Late to the Party
But here I am.
Been involved in this hobby (audio) for few decades, mostly collecting vinyl, tubes, and other bits and pieces. Also a regular attendee of many shows, mostly in the western US (and pre COVID). CES in Las Vegas since the late 90’s as well as some of the tube focused DIY shows (VSAC) and about all of the RMAF (Rocky Mountain Audio Fest) shows in Denver for all of the years is was running plus anywhere else I could find a way to.
All those shows, lots of great gear, turntables of all sizes, shapes and prices. Especially prices.
Being mostly a tube amps and horns guy, I admit to gravitating to the vintage stuff. Regards vintage ‘style’ turntables, three come to mind.
Way back in time (early 2000s?) I recall this guy having a room (CES?) with either speakers or amps that he was showing. As one of his sources, he had a beautifully restored Garrard 301. A Hammertone ‘Schedule One’ Grease Bearing in a really nice LARGE plinth. Much to the owner’s dismay, nobody paid much attention to the other stuff in his room; stuff which he was there to sell. I don’t even recall what said ‘stuff’ was. Speakers? Amps? All anyone wanted to talk about was that beautiful turntable and all he could do was repeat that it was NOT for sale and please look at the gear he WAS trying to sell.
About the same time, and again at CES, the guys from Loricraft came to town with their new and improved Garrard rim drive 501?. Back then it might have be in prototype form? Certainly would have loved to have had it!
More recently, my friend Dave Slagle showed up at RMAF in Denver (2015?) with a new creation based on Quad 57 panels with built-in amps; bi-amping the panels with two PP tube amps per side. Vinyl only in this room. But what vinyl!
Win Tinnon’s Saskia II turntable with Schroeder arm.
https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2015/11/02/rmaf-2015-win-tinnons-saskia-ii-turntable-and-dave-slagles-frankenstein-quad-esl-57-mods/Dave, being a good guy, chose not to call security and have me escorted from the room (as he could have) for overstaying my welcome and I was allowed to camp out in a corner seat for the better part of the three days of the show listening to a TT and speakers that I could never hope to own.
Didn’t know much about Lenco back in those days but knew there was talk of a ‘cult’. Guys buying them for small $, doing significant rebuilds and placing them in fancy thick plinths (as I’d seen on Garrards and the Thorens 124). By this time, (mid 2000s) I owned a Thorens 125 with an SME Series II improved arm and thought I was going somewhere, or at least as far as I would ever hope to get.
I always wanted an idler drive TT. To be honest, a really nice Garrard or Thorens, restored to top form and on a REALLY nice, heavy plinth with a decent arm was out of my league. Especially the ‘restored’ part. And I had never even laid eyes on a Lenco.
For years I lurked here while noting a few things. Besides being one of THE VERY BEST DIY audio related sites, many of the folks posting here are located outside of the USofA.
I firmly believe that someone with time, the proper tools and space to work could produce a VERY decent turntable from a donor Lenco with functioning parts and, most importantly, the information available on this site.
Sadly, most of the Lencos available on the ‘net’, even in the USofA are 50 Hz models.
And worse, lately almost all of the Lencos for sale on Ebay claim only that the platter turns but that’s about it. And some even have a cheap US plug grafted on to the cord where the European plug used to be. Or they cost a fortune. A few nice pieces are on offer in Canada though, but shipping to the USofA is ofttimes more than the gear.
Worse yet, I have no shop nor the tools/equipment to built a proper plinth and a multi-year project makes little sense for one who is soon to embark on his 9th decade on this earth.
So, for all the above reasons, I decided to tap my nursing-home fund and just buy something. It turns out that the longer one lives un-assisted, the less nursing-home time one needs to have funds for.
Lately I’ve noticed a bunch of custom plinthed idlers on AudioGon and was tempted. What caught my eye was a Garrard 401 with two arms for more than I could afford to pay, but still…
Turns out they were offered by a Lenco re-builder in Canada, well known to many posting here, name of Jean Nantais. After chatting on the phone I decided on a smaller, one arm-board Lenco without arm for about half the price of the two armed Garrard 401. He agreed to mount an early version of a NOS SME 3009 Series II that I’ve had in the original box for over 20 years. Later I decided to take him up on his offer of a nearly new Sorane 1.2 arm he’d used for testing and that he would sell at a discount off of list. REALLY glad I did as this is an ideal arm for a Lenco with a high mass plinth and low compliance cartridge.
With awareness and respect that this is mostly a DIYer site, and being a DIY kind of guy, albeit only in electronics, amps, etc., I dare to post photographs of a turntable I did absolutely NOTHING to create, other than send a bunch of US dollars to Canada.
I hope that’s OK.
Not a ‘massive’ plinth, but at 19 1/4” W x 17 1/8” D x 4 1/2” H and a total weight with arm and platter comes in at a hefty (to me) 49 lbs., so not small nor that light. Only good for one 9-10 inch arm (at a time) but that’s fine for me. The Sorane 1.2 is about 9 1/2 inches and seems ideal. Came with an extra blank arm board and one for the SME mentioned above.
Fit and finish? I think the veneer work is better (or at least LOOKS better) on this unit than some of the larger, higher priced tables he has done in the past.
So what exactly is it? Said to be an early 70’s Lenco L75 in/on a ‘constrained layer’ plinth with some but not a lot of his custom ‘tonewood’. Maybe one layer? Plinth is only about 4 1/2” thick with veneer, so you can't expect all that much ‘tone wood’ but based on how this TT sounds, likely enough.
Under the hood:
Pretty close to the unit reviewed by TNT (link below). Mine has more screws into the plinth so it must be better!
Many upgrades. His upgraded grease bearing assembly with ‘latest and greatest’ newly redesigned spindle. Maybe the first of his Lencos to have this new version as he claimed to be using this unit as a test bed during development and my desire to have this upgrade when completed somewhat delayed delivery. Actually, more than ‘somewhat’.
His ‘best’ idler wheel (on backorder and to be installed by me when available) plus upgraded ‘slider’ and platter upgrade with permanently affixed ‘methacrylate’ mat (similar to the famous Goldmund Relief Mat but without the added lead?). That’s gonna be my story anyway.
.
No upgrades to the feet as yet but I'll be using a set of older Stillpoints I’ve had for 20 odd years.
Pretty much like the TT reviewed in TNT (link below) but with a bit narrower/shallower/thiner and therefore lighter plinth.
https://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/tjn_reference_e.htmlHow does it sound?
Folks here likely know!
Lots more impact than any other TT I’ve had in my system (admittedly not that many). IMPACT! Some would call it SLAM? Especially at the beginning of notes, be it drum, piano, soft brushes on a cymbal or the beginning of just about any note. Not unnatural though. Hate to make comparisons to 'live music' but I'm tempted!
OK, I'm sending the music to 106 dB horns, so if there is 'slam' coming from the turntable it's going to be heard in the room. And two horn subs, so bass won't be a problem either.
Biggest surprise, at least to me, might be the improvement in soundstage. Especially in exactly where instruments are placed. Some credit to the Sorane 1.2 tonearm here? It’s a rock solid piece. And seems to work well with the Shelter 501 Mk II, in a lighter than stock head shell. Stock being 17 gr. while this one is but 12 gr. reducing the tone arm mass from 25 gr.? to about 20 gr.?
Vinyl Engine thinks it an ideal match.
PRaT (Pace, Rhythm, and Timing)? Got all of that too. Toes will tap.
Worth the $$$? $4k plus arm and about $1,000 in upgrades. That's a lot of scratch for a turntable, really.
But then I could have spent more on any number of new 'reference' tables and have gotten maybe less?
Minuses? None that I have found so far. And nothing I would have wished to be different now that it's here and playing music.
Did take a few months but that was largely due to the many upgrades I added after purchase, including the new spindle/bearing that was still under development.
And, of course, Jean has STRONG views as to how this stuff needs to be done. No different than most if not all of the people I've known over the years who build audio gear, be it speakers or amps or whatever. I've been up and down that street before and some of my best friends are audio builders/manufactures of various stripes and it's all part of the deal.
