Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II


“For those who want the moon but can't afford it or those who can afford it but like to have fun and work with their hands, I'm willing to give out a recipe for a true high-end 'table which is easy to do, and fun to make as sky's the limit on design/creativity! The cost of materials, including 'table, is roughly $200 (depending, more or less), and add to that a Rega tonearm. The results are astonishing. I'll even tell/show you how to make chipboard look like marble and fool and impress all your friends. If there's interest I'll get on with this project, if not, I'll just continue making them in my basement. The next one I make will have a Corian top and have a zebra stripe pattern! Fun! Any takers?”

The Lead in “Da Thread” as posted by Johnnantais - 2-01-04

Let the saga continue. Sail on, oh ships of Lenco!
mario_b
Re isolating the motor: that is one of the major benefits of the PTP3 in a slate plinth, IMO. And that solution does not require any Rube Goldberg devices in between the motor and everything else. (Rube Goldberg was an American cartoonist who made his mark by depicting unnecessarily intricate devices, often involving animals, to be used for simple tasks, in cartoon format.)
Hi Lewm,
You may well be right, I have a PTP3 on a slate plinth:

http://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=250.0

and it sounds excellent. Your Rube sounds like our Heath Robinson who did the same thing in the early part of the last century. I am not out to prove this is the best way to build a Lenco, it's my Heath Robinson machine which is turning out to be a lot of fun and sounds great too.
Regards, Ian
Hi Ian, Very nice job on your slate plinth. I see you are also using an RS-A1 tonearm. I have one, too. It's a great choice for a slate plinth, because no drilling is necessary to install one, not to mention that the sound is excellent despite or because of the weird mechanics. I have my slate cut, and I have the PTP3 kit and a "donor" Lenco L75. I just need to seal the slate, paint the PTP3, and then bolt it all together.

I wonder what Jean is up to these days.
Last I heard Jean is working on a bearing upgrade
and has discovered the ideal mat and clamp for our Lenco's
"New Lenco LLC" to produce new Lenco idler turntables
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News Release
April 1, 2009

In a world seemingly gone to digital disc and downloads, the latest news in the revival of the LP phonograph record is the incorporation of "New Lenco LLC" with corporate offices in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

New Lenco LLC has a manufacturing joint-venture partner in China who will manufacture new turntables following the well-regarded vertical idler-wheel designs of Lenco AG of Oberburg, Switzerland, which built record playing equipment until it became insolvent. The current owner of the Lenco brand, the STL Group of the Netherlands, has licensed the name to New Lenco solely for equipment used to play phonograph records.

Consultants to New Lenco include audiophile Jean Nantais, who has long advised stereo enthusiasts to recondition and upgrade turntables built by the original Lenco AG, some almost a half-century old, to attain results rivaling the best turntables available today. Nantais sponsored a long-running Internet discussion thread about rebuilding Lenco turntables, which became the longest-running such audio-related thread since Al Gore fathered the Internet. As a result, Lencos have become legendary. Richard Steinfeld, an expert in phonographic equipment from Berkeley CA., writes, "The cast platter machines bring the Lenco design very close to the audiophile realm, and can make for a very satisfying turntable." In an Internet article on the 6Moons website, Srajan Ebaen writes that carefully-reworked vintage Lencos have replaced high-priced turntables belonging to high-end audiophiles. "Some of these folks already owned hi-cred tables. Their hi-massed Lencos either stomped their modern decks or pulled even - for a lot less money."

Longtime audio writer I. Lirpa, best known for his contributions to the lamented Audio Magazine, will serve in a consulting role to New Lenco as it plans and implements production of turntables for worldwide sale. The first New Lenco turntable is expected to be available at dealers in about a year.