Kenwood L-07D

Kenwood L-07D mkII

October   1 9 7 9 october 1979
March
1 9 8 2 march 1982
1 9 8 4 1984

One of the ultimate, absolute and perfect turntable. Only a few play in the same league - the monster Denon DP-100M, the (often troublesome) Onkyo PX-100M, the unbelievable Sony PS-X9, the outlandish Micro Seiki SZ-1, the popular Pioneer Exclusive P3 or the finicky Nakamichi TX-1000.

If the saying "they don't make 'em like this anymore" sounds fine, it should be narrowed down for the L-07D to "they only made it once - and never will again".
And that is even more true of the 150kg R-6197 prototype which was entirely different and planned to be sold at 300,000¥ in october 1978. This not too pretty but certainly impressive item went away rather quickly and the actual L-07D was (re)developed throughout 1979.

So far, the production run of the L-07D (mkII included) remains a mystery, just as who really designed its engineering goal and its integrated tonearm...
But Micro Seiki quite probably had a hand in it, as with most japanese high-end turntables outside of Matsushita, Sony, Pioneer and Victor.

Kenwood's later 'tables such as the KP-9010, KP-990 or KP-1100 were T tagged by a mysterious "OKN" or "Seiko Ind. Co.". Besides owning the successful EPSON, Seiko made a one-off apearance around 1990 in high-end hi-fi by commercializing Mr Teragaki 's Sigma 3000 turntable.
Mr Teragaki is one of the most prolific engineers and consultants regarding LP turntables and, later on, CD. It is quite possible he was part of the L-07D design team - see the link ?

The last Kenny LP spinner, the KP-07 and KP-07M, was made, this time clearly and sans camoufage, by Micro Seiki - it's written at the back :)

The L-07D is an absolute object nevertheless, and it is a real pity Kenwood junked its design team after 1983 for the '80/'83 period was rich with many an interesting and structured design. And not only within the superlative "L" series.

The L-07D belongs in the pantheon of the all-time GREATS and you will find out why right here.

Btw, the dedicated 13,2g headshell was the HS-07D.


This post will be expanded (for Knobbers only, sorry) with the original 1980 mkI and mkII japanese catalogues AND the 1978 prototype.

Kenwood L-07D, image 1 Kenwood L-07D, image 2 Kenwood L-07D, image 3
Kenwood L-07D specifications
Title Value
Drive Drive
Type : Direct Drive with bi-directional servo
Motor : slotless DC with Quartz PLL
Torque : > 2,5kg /cm
Platter : aluminium + duralumin diecast composite
2,9kg / 33cm Ø
Mat : 2,6kg / SAS303 stainless & non-magnetic
Inertia moment : 1025t /cm2
Wow & flutter : 0,01%
0,004% (FG direct reading)
< 0,016% (WRMS)
S/N ratio : 94dB (DIN-B)
65dB (JIS)
Load characteristics : 0% up to 120g
Transient load characteristics : < 0,00015% (20g/cm load, 400Hz, 33 1/3rpm)
< 0,00008% (20g/cm load, 1Khz, 33 1/3rpm)
Start/Stop time : 2,5s
Speed deviation : 0%
Time drift : 0%
Temperature drift : 0%
Voltage supply drift : 0% (within ± 10V)
Tonearm Tonearm
Type : static balance / J-shape
Effective length : 24,5cm
Overhang : 15mm
Tracking error : +2,26°...-1,11°
+1,48° (between 50...150mm from spindle)
Tracking force : 0...2g (0,1g steps)
Cartridge weight : 0...9g (with supplied headshell)
9...22g (with supp. counterweight)
Supplied headshell : Boron laminated carbon fiber (HS-07 ; 12g)
VTA : ± 6mm
Wiring : Litz dual-core
General General
PC : 10W
Dimensions : 55,5 x 16 x 47cm (L-07D)
13 x 11 x 35,6cm (L-07D PS)
Weight : 33,8kg. (L-07D)
4,1kg. (L-07D PS)
List price : 380,000¥ (1979)
450,000¥ (1982)
Optional accessories : DS-20 outer stabilizer (28,000¥)
DS-21 inner disk stabilizer (weight : 521g)
TS-10 open-pore ceramic platter (1,2kg ; aka Audio Technica AT600)
TB-07 tonearm sub-base (A, B, D or E versions))
page online since : august 2005
page updated : not yet
page type : LGT / KNB
page weight : 209.84 Kb / 0 b
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