Once in a while you can find the L07J tonearm for sale on eBay or elsewhere. Unless you're lucky, that can take a year or so, but I do believe you'd find one eventually. I have never seen a Power Supply for sale separately. However, the schematic is shown in the Service Manual which can be obtained from Vinyl Engine or from the L07D lovers website. In addition to supplying DC voltages to run the motor, the PS also seems to contain important elements of the servo mechanism. So duplicating it is a job for a pro or a very knowledgable hobbyist.
NOS deck is very very rare but in this situation I would say not more than US$2000, but it depends upon how badly you want it. I do love my L07D for sure. One critical factor that you do not make clear: Is the large heavy brass and stainless steel insert that holds the L07J tonearm included? That piece is indispensable for creating the special sound of the L07D, IMO, and does not generally come with the tonearm as a separate purchase. Duplicating it would be virtually impossible. You would end up buying a second L07D just to get that part, if you don't already have it. If you DO have that piece, then yes, any tonearm with the same pivot to spindle distance and the same vertical shaft diameter as the L07J could be used. The collar in the tonearm mount would accept such a tonearm. |
Pass on it. After looking around awhile I found a complete L07D for $2700 several years ago. There's one on eBay now in Hong Kong for $4800. The strike price is probably somewhere in between. |
Where would one find a NOS turntable that has not been made in over thirty years? Used yes,but not NOS. |
Yogiboy, believe it or not but I mean New Old Stock, never used item from the storage of old shop, powe supply missed! But the turntable is like new (without tonearm). Several NOS cartridges also came from that shop storage, some very rare stuff.
Dgarretson, for complete unit $2700 is probably very good price, i've seen the one from HK and i think it's overpriced. Anyway both of them comes with tonearm and power supply at $2700-4800. I guess the deck without power supply and arm must be much cheaper (as parts) if it's not easy to find power supply in working condition quickly.
Lewm, thank you very much for your comment, i'm waiting for pictures from the seller to check the armboard for main arm.
And BTW my current turntable is Technics SP10mk2 in very good working condition, in teak plinth and with several tonearms.
Here is a picture on my current deck: http://cs624027.vk.me/v624027872/15f43/8t64KRLvHo4.jpg
If the power suppy for Kenwood L07D is impossible to find it can be too complicated to ask someone to made one? Do you know any reputable technicians who can do the job? The original (used) power suppy would be a better solution. |
Chakster, I stand corrected. Lots of luck on the Kenwood! |
Chakster, check and see if the L07D comes with the pod base for the L07J tonearm. If it does, then it is feasible to fabricate a platform with a peg that slips into the stock arm base to which may be mounted any tonearm with a surface-mounted base and lateral discharge of wires. I have done this for my Trans-Fi Terminator and can see potential for others such as Talea, Schroeder, and early model Dynavector. This arrangement preserves the direct connection between the motor housing and the arm base that Lew applauds as a fundamental property of the L07D. |
Dgarretson, i just checked the pictures and YES the chrome color metal pod is included with lock and vta on the fly mechanism. |
construction of kenwood turntable:
http://audio-heritage.jp/TRIO-KENWOOD/player/l-07d(3).JPG
http://www.geocities.ws/bc1a69/l-07d-h.jpg |
The Vinyl Engine database identifies quite a few vintage pivot arms that match the 229.5-230mm pivot-to-spindle distance of the L07J arm. Those that pivot on a vertical mounting post of less than 28mm OD could conceivably be mated to the stock collet of the L07D tower. Arms specified at 230mm include various EMT, Fidelity Research, Ikeda, JVC, Kenwood, Supex, Thorens, and Denon. If the OD of the pillar post is less than 28mm, you would need to fabricate a sleeve to make up the difference and put a male thread at the end to mate to the worm gear of the on-the-fly VTA mechanism.
Those that mount to the flat top of a plinth could be accommodated with a fabricated turntable with a post of 28mm OD into the L07D tower. Mounting any flat-top version excentrically on the turnable could allow +/-20mm or more adjustability in PtS distance but no VTA adjustment on the tower. |
IIRC it is rumored that the L07J arm was made for Kenwood by Ikeda-- which at least seems more plausible in view of the shared PtS spec. |
Sounds good Dgarretson , thanks |
Dave, I always thought the tonearm had a family resemblance to the TOTL Micro Seiki tonearms. I cannot recall their model designations, but the bearing housing on those tonearms appears very similar to that seen on the L07J.
Chakster, IMO, Dave got a steal if he paid only $2700 for a good L07D. I paid around $3500 for each of two that I have owned. After living with the first one I bought for a few years, I bought the second because it was so unbelievably "like new" and because it included the correct original Kenwood peripheral ring and record weight. After owning two for a while, I sold the one that was in lesser condition, but it was still very nice and ran perfectly, having been fully restored electrically by Howard Stearn (the L07D guru). Based on performance, even $5000 is well below the cost-effective price point. But you don't have to pay that much, which is the beauty of it.
I'll stick with $2000 as being a very fair price for what you're looking at, if it is indeed NOS. |
Lewm, thanks
How can i find Howard Stearn?
Without power supply i can only look at the turntable.
The main question is where to buy OG power supply or modern replica to make this deck sing? |
Reviewing the eBay transaction I just noticed that I actually won the auction for $2500 in 4Q2013-- which included a wow & flutter meter! The unit is near mint except for superficial splintering across the leading edge of the mahogany sub-plinth. Perhaps some bidders were put off by that. At some point I'll refinish the wood.
Chakster, unlike the SP-10 MkII, for which aftermarket power supplies are available, nearly all of the L07D's logic ICs and other electronics are in the external power supply. I can't imagine replicating it for any reasonable sum. If your unit is NOS, I can imagine it of interest to a collector who already owns a cosmetically rough unit with working power supply. If you buy it I suspect you will eventually find a relatively inexpensive cosmetically challenged unit with a donor power supply. |
Chakster, Dr. Stearn is no longer refurbishing L07Ds. (He is an orthopedic surgeon in real life.) Bill Thalmann of Music Technology in Springfield, VA, would work on it, but I do not know that Bill would want to build a PS from scratch. And if he did, it would be expensive. |
