Help Needed Picking Good Tonearm for Kenwood KD-750.

Posted by BigErik (A) on April 24, 2016 at 06:25:43

Hi Folks.
My Kenwood KD-750 is in sickbay right now, getting a full recap and mechanical restoration. As a part of the deal, I'm looking to replace the fair quality stock Kenwood arm with something dramatically better. I was thinking something along the lines of an Audiomods Series 5 or a SME 309. Maybe even a Rega 1000. All tonearms that I believe work well with unsuspended and mass loaded TT's.

However, I was talking to one of the foremost TT gurus in the area, a good guy and a guys that I trust, and he threw me a bit of a curveball. He said that instead of going with one of the modern arms, he has had great success with a SME 3009 II (unimproved) on tables of this kind. No, I wouldn't get the detail of the modern arms, but It would give me a wonderfully musical sound and a great tone.

For cartridges, I've been a long time Grado fan, and would with put something from a Sonata up on it, or maybe my NOS MCZ. My all time favourite cartridge was my Zyx Fuji, but I have also been intrigued by the London Deccas. My TT guru even started talking about Ortofon SPU's!

So, with all that in mind, what would you guys recommend? New or vintage? Let's say up to $2K max in price.

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Topic - Help Needed Picking Good Tonearm for Kenwood KD-750. - BigErik 06:25:43 04/24/16 (22)

Wasnt Grace the arm to match with Kenwoods? - fin1bxn@msn.com 09:44:48 04/25/16 (13)

It was the Infinity Black Widow - Dave Pogue 11:30:48 04/25/16 (12)

Yup. (pic) - Opus 33 1/3 17:43:01 04/26/16 (10)

RE: Yup. (pic) - A.Wayne 12:40:34 04/27/16 (1)

Infinity Black Widow. 3.5 g mass. /nt\ - Opus 33 1/3 16:00:40 04/27/16 (0)

That tonearm is so skinny it looks like a 12-inch tonearm... - John Elison 19:11:53 04/26/16 (7)

Yup. Stanard Rega mounting parameters just like the Jelco SA-370H. - Opus 33 1/3 05:59:01 04/27/16 (6)

RE: Yup. Stanard Rega mounting parameters just like the Jelco SA-370H. - John Elison 08:52:41 04/27/16 (5)

The real bargains were the Ortofon MC and SUT. . . drool. - Opus 33 1/3 06:19:17 04/28/16 (4)

I made a mistake on the Ortofon products. They were actually $382 each... - John Elison 07:36:34 04/28/16 (3)

I would have jumped on the Stax and Nak Dragon. . . ;8^) /nt\ - Opus 33 1/3 11:10:01 04/28/16 (2)

I bought everything on the list plus a whole lot more! ;-) /nt\ - John Elison 13:08:26 04/28/16 (1)

I hate you! /nt\ - Opus 33 1/3 04:51:48 04/29/16 (0)

Thats the one - thanks Nt - fin1bxn@msn.com 03:55:29 04/26/16 (0)

RE: Help Needed Picking Good Tonearm for Kenwood KD-750. - John Elison 01:20:19 04/25/16 (0)

RE: its such a brilliant semi auto - digda_beat 20:21:57 04/24/16 (2)

RE: its such a brilliant semi auto - BigErik 20:26:38 04/24/16 (1)

RE: oops - digda_beat 22:18:24 04/24/16 (0)

RE: Help Needed Picking Good Tonearm for Kenwood KD-750. - Curious 15:52:20 04/24/16 (2)

RE: Help Needed Picking Good Tonearm for Kenwood KD-750. - BigErik 19:22:56 04/24/16 (1)

"BTW, how did you know the stock arm is a Jelco?" - Curious 08:29:55 04/25/16 (0)

RE: Help Needed Picking Good Tonearm for Kenwood KD-750. - BCR 11:21:05 04/24/16 (0)

Help Needed Picking Good Tonearm for Kenwood KD-750.

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