LAD/Jelco

[hamish huddersfield]

Hi everyone, recently been given an LAD 828, nice deck actually , all works.

Obviously I'm interested in the arm, I believe this is a Jelco manufactured tonearm, and have found out what I can about it.

So my problem is this no matter what I do I can't seem to get rid of the sibilance, the sound is fine apart from that, but with 3 different cartridges and hours of aligning etc I can't seem to get rid of the SSSSSSSSSSHHHHHH. So, could this be something terminal ? (if you pardon the pun)

Any advice would be great.

Hamish

[Chopsaw]

The whole thing is made from aluminium isn't it and is not well damped so I'd expect it to sound quite lively. If all else fails remove the arm and try it on another deck. These LADs are not really hifi orientated being somewhat rugged and expected to stand the rigours of being transported around. They are well made though.
Out of curiousity what are the three carts you've tried?

[hamish huddersfield]

Hi Chopsaw,

Yeah, like a biscuit tin really but heavier , I've tried a Shure M75/6S a Stanton 500mk 2 with an elliptical tip and a Goldring G800.
 
All sounded fine apart from the " shhh " I could try it on another Lenco I have at some point.

Cheers

[Chopsaw]

I bought a pair of these turntables a few weeks ago primarily for the arms. They're complete and working so sometime this week I'll try one out before I strip it and let you know what I think. They have Stanton 500s fitted too so that should give us a level playing field.

[hamish huddersfield]

Excellent, thanks for your help

[rossman]

I'm using one of these arms and don't have any issues with ssshh noises. Mine has been rewired though, it's easy enough to do it yourself with these arms if you can get the screw that holds the headshell connector to the arm removed.

Just a note of warning, these arms are a little bit shorter than the standard Jelco arms. Not sure by how much at the moment, I will have to see if I can find the mounting info.

[hamish huddersfield]

Thankyou, did you mount this directly into the Lenco's hole ??

Cheers

[decanterlime]

Hamish,
if you roughly measure from the centre of the spindle to the centre of the ring on top of the tonearm shank this will point to your mounting distance.
I would guess looking at it 205mm but some are 195, 205 or better 210mm
15mm is the overhang for sure.
Lenco is 211mm.
Mark

[Chopsaw]

Mounting distance is 216 mm on my turntable. The Lenco is roughly 210-211 mm but the pillar on the LAD/Jelco is quite small so you should be able to mount the arm off centre and gain the extra 5mm without resorting to opening up the hole.

[hamish huddersfield]

Thanks Mark & Si, I'm going to have a look at doing this in the next few weeks.

[Chopsaw]

I've been thinking about this and I'm wondering if the culprit could be the headshell. The LAD headshell is quite flimsy in comparison to the later Jelco offering so maybe a more solid design like the old ADC might be the answer. I have one of those and a later Sumiko headshell so when I get around to trying one of my LAD turntables I'll try these as well whilst I'm at it.

[hamish huddersfield]

Cheers Si, I have a few here, I put a new phono lead on yesterday and I think I loosened the transit screw (red (washer) screw underneath platter) by the looks of it this had never been undone.

The shhh has since subsided quite a bit.

I'm tempted to keep this as it is, John Peel had 2 LAD decks in his home studio, and I think this one just needs a bit more fettling.

[hamish huddersfield]

Looks like I solved it....predictably user error on my part.

Most of my listening was done with the Stanton 500 mk2 and a brand new D71 ee stylus, this pairing on this turntable produce sibilance.

Substituting a Pickering D-5-E into the Stanton, and we're back to a great sound.

Inserting the D71ee into the Pickering....sounds great too.

Putting a decent mat on , and it sounds really nice, pleased here.

[Chopsaw]

A good result then Hamish. Some damping of the aluminium plinth and other parts might yield a further improvement in performance. Yes you may be wise to leave the deck as it is and you've got me thinking along similar lines.

[hamish huddersfield]

Yeah, they're quite a rare beast, and sound really good...surely an aluminium case must have some benefits?

I've just experimented with the OOPS tweak with my Tannoys and got to say the LAD is sounding really good>