I'd have to say that it sounds as good as it looks. Honest. It completely blows all of my other tables away. Tables that I have defended for the past several years, and they all sounded good to me, a Thorens TD125 MKII, a Denon DP 60L, a Sony PS-X7, and a Dual 1229. This thing is in a league of its own. I've been spinning vinyl like it was going out of style lately and I'm lovin it. I figure I've got 200 plus hours in the whole project, but then I am slow and I didn't have a set of plans to work off of. Alot of time was spent trying to decide to do it this way or that way, does this look better. Trying several different things can chew up time and materials, so can mistakes O;). If you add in the time I spent reading EVERYTHING I could find on it, then it enters into the obsessed category. Guilty I guess.
The arm is a Sumiko Premier FT-3 with the PIB-1 interface on the back panel, the cartridge in the picture is a Shure M91ED, but today I put on a Shure M97xE, which has been an improvement. I knew it would but I had the M91ED in there while the construction was going on and all the tweaking. I didn't want to ruin a good cart in the building process. My other components are mid-fi, My main amp is a Sansui AU717. I have the matching tuner TU 717, but I don't use it, I use a Kenwood KT 3050, it sounds better. Maybe an alignment and some mods and I'm sure the reverse would be true. I have a Pioneer RT 909, don't use it much anymore, my listening is 99 percent vinyl. I have a Phillips CDR770 player so I can record straight off the vinyl.I have a Kenwood KX 5550 cassette deck to play those 25 cent cassettes I find from time to time. My speakers are Klipsch Chorus IIs. I love 'em.
My music tastes are varied. Started out with 60s and 70s rock, some progressive, and I'm a big Pink Floyd fan. A lot of my collectable Floyd has come down off the shelf and onto the Lenco. Finally a table worthy of playing my best. In recent years I have become a big classical fan, I can't believe I missed all that wonderful music for so long, but playing catch up is fun. My wife likes 50s and early 60s rock-n-roll and some older country classics. I'm starting to appreciate jazz a little now, so we have just about everything covered. My collection is well over 5000 and climbing weekly it seems. Well enough about me already.
Back to the Lenco, as great as it sounds, UNFORTUNATELY it will not be in my possession long. I made this for my stepson David who turned 30 about the time this project started. He has a growing passion for vinyl and I thought I would help him out and give him something to really enjoy. Thank God he has been patient.
I was planning on doing another Lenco for myself, but e-pay has been pretty dry for quite a while so I don't have another Lenco for myself. (no good deed goes unpunished)
But I do have another project in the starting blocks, another idler, a Russco Studio Pro B. The Russco is kinda noisey, you can hear the motor in between tracks from a couple of feet away. When the music is playing it sounds great. I'm hoping that a large plinth will take care of that. The background isn't black like on the Lenco, but it isn't that bad either. The Russco holds it own very well just sitting on the blocks compared to the Lenco in its giant plinth. I've been comparing the two for a couple of weeks and the Russco has surprised me in that its' performance soundwise is just a hair beneath the Lenco. It will be interesting to compare the two when I finish the Russco. If it takes as long as the Lenco, then it will be next year before that happens. The build of the Russco makes the Lenco look flimsy and unworthy, and the motor is rated at 1/75 horsepower. If I crank down the idler pressure I bet the Russco could spin the Giant Lenco. It's that powerful. Just awesome. Now I just need to decide what to do with it.
Kim
