My Lenco Path

[Andr039]

Few weeks ago i received the extra counterweights (brass) for my audiocraft arm. It now can accomodate the heavier cartridges than acutex.
here are the few pics of Werner's outstanding work (as usuall !)
One more time, thanks, Werner!

[frothy]

Andrey, what a great read, 21 pages of madness, mayhem and fun, what a terrific outcome "she is beautiful".
These build threads are inspirational, especially for us newborn Lencoites, to read of you battling through your plinth finish
and keep your sanity through humour and the help of friends shows us the way in all things.
Lots of fun and I learned a lot!
cheers mate
Marc

[Andr039]

Thank you, Marc
Kind of madness, you are right
When modifying your Lenco, don't be lazy, takes pics, we here like to see how others "hurdle barriers".
best,

[wpm]

Spasibo  for the lengthy but very informatively detailed thread.

admire your dedication and all the hard work.

enjoyed all the pics maybe i might take some inspiration from the arm boards you made as also the curved plinth.

I had almost completed my project but my Linn tonearm went kaput - thin wires broke..

Now i am attempting again with a new Rega RB330 tonearm

but thats for another thread..

enjoy the music !

best wishes

[Andr039]

Thank you, wpm
I look through your biuld thread regularly and see your progress.
i guess visually and sonically everything will be good with your Lenco mods
and finally you will enjoy the music
good luck!
 

[itskeith]

Hi Andrey,

Great build and thread. Don't know how i missed this one.

Any build which involves melting metal gets a 

and Inspired DIY solutions to sanding etc 

[Andr039]

melting metal gets a 

it's my favorite part
thanks!

[Andr039]

I think I need to update the thread
There were some different iterations, i moved the tonearms (and tonearm bases) from side to side on my Lenco and finally settled them as on a last photo.
A friend of mine the one who made a plinth finish jokes that this is not a player, but rather a testbed for crazy experiments.
Three different cartridges on three different tonearms: SPU A on a Dynavector 505, Ortofon MC30 SuperII on a modded AC300 Audiocraft and Decca London Grey on a Supatrack clone.
I know this is not pure scientifically to compare diff carts (diff diamonds' shape, needles usage time) on diff arms but this is how it was planned.
I do not want to go deep into details of the whole comparing tests but the results that I got tells me the following.
MC30 is very balanced, with good bass and highs, very analytical and suits my likes for listening classical LPs.
Decca is bassy, "dirty". If I use to listen a rock music and loud I would chose Decca.
Channels separations is not the best of all but who cares when rock plays? Very involving.
And SPU A is a very melodic one. With its simple elliptical diamond it's not the best in highs but nice in mids.
Exactly what i like on vocals and jazz LPs. My favorite cartridge still.








and one more thing to say. Without Siens cartridge alignment tool my experiments were whole lotta nightmare

[niclaspa]

Ingenious set up!     But, don't you have any problem with hum from the motor with the Decca and the MC30?  Maybe the double platters bring enough distance to avoid that?

[Andr039]

thanks, Niclas!
MC30 is quite reluctant to pick up the hum but not the Decca. Fighting with the Decca hum sensitivity problem is the endless story . It's hard to see on a picture, but two tonearm ground (left and right) wires are soldered together and connected to the central pin of the cart + a tiny wire from this ground pin is attached to the alum shell. It reduces the hum significantly. Also, the switch where all tonearm cables come is grounded to the groundpole of the amplifier and (surprise-surprise!) to NSC. Decca still pick up the motor hums and I can hear it on big volume when motor is on (hum slightly drops when motor is off) even with two platters and maximum possible (in such tonearms layout) distance between the motor and Decca cart. But this is on a such volume i would never listen otherwise it will blow my speakers off. And yes, i turn the tach off as it works from a cheap Chinese psu which Decca "feels" too

[sph]

Andrey,
I am glad my alignment tool is of help in your "experiments".

[sph]

Andrey,
I am glad my alignment tool is of help in your "experiments".

[Tomcat1969]

Great thread Andrey. 

[Andr039]

Great thread Andrey. 

crazy and mad, eh? 

[Tomcat1969]

crazy and mad, eh? 

Yeah man. You Russians are mad alright, mad geniuses. And I mean that in the best way  .

I love the microscope stand too.