Ressurected Kenwood KX-1030

[Nitro]

Thanks to Njord Noatun, I have a (now) working Kenwood KX-1030. Njord gave it to me, I only had to pay the shipping. It has a few little nicks, but nothing major. The inside was pretty clean too. It's almost identical to the one I bought new back in the day. I had a black version, this one is silver. This one wasn't working, but after about 4 hours replacing the belts, cleaning the switches, and demagnetizing the heads, it plays great. Changing the belts wasn't a lot of fun. You have to remove the faceplace, remove the tape transport mechanism from the inner frame, and disassemble a few things to get the capstan belt in place.

Just for informational purposes, these are the features:
3 heads
Dolby
Bias setting feature (record using intended tape, turn on 400hz and 10khz test tones, adjust high and low bias until VU meters match)

Freq response
Normal tape: 25Hz to 17,000Hz (35Hz to 15000Hz + or - 3dB
CrO2 tape: 25Hz to 19,000Hz (35Hz to 18,000Hz + or - 3dB
Ferri-CrO2 tape: 25Hz to 19,000Hz (35Hz to 17,000Hz + or _ 3dB

Signal to Noise Ration
Dolby On: 65dB Normal tape 67dB (CrO2)
Dolby Off: 55dB Normal tape 57dB (CrO2)

Harmonic Distortion: Less than 1.3% (at 1kHz Normal tape)

Wow and Flutter: 0.06% (WRMS)


Thanks Njord!

 

[EchoWars]

Nice sounding decks...I just never owned a Kenwood cassette back then because I hated the piano keys.

Good job! :yes:

 

[DaWoofer]

I have a couple myself and really enjoy them. I bought one new back in the day overseas. The other one is one with the wood case and looks beautiful next to the wooden cased receivers by Kenwood. If you ever need info I have the service manual and the operators manual as well. I was told by a cassette guru (a professor at a western university) that their freq. response was right up there with the Akai top of the line 570D, well just a smidgen less. I have a 570D and I can not tell the difference on my system. Although I have not ran them threw the paces so to speak.

 

[Nitro]

I'm having a little problem with it now. It has a noise only on the left channel when I start playing a tape. I switched the cables L/R and the noise moved to the right channel, so it isn't my 1250. Surely the head isn't out of alignment? The VU meters are pretty even when playing.

 

[Njord Noatun]

Thanks to Njord Noatun, I have a (now) working Kenwood KX-1030. Njord gave it to me, I only had to pay the shipping. Thanks Njord!

I don't know how I missed this thread - you're welcome! I am just glad the deck got resurrected to its former glory, a task that was simply too unsurmountable for me!

Good job - it looks nice! :thmbsp:

 

[BrocLuno]

I have too many decks, so I gave my Kenny to a recently divorced co-worker so he can listen to something and be able to buy used tapes for $.25 (in his price range). Ran good and was a good sounding deck. He's having fun.