TechnoPop: Kraftwerk, Yaz, Depeche Mode, Art of Noise, Yello, Colourbox...If you haven't heard these on an idler-wheel 'table, you haven't heard them period! Idler-wheel drives excel in the bass, where they have greater reach, power, slam and speed than belt-drives designs. Of course, these attributes also benefit all music, as stand-up bass in jazz ensembles and all bass instruments are simply heard more clearly on these 'tables. This power and slam covers the entire frequency-range, it's just that it's the bass which will first astonish and thrill you! Don't worry about the high-frequencies, as both Lencos and Garrards had much lower measured rumble than LP12s in their day. Join in the experiment, it's educational, fun, and rewarding in all kinds of ways! And cheap and fun! I recently listened to the above bands and had to share this great entertainment with you.
The issue is one of Dogma, unfortunately. To make this point clearer I will give a dictionary definition of "dogmatic": "asserting a matter of opinion as if it were fact". All kinds of audio authorities have written about the "fact" of idler-wheel rumble, and gone to great lengths to explain it via theories and so forth: now, more than 30 years after the essential demise of the idler-wheel drive, they continue! Of course the audio industry has never been guilty of cynically promoting sonically-inferior technologies for a great increase in profits...but wait! Of course, NOW I remember, they did tell us that transistor amps were vastly superior to tube amplifiers! They had all kinds of charts, graphs and theories to back them up too! Oh, and then there was that "Perfect Sound Forever" thing which engineers and scientists went to great length to support scientifically. Now they give us DVD and SACD which gives us 10 times the resolution of their original "perfect medium".
This whole issue of building your own plinth for a Lenco to produce a true high-end 'table has been an incredible education, as all kinds of facts have surfaced which I didn't have access to when I discovered them 10 years ago. The Lenco is cheap because of dogma, "opinion paraded as fact." Despite the fact of Garrard businesses around the world, and the fact that Sugano used one to design his cartridges (still no one to address this fact), Garrards have been dismissed due to rumble even by many of their owners. Why? Because of the tremendous pressure to believe this is so via "opinion presented as fact," along with lengthy technical theories.
So here I ask these still-vocal "authorities" (similar "authorities" asserted that the sun circled the earth well after the publicaton of the works of Galileo and Copernicus, one Professor refusing to look through Galileo's telescope - as certain persons today pronounce themselves against the Lenco without hearing it - because "as if with magical incantations to charm the new planets out of the sky"...this argument sounds familiar, hmmm) to explain the following information which was sent me on my other thread: "In 1962 Garrard 301 cost £ 17 14s 6d plus tax whilst the Goldring Lenco GL70 (predecesor of GL75) cost £ 22 10s plus tax (admittedly it had an arm and 301 didn't) but it shows it wasn't a cheap deck. Interestingly in 1976 GL75 still had a £ 10 price lead over 401. Rumble figure for 401 was quoted as 'almost non-existent' - I haven't been able to find a rumble figure for GL75 but the GL78 which was more expensive and had a slighly bigger and heavier platter (but I think it used the same motor?) came in at -60dB (original LP12 only quoted 'better than -40dB!)." So it turns out after all that the idler wheels including the Lenco produced significantly less rumble than the belt-drives that supplanted them. So why did the belt-drives conquer all? Oh, I forgot about the audio industry cynically promoting inferior products such as transistors (in the beginning) and compact discs due to the greater possible profits. Include retailers among this group. Of course, I didn't need all this research to tell me there was no rumble, as in a large variety of systems neither I nor anyone else had ever heard any. But it seems we need "expert opinion" to make it so. I fear certain "experts" in the industry who have spoken out will find themselves somewhat discredited: that's what you get for offering opinion as fact, a far more common phenomenon in science than is commonly thought.
The other interesting thing revealed by the above information is that in a world where Garrard 301/401s were considered the "ne plus ultra", the Lencos sold for significantly more, and sold despite this fact in large numbers. Since all early audio reviews were in fact almost purely technical - presenting only such things and flutter, rumble and wow figures - then the Lenco must have had very impressive figures to compete with the Garrards. Why then did they become derided? What else but "expert opinion."
Here I must quote from the owner's manual for a Goldring-Lenco G 99, Lenco's version of the 301/401 designs, sold without tonearm: "The hardened steel centre spindle runs in a sintered bronze bush with a special thrust pad. The 4-pole constant velocity motor limits changes in turntable speed to less than 1% for up to 13% change in line voltage. Rumble and hum are negligible. Maximum wow and flutter is 0.2%. The turntable, which is die-cast from zinc alloy, is non-magnetic and weighs 8 lbs. A thick rubber mat is fitted. Another feature is the push-button on-off switch which also engages and disengages the drive. A neon pilot gives the "99" an added refinement. The switch circuit is entirely click suppresed......" It all sounds vey impressive, a fitting competitor to the far more famed and expensive Garrards. The great thing is that, apart from the strobe light and the pilot light, the G 99 is mechanically identical to the L78s and L75s, which is a good thing as the G 99s are rare while the others are common. So am I pointing the finger at all those Garrard owners who paid more for their 'tables than I did for my Lencos? Absolutely not, as they were the victims of a Dogma created and propagated to this day by industry "authorities". Besides, they bought the superior technology. We've come this far in this lengthy battle, so might as well not beat around the bush.
So am I claiming to be brilliant because I realized the potential of the Lencos when I discovered them? Absolutely not: I discovered them because of the Dogma propagated by the "experts" and the audio press - here I quote from a letter I had sent Richard in happier days, before "experts" began to "educate" him: "Also, it was a British mag which reviewed the Swiss Lencos against the British Garrards, so I would tend to think that there was quite a bit of bias involved (until quite recently, early 90s or so, American 'tables and mainland European 'tables were quite negatively reviewed in the British press, the British versions always considered superior. And of course, the majority of the audience slavishly follows the mainstream press, including those who work in shops, which is the whole point of such forums as Audiogon." Because of this enormous (and undeserved) bias against the Lencos and the enormous cult following of the Garrards (because of the British audio press), when I discovered the evident superiority of idler-wheel designs (remember, I already owned two "high-end" 'tables at this point), I was simply unable to find a Garrard 301 or 401 to rebuild to see what the idler-wheel technology could do (there was essentially no 'net then). Because of the same dogma, however, Lencos were plentiful and cheap. So, being the heaviest and best-engineered idler-wheel drive I could find, I simply did to it what I would have done to a Garrard 301. The result is this thread.
So you're lucky that I post this cheap, easy and educational recipe for a true high-end 'table (incredibly high-end, as I sat unimpressed before a $6000 'table today), and while you are at it, thank all those authorities who created a situation where you can buy Lencos cheaply! Thank you British Press! Thank you, "experts"! I for one, am thankful! Kisses! Hopefully, these "authorities" will continue to artificially depress the value of Lencos! Keep up the good work!
And remember, you can marble them too, or cut to any shape (I have done lozenges!)
The issue is one of Dogma, unfortunately. To make this point clearer I will give a dictionary definition of "dogmatic": "asserting a matter of opinion as if it were fact". All kinds of audio authorities have written about the "fact" of idler-wheel rumble, and gone to great lengths to explain it via theories and so forth: now, more than 30 years after the essential demise of the idler-wheel drive, they continue! Of course the audio industry has never been guilty of cynically promoting sonically-inferior technologies for a great increase in profits...but wait! Of course, NOW I remember, they did tell us that transistor amps were vastly superior to tube amplifiers! They had all kinds of charts, graphs and theories to back them up too! Oh, and then there was that "Perfect Sound Forever" thing which engineers and scientists went to great length to support scientifically. Now they give us DVD and SACD which gives us 10 times the resolution of their original "perfect medium".
This whole issue of building your own plinth for a Lenco to produce a true high-end 'table has been an incredible education, as all kinds of facts have surfaced which I didn't have access to when I discovered them 10 years ago. The Lenco is cheap because of dogma, "opinion paraded as fact." Despite the fact of Garrard businesses around the world, and the fact that Sugano used one to design his cartridges (still no one to address this fact), Garrards have been dismissed due to rumble even by many of their owners. Why? Because of the tremendous pressure to believe this is so via "opinion presented as fact," along with lengthy technical theories.
So here I ask these still-vocal "authorities" (similar "authorities" asserted that the sun circled the earth well after the publicaton of the works of Galileo and Copernicus, one Professor refusing to look through Galileo's telescope - as certain persons today pronounce themselves against the Lenco without hearing it - because "as if with magical incantations to charm the new planets out of the sky"...this argument sounds familiar, hmmm) to explain the following information which was sent me on my other thread: "In 1962 Garrard 301 cost £ 17 14s 6d plus tax whilst the Goldring Lenco GL70 (predecesor of GL75) cost £ 22 10s plus tax (admittedly it had an arm and 301 didn't) but it shows it wasn't a cheap deck. Interestingly in 1976 GL75 still had a £ 10 price lead over 401. Rumble figure for 401 was quoted as 'almost non-existent' - I haven't been able to find a rumble figure for GL75 but the GL78 which was more expensive and had a slighly bigger and heavier platter (but I think it used the same motor?) came in at -60dB (original LP12 only quoted 'better than -40dB!)." So it turns out after all that the idler wheels including the Lenco produced significantly less rumble than the belt-drives that supplanted them. So why did the belt-drives conquer all? Oh, I forgot about the audio industry cynically promoting inferior products such as transistors (in the beginning) and compact discs due to the greater possible profits. Include retailers among this group. Of course, I didn't need all this research to tell me there was no rumble, as in a large variety of systems neither I nor anyone else had ever heard any. But it seems we need "expert opinion" to make it so. I fear certain "experts" in the industry who have spoken out will find themselves somewhat discredited: that's what you get for offering opinion as fact, a far more common phenomenon in science than is commonly thought.
The other interesting thing revealed by the above information is that in a world where Garrard 301/401s were considered the "ne plus ultra", the Lencos sold for significantly more, and sold despite this fact in large numbers. Since all early audio reviews were in fact almost purely technical - presenting only such things and flutter, rumble and wow figures - then the Lenco must have had very impressive figures to compete with the Garrards. Why then did they become derided? What else but "expert opinion."
Here I must quote from the owner's manual for a Goldring-Lenco G 99, Lenco's version of the 301/401 designs, sold without tonearm: "The hardened steel centre spindle runs in a sintered bronze bush with a special thrust pad. The 4-pole constant velocity motor limits changes in turntable speed to less than 1% for up to 13% change in line voltage. Rumble and hum are negligible. Maximum wow and flutter is 0.2%. The turntable, which is die-cast from zinc alloy, is non-magnetic and weighs 8 lbs. A thick rubber mat is fitted. Another feature is the push-button on-off switch which also engages and disengages the drive. A neon pilot gives the "99" an added refinement. The switch circuit is entirely click suppresed......" It all sounds vey impressive, a fitting competitor to the far more famed and expensive Garrards. The great thing is that, apart from the strobe light and the pilot light, the G 99 is mechanically identical to the L78s and L75s, which is a good thing as the G 99s are rare while the others are common. So am I pointing the finger at all those Garrard owners who paid more for their 'tables than I did for my Lencos? Absolutely not, as they were the victims of a Dogma created and propagated to this day by industry "authorities". Besides, they bought the superior technology. We've come this far in this lengthy battle, so might as well not beat around the bush.
So am I claiming to be brilliant because I realized the potential of the Lencos when I discovered them? Absolutely not: I discovered them because of the Dogma propagated by the "experts" and the audio press - here I quote from a letter I had sent Richard in happier days, before "experts" began to "educate" him: "Also, it was a British mag which reviewed the Swiss Lencos against the British Garrards, so I would tend to think that there was quite a bit of bias involved (until quite recently, early 90s or so, American 'tables and mainland European 'tables were quite negatively reviewed in the British press, the British versions always considered superior. And of course, the majority of the audience slavishly follows the mainstream press, including those who work in shops, which is the whole point of such forums as Audiogon." Because of this enormous (and undeserved) bias against the Lencos and the enormous cult following of the Garrards (because of the British audio press), when I discovered the evident superiority of idler-wheel designs (remember, I already owned two "high-end" 'tables at this point), I was simply unable to find a Garrard 301 or 401 to rebuild to see what the idler-wheel technology could do (there was essentially no 'net then). Because of the same dogma, however, Lencos were plentiful and cheap. So, being the heaviest and best-engineered idler-wheel drive I could find, I simply did to it what I would have done to a Garrard 301. The result is this thread.
So you're lucky that I post this cheap, easy and educational recipe for a true high-end 'table (incredibly high-end, as I sat unimpressed before a $6000 'table today), and while you are at it, thank all those authorities who created a situation where you can buy Lencos cheaply! Thank you British Press! Thank you, "experts"! I for one, am thankful! Kisses! Hopefully, these "authorities" will continue to artificially depress the value of Lencos! Keep up the good work!
And remember, you can marble them too, or cut to any shape (I have done lozenges!)