kenwoods + his DIY balsa arm, with various carts... a Stanton 881, + an orig Transfiguration, an Ortofon, etc. He had v catholic tastes in carts (he was also a Catholic ).

Oops correction...

In comment 05.29pm above, it should read:
"I have used the FR64 + orig hshell only with a DL103..."

Not the Kenwood

Hi Owen, enjoying your blogs

I, for one, would be fascinated to know how you came to amass your hifi knowledge.

Are (were?) you in the industry, and how did that come to pass. Or are you an interested amateur?

Cheers
Peter

Thanks, Peter.
One of the things about getting older, is that you accumulate truckloads of trivia.

Only thing is, memory becomes rather dodgy