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Stunning One-Owner Kenwood KD-500 Turntable For Sale!

Check out this incredible, 100% original, one-owner, almost time-capsule quality Kenwood KD-500 direct drive turntable I’ve just serviced and listed for sale!

This stunning one-owner Kenwood KD-500 direct drive turntable comes complete with its as-purchased SME-3009 tonearm and the mega-bonus: a rare Fidelity Research FR-101 moving magnet cartridge!

UPDATE: Four requests to purchase received within 2 hours. Reserved with a deposit, pending full payment!

This incredible vintage deck sounds fantastic, check it out below. My apologies for the colour rendition in some of these shots BTW, it doesn’t look yellow in person, as you’ll see in many images.

Kenwood KD-500
SME-3009
Just beautiful. See the other images for a better perspective on colour.

This sale is a collaboration between Liquid Audio and Addicted to Audio, one of Perth’s best hi-fi stores. This is something we occasionally do and it works well for everyone. Thank you to Dan for finding this beauty!

Kenwood KD-500
SME-3009
The Kenwood KD-500, as she was delivered.

Kenwood KD-500 Specifications

Courtesy of Vinyl Engine

Drive: direct-drive system
Motor: 8-pole 24 slot brushless DC servo motor
Platter: 30cm, 1.5kg aluminium alloy die-cast
Speeds: 33.33 and 45rpm
Wow and flutter: less than 0.03% WRMS
Signal to noise ratio: more than 60dB
Tonearm: static-balance type, s-shaped pipe arm, eia plug-in connector
Effective length: 237mm
Overhang: 15mm
Stylus pressure range: 0 to 4g
Usable cartridge range: 5 to 12g
Dimensions: 502 x 382 x 162mm
Weight: 14.9kg (that’s right, not 5kg, 15kg!)

Service

In terms of service, you’ll know that a Liquid Audio service is a far cry from your ‘regular’ turntable service. I’ve cleaned and carefully serviced the motor, a delicate operation utilising a special synthetic bearing oil. Many people destroy these motors just by opening them and they are often ignored, because ‘too hard’.

I’ve serviced the switches and speed verniers, reset the master running speeds, and adjusted all the tonearm parameters including lateral balance, azimuth and VTA, arm geometry adjustments that many have no idea exist, let alone how to complete!

Kenwood KD-500
SME-3009
Access to the underneath of a deck like this whilst its running is needed to set deck master running speeds. Again, it doesn’t look yellow in person. I have no idea WTF has happened to the white balance here.
Kenwood KD-500
SME-3009
This is what a proper service involves, and this is the real colour of the plinth. A specific quantity of special synthetic bearing oil is added to the spindle bearing with a precision oiler. Syn-B baby!
Kenwood KD-500
SME-3009
Naturally, I’ve made ALL the tonearm and cartridge alignment parameter adjustments as part of the precision set-up on this KD-500. Here, I’m using my genuine SME alignment protractor to set overhang. This is the only correct way to do it, and no you cannot set this correctly with a Shure or Pro-Ject protractor. Many claim to work on turntables but few deeply understand them or do this work with the level of precision necessary.

I’ve written a ton about the Kenwood KD-500 over the years, so check out a couple of these articles for more. Let me say though that you rarely find a KD-500 in this condition, and with the valuable SME-3009 and even rarer FR-101, it’s a killer combo.

Kenwood KD-500
SME-3009

To say that a deck of this quality crushes new $2,000 turntables is a dramatic understatement. It crushes new $4,000 turntables! You only have to see and feel a deck like this to know that, and then listen to it for confirmation. A high-end deck and arm like these will extract the most from a quality cartridge, far beyond what’s fitted here.

Why? Well, The KD-500 and other turntables like it was built at a time when manufacturers weren’t yet scrimping and saving every penny. They were competing strongly with one another in a rich field of technical and engineering creativity and best practise that yielded turntables like the KD-500/550, and many others.

Kenwood KD-500
SME-3009
This amazing, original Fidelity Research FR-101 moving magnet cartridge is one of the great ‘magnets from the golden era. Any cartridge can be supplied and fitted of course, at the buyer’s request.
Kenwood KD-500
SME-3009
Perfectly functioning strobe indicates speeds locked to 50Hz mains reference frequency.
Kenwood KD-500
SME-3009
This Kenwood KD-500 will likely give decades more good service, long after cheap new plastic and cardboard decks have been consigned to the scrap heap. Think about that, because it matters. They don’t make ’em like this any more.
Kenwood KD-500
SME-3009
This stunning KD-500 is ready to go to a new home. This is what the deck actually looks like BTW.

This fully serviced, perfect-running, 100% original Kenwood KD-500/SME-3009 combo is ready for her next owner. The SME-3009 tonearm alone would normally sell for around $1,000 and the cartridge another few hundred.

I’m asking for $1950 for this complete Kenwood KD-500 turntable package including KD-500, SME-3009, original SME tonearm cable and Fidelity Research FR-101 moving magnet cart, precision set-up and serviced.

Naturally, this turntable comes with a 3-month warranty for peace of mind, likely the only KD-500 sold with a warranty in Australia. This is how we roll: no surprises, no nonsense, no time-wasting or silly stories, just straightforward business and exceptional equipment for loyal customers who appreciate the difference and don’t want their time wasted either.

If you’re interested in this lovely machine, let me know as I’m sure it won’t hang around (sure enough it didn’t). Local sales only.

UPDATE: Four requests to purchase received within 2 hours. Reserved with a deposit, pending full payment!


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2 thoughts on “Stunning One-Owner Kenwood KD-500 Turntable For Sale!”

  1. I have two of these fantastic decks. One was purchased new from Laskys, I’m in the UK, in the 70s! The other a few years ago to be a spares donor for the first! It was in better condition so became my main deck. One suffered the dreaded crack in the lid! Both suffered the logo droop that this one seems to too! A bit of gentle heat from a hair dryer fixed that! My operational one is fitted with a Jelco TK-850S arm and an Ortofon Quintet Bronze. It sounds superb!
    Thank you for posting this and the other posts on this excellent deck.

    1. Thanks Lee and yes, many love these classic machines from the golden era of analog, myself included! Quite right about the Kenwood badge too and yes an easy fix, I will mention it to the gentleman who just purchased it.

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