Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

Eureka!!!! I found all my Maplenoll tonearm bits (stuffed in boxes all over the place) and will finally be building the Lenco-Noll I have been threatening to build Lo these many years. I have gone to all this trouble and planned this for so long because this is the only air-bearing, or linear tracker of any sort, which was ever made with a fluid damping trough at the front of the tonearm. In fact, I think it is one of only two front-loading troughs ever developed, period (the other being the Townshend trough). We all know fluid damping helps focus sound in most tonearms which have that provision, but damping is most effective at the headshell, where the spurious energies originate. I lived with a Maplenoll 'table for many years and can attest to its effectiveness. Anyway, I start cutting tomorrow, having already worked out the design, which will include a tonearm board for another tonearm...why waste all that space ;-)? This baby is reserved for my Decca Super Gold, which will likely be my Final Testament (but I have so many other audio goodies, including my Vestigal tonearm I am dying to try out ;-)!!).

Hi Oregon, there are so many candidates for the Rega tonearms, which favour MCs, especially when mounted on a Lenco, as you and everyone else knows who tried the venerable Denons and other MCs on them!! My main source before starting Da Thread was a Lenco/Rega RB300/Kiseki Blue, an MC which is leagues ahead of an OC9 or a Denon in terms of detail, and which has musical energy akin (but likely not equal to) that of the Denons. The other night I was mighty impressed by the Dynavector 17D MKIII, which again has a musical energy and PRaT lacking in too many high-end MCs. But thinking outside the box for a moment, and following Mario's thought, why not do something interesting and unexpected, in the light of the fact that the Denon DL-103"E" is so much better than the regular 103 - without sacrificing its musicality/gestalt/PRaT: send your Denon to Sound Smith for their ultimate ruby cantilever/extreme stylus profile installation?? I now have a Shibui Denon with boron cantilever and Shibata tip, and I can say that it is very definitely a Denon, with all the slamming and energy that carries with it, but with extreme detail and beautiful extended high frequencies. Interesting that the Shibui uses the regular Denon as a platform rather than the 103"R", which may have been too much of a good thing when mated to an extreme cantilever/stylus. You'd be first on the block with this baby!!

Hi David, I mourn your packed-away Lenco, may it see the light of day once again!!

The Dynavector tonearm arrived safe and sound, thankfully, and speaking of the Transcriptors Vestigal tonearm, could two tonearms be any different? The Vestigal is a tiny delicate affair, with a headshell tied by a string to a counterweight at the back, with the tonearm tube being a beam which swings with no vertical pivotting. The Dynavector is a MASSIVE affair with its headshell linked by a tiny shaft directly to the counterweight, the lateral and horizontal bearings being split. But while being visually as opposed as the North Pole is from the South, like those two poles the two are essentially the same design: both separate the horizontal bearings from the vertical, both using the tonearm tube as a beam with no vertical play which swings out over the record from its horizontal bearings at the tonearm pillar, while the vertical pivot point is very close to the cartridge. I'll post photos soon with one next to the other for those who are interested.

Evidently, the Dyna will favour low-compliance MCs and MMs (perhaps the Decca would work!) while the Vestigal favours high compliance MMs (and high compliance MCs). The Vestigal literature, btw, mentions that "the best cartridges are set to trace at 1/4 gram, at 70F" and that "your records will last 100 times longer when used with the Vestigal tonearm"!!!! And though the Dynavector is a Monster of mass compared with the Vestigal (don't drop it on your foot ;-)), it also has a very small vertical mass, which it achieves differently than the Vestigal. The Vestigal is a beautiful piece of work btw, more like a violin than an appliance, with six different adjustments (!!!), each needing to be adjusted to match the others as well, and with jewel bearings, which I bought after hearing how incredibly good the Transcriptors Skeleton was for a belt-drive, with amazing transparency I ascribed mainly to the tonearm (though the 'table is very very good). We'll soon find out. A heavenly match for Grados, and likely my Ortofon M15E Super. What can it do on a big idler?!?

Just listening to Dinah Washington on my 88 with RB250 with new counterweight and Shure V15 MkIV, through T-Pre and T-Amp and Fostex 168S mounted in Norh 5.0s, with a huge smile on my face. Never heard anything quite so beautiful and satisfying.

As more and more people send me their exotic tonearms for Idler-ization, and I get a few of my own, the more and more my already-enthusiasm for the Rega tonearms increases!! They also LOVE idler-wheel drives, where, like Hercules putting on his ring, they become Divine. It can stand its ground with the most exalted tonearms out there (seems too many are still listening strictly for detail) in terms of absolute and overall sound quality, and is easy to set-up and install, easy to mount cartridges, fun to play the effective-mass game with the spring downforce of the RB-300 to better match to a variety of cartridges, and it's NOT delicate and IS robust, a true and trustworthy work-horse!! And most important, very musical. Set up an MC on it, and only come back to fiddle with it when the stylus is dead, simply spending hours spinning discs. A true high-end tonearm which does all this, and is cheap too with innumerable upgrade possibilities!! I think I'll arrange to be buried with mine, it has migrated across very many 'tables over the years, and across many of my Lencos!!

So, glad to hear you loving the beauty of your Lenco, Welcome Home, Fish ;-).

Up here I've been experimenting as well with my new RS Labs tonearm (had a hard-on for this one for years now), which is quite simply stunning, though a Bitch to set up due to the threaded holes in the headshell (can't mount my beloved Grado Platinum, boo-hoo). May be the Best Tonearm on the Planet (I'm finally building myself a serious two-armed Lenco: I'll take the RS-A1 for a serious test spin and report back later), THE most transparent, and the pivotting headshell works: all tracing distortons nasties are gone gone gone!! Where are my old friends hardening and steeliness on certain passages?? Ronnie warns me not to look at it too hard as it will fall apart, and it certainly is no Rega in this respect, very fragile. But, apart from the headshell holes, not very difficult to set-up. Can't own one if you have children or pets though, or live in an earthquake area. Have fun all!

Hi Folks
progress shots of my lenco build up posted on Lenco MultiArm Plinth 2 under all out assault. the category seems appropriate now as my body feels like its been assaulted by the rigours of this torturous build. straight lines good, curves pain in ..........
regards

peter w

Hi Peter,

What a wonderful and ambitious project! This should slay all competition once its set up in your system – provided, of course that you have proper structural support (i.e. jacks) to brace up your house. Certainly looks heavy! Exactly what are these surge tanks? Somehow I have visions of supply and drain plumbing being hooked up to this thing in some kind of massive dampening hydraulic Lenco project.

And speaking of dampening, you’ve done a very admirable job throughout – much better than my patchwork attempts. One thing I did notice was that you still have the original idler tension spring hooked up. Right from the get go, Jean fingered this spring as a potential route of resonant noise transmission and substituted an elastic infused fabric item (for sewing into waist hems) that can be found in most sewing supply sections/stores.

Thanks for sharing your work with us, Peter, and keep us posted on updates.

As for all my projects: (4) idler redesigns/plinth builds; hardwood lens horn design & fabrication; (4) Reel to Reel deck resurrections – I’ve decided to put them all on a short hiatus and address the dirty state of my growing LP collection. I’ve become tired of taking nice records that I’ve bought for .50 to 1.00 dollar down to my local audio store and paying $1.50 to get them cleaned on their VPI machine.

So I’m building an ARC machine using the previously trailblazed standards for this DIY project: Ice Cream Maker motor; Guts of a Dust Devil 3 hp (peak) Vacuum; 1984 VW Windshield Washer Pump w/120VAC to 12VDC Transformer. I’m relying heavily on Jimmy Neutron’s design – but plan to deviate on the critical double wand record contact area. Whether playing or cleaning vinyl, it always seems to come down to adjustable VTA.