A classic revisited! Kenwood KD500/Mayware Formula 4 MkII

[ehoove]

I picked up this KD500, and after sorting out the 45 RPM drift issue installed my Mayware Formula 4 arm on it using the armboard supplied by Blue Shadow (Thanks!). I'm running a A/T AT14Sa cartridge on it, but have a Sonus Blue Gold on the way for it. So far I'm impressed with the combo, and have yet to dial it in. The compliance of the Sonus is a dead on match with it's slightly stiffened compliance and should make this a great vintage table. I still need to finish the cleanup and refurb of the table, but the combo is a true classic of the era and the addition of the Sonus will make it complete. I have spun a few Van Cliburn discs, as well as the Dave Grusin Discovered Again Sheffield Labs LP, and noticed no cogging or wow and flutter. My other 5 Thorens tables are all belt drive, so this is a new TT adventure for me. FWIW
Regards,
Jim

[tdelahanty]

Over the years I've had 3 KD500's and regretted selling every one of them.

[jdandy]

Jim.......Now that's a turntable that was built to stand the test of time. I remember it well, and that very heavy concrete composit base. Yours is a very clean looking example of a fine KD500 turntable.

[Whart]

Dayum. I vaguely remember these: wasn't the 'plinth' some corian (pre-corian) type material? And the Mayware- wasn't that back in the day of really low mass arms? What was the other one that had a name like 'Black Widow' or something?
Pretty cool. Got the receiver going, too.
Can we guess at the speakers that would have matched this back in the day?

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by ehoove

I picked up this KD500, and after sorting out the 45 RPM drift issue installed my Mayware Formula 4 arm on it using the armboard supplied by Blue Shadow (Thanks!). I'm running a A/T AT14Sa cartridge on it, but have a Sonus Gold Blue on the way for it. So far I'm impressed with the combo, and have yet to dial it in. The compliance of the Sonus is a dead on match with it's slightly stiffened compliance and should make this a great vintage table. I still need to finish the cleanup and refurb of the table, but the combo is a true classic of the era and the addition of the Sonus will make it complete. I have spun a few Van Cliburn discs, as well as the Dave Grusin Discovered Again Sheffield Labs LP, and noticed no cogging or wow and flutter. My other 5 Thorens tables are all belt drive, so this is a new TT adventure for me. FWIW
Regards,
Jim

That's great....I used to have a Mayware Formula 4 tonearm ages ago, before I got my Rega Planar 3. One of the classic unipivots.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Whart

Dayum. I vaguely remember these: wasn't the 'plinth' some corian (pre-corian) type material? And the Mayware- wasn't that back in the day of really low mass arms? What was the other one that had a name like 'Black Widow' or something?
Pretty cool. Got the receiver going, too.
Can we guess at the speakers that would have matched this back in the day?

Yes, the plinth was a synthetic granite-like material. Back when folks thought that TTs had to be "massive" to work well. And the Mayware was a low-mass arm for the high-compliance cartridges of the day. I should point out that I had a Sonus Gold also on my Mayware, modded by Frank Van Alstine.

The Black Widow was a low-mass arm made by Infinity that had a carbon-fibre shaft, the first of it's kind. A good friend of mine back then had a Kenwood KD-500 with a Black Widow arm on it...until I brought my Rega Planar 3 over, that is. The Rega absolutely blew it into the weeds. My friend went out and bought a Linn Sondek the next week which he owns to this day.

[Whart]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

Yes, the plinth was a synthetic granite-like material. Back when folks thought that TTs had to be "massive" to work well. And the Mayware was a low-mass arm for the high-compliance cartridges of the day. I should point out that I had a Sonus Gold also on my Mayware, modded by Frank Van Alstine.

The Black Widow was a low-mass arm made by Infinity that had a carbon-fibre shaft, the first of it's kind. A good friend of mine back then had a Kenwood KD-500 with a Black Widow arm on it...until I brought my Rega Planar 3 over, that is. The Rega absolutely blew it into the weeds. My friend went out and bought a Linn Sondek the next week which he owns to this day.

Thanks for bringing back some memories. And wasn't the ADC-XLM one of the early low mass cartridges used with these arms?
Back then, mid 70's- I was running a Panny Sp-10 with an Audio-Technica arm and an At-20? cartridge, i experimented with an old Ortofon MC and with an early version of the Win strain gauge cartridge. Still have that table, unfortunately a Mk1, not one of the more desirable the later version(s).
PS I guess I'm a retro guy at heart- still using a 'tad' of mass on the TT side.

[ehoove]

The Sonus Gold Blue will be here in a few days, then the Vintage table will be complete with a correct super high compliance cartridge mounted. The Yamaha CR840 receiver is the one used in my #2 Vintage system in the computer room upstairs. I'll get the Kenwood running in the main rig through a M/S Phonomena preamp once it is dialed in to see how it really performs.
Regards,
Jim

[Jim Perry]

The ADC XLM and the Sonus Blue were used frequently with the Black Widow, Mayware Formula 4, ADC tonearm (similar to the Black Widow). I also had a SME III. Now in addition to my Basis I have a KD-500 with a Sumiko Premier MMT.

[ehoove]

I always thought the Sonus Blue Gold bested the ADC XLM in the Blackwidow arm, so it should be interesting to see how it performs in the Mayware. The NOS Sonus Blue Golds that I have sourced in the past have a bit stiffer compliance (35x10-6cm/Dyne instead of 50x10-6cm/Dyne using the Shure resonance test record mounted in a Signet AK50 arm) so it should still be a good match for the Mayware arm.
Regards,
Jim

Regards,
Jim