Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

Further Clarification.

I have now been in contact with the writer of the "marketing ploy" post. He claims, to my satisfaction, that this post only concerned Jean's view of alternative plinth materials and the Lenco top plate (a serious point of contention within the Lenco DIY crowd), along with Jean defending his commercial interests, and in no way inferred some sort of collusion between us.

I believe, as does Rf_gumby above, that it was simply a poor choice of words on his part, which is understandable, since the writer has a different mother tongue. To provide some context...

This post came after another Lenco Heaven member had earlier accused me (within my Lenco review/essay) of "covering my ass" and writing "between the lines". When no one on that website took issue with these (very serious for me) charges*, I became predisposed to think the worst of the "marketing ploy" post. I then take at least some responsibility for the misinterpretation of the writer's words.

*These charges are "serious" because they infer that I've first been grossly negligent and, even worse, I'm now further hiding my true observations, thoughts and feelings, for some nefarious reason. It is also an indirect charge of hypocrisy, since I have frequently accused the mainstream audio media of forcing their readers to "read between the lines" (though with good reason).

While the commercial audio media do what they feel is necessary to survive and profit, I am an independent audio journalist, with absolutely no commercial interests. To deliberately equate us is completely unfounded and can only be considered personally insulting.

Arthur I am glad that the writer got in touch with you and that ALL is fine now. We can now look for further review of the Lenco turntable and hopefully all the diy people can concentrate on ways to further improve the sonics of the Lenco.

So the man hisself, Jean Nantais came to my place today to install the new bearing assembly into my Lenco. This is the same part that is featured on the Reference Lenco (the one Arthur raves about). Upon inspection it looks well machined and is certainly a more robust piece compared to the original part that comes with the L75. Despite my probing, he wouldn't tell me what it was made of, titanium, magnesium, unobtanium? After installing it and adding a few drops of his secret recipe oil it was ready to go. I noticed that the platter spun a lot longer than previously also. Come to think of it he may have referred to it as the "8 minute bearing" previously. It doesn't last quite that long, but it certainly goes on for a while. I popped on my Father's day treat to myself, the 3 box set of Miles from India. I was a bit sceptical that there would be much difference because all that I changed was the bearing assembly, but after listening carefully to it, all I can say is wow! The first thing that was apparent was that there was a lot more air and the highs were more transparent. Also, I had always thought my system lacked bass and was toying with the idea of getting a sub to augment my Coral Beta 8s. No need for a sub any more - it really tightened it up and it now goes down to a satisfyingly deep level. Low level noise is now down significantly and that just make the background blacker resulting in sound that "pops" with greater transients and impact.

As Jean mentioned previously, this bearing assembly was only available to his customers before Arthur's review. Now that the review is out, its only available to those buying the Reference Lenco. I'm quite happy that I went ahead and placed my order before the review came out.

Long before Arthur got his hands on a Lenco, I was impressed with his website, postings, and his open approach to review equipment and/or music.
Honesty and integrity all the way.
Congrats to Jean!

I was asked on another forum to make a comparison between a commonly found commercial turntable and a Lenco tweaked by a marketeer, or a DIY Lenco. My response was that a turntable built by an enthusiast always trumps one built by a marketeer who only considers price points and profit margins. Everyone here knows that Jean and I have been at odds many times, but at the end of the day, I believe we are both about the music. That said, a lot of people in the audio business are not. Jean is, and I'm happy he he has found a reviewer who agrees. It's always nice when you are recognized by those who share your vision.

Win