Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

Hi Nigel,

Oregon’s post follows the most up-to-date recipe for the “sandwich”. These are two distinct areas of attachment: 1) perimeter bolting (4) of the top plate to the top layer of plinth – usually to mdf, and 2) coupling the platter well (pan) with wood screws to the 2nd plinth layer – usually birch-ply – sometimes with the addition of neoprene gasket material or hardwood shims to make up for any gap.

The first phase of the attachment was always part of the recipe. The 2nd phase – also known as “direct coupling” - came later in Jean’s development of this grand project. Because some (including myself) had difficulties in getting the torque just right on “direct coupling”, you might consider taking this as a two-step process: 4-Bolt the Lenco to the plinth and listen to it for a few weeks – then direct couple. This way you’ll be better able to discern any sonic improvements/degradations.

Since the bolting of the Lenco to the plinth is to draw the top plate perimeter edges into the top plinth layer, I see no reason to be locked into the bottom/up 4mm bolting. I drilled out the threads of the top plate lugs and bolted top to bottom using ¼” bolts with cone washer with black neoprene on the contact surface. This eliminated tricky alignments procedures. Initially, I drilled smaller holes to align a couple of plinth layers at a time using nails while I made internal cutouts. Once all glued up with top plate in place – I drilled down with a ¼” bit. Then recess the nut into the bottom layer by drilling partway through the bottom layer with a ½” bit. You can almost always find ¼” bolts for the correct depth.

Nothing is written in stone about how you get there as long as you adhere to the basic principles of the sandwich recipe.

Sail on!

Congratulations on your impending religious experience Nigel!! And just in time too, as I do believe I have a new and significant upgrade to offer all the Lenco-ers out there.

Back when I had made the first "high-end" idler from cobbling together the working parts of a Garrard SP-25 to a Connoisseur platter and bearing (in the absence of finding a Garrard 301 or 401 and before I had stumbled on the Lenco), I had married the Garrard inner platter/drive wheel to the Connoisseur platter by pouring in marine grade epoxy-resin, which is very liquid and hardens to a true glass-like hardness and consistency. Now this has been at the back of my mind for years, but given the Lenco's incredible Mightiness (even in the early days before Direct Coupling and very high-mass superior to the VPI TNT Dopogue had, as well as a Well-Tempered, STD, Linn LP12 - Hi Malcolm, Rjdcan, Mark!! - among others), I didn't think it truly necessary to go to these lengths to damp the top-plate, as the much easier Dynamat (and various other damping materials) did a good job. But now, given the enormous efforts made to either reinforce the top-plate or eliminate it, and the tremendous success of Direct Coupling, I thought I'd dust off this idea and give it a go. The thinking behind this is several-fold. I have repeatedly warned against over-damping the top-plate and plinth for fear of damping the Lenco's Mightiness in the bargain (damaging its amazing dynamics micro and macro). I have heard the difference between lots of Dynamat (there goes the neighbourhood) and a little (Ah there it is again!). Now the glass damps the top-plate with extreme effectiveness, as it literally pours into and fills all cavities (I use a caulking gun to create little walls around the bits you don't want filled, like the speed and on-switch linkages), and, by using an extremely smooth tape (I use double and triple thickness packing tape, pressed on as perfectly as possible for a perfect surface) to cover the arm-hole and other holes, the glue fills these in too and makes them flush with the surface, thus eliminating those problematic holes. But not only does the glue make for the perfect damping material (eliminating vibration/torsional movement while doing nothing to subtract the 'table/tonearm/cartridge's natural energies), it also reinforces the top-plate to an extreme degree, and so prevents any grosser vibration. The Direct Coupling does the rest. No need to cut away the body, no need to reinforce with metal sheet. But: this is not a reversible mod, so some participation and reporting back is required.

Now, as always, I was more worried about losing the musical magic than I was desiring to increase detail and various other sonic artefacts. Recall my last post where the Lenco/SME V/Denon DL-103"E" was causing severe shivers and spasms in addition to the usual raising of hairs and minor shivers the "ordinary" Giant Direct Coupled Lenco causes via the magical AR2ax's (it turns out these have AlNiCo magnets which might explain their supernatural abilities). Well, this Lenco already had the glass-epoxy mod. So, with great difficulty (the SME is not an easy arm to set up or exchange), I went back and forth between a regular Lenco and a Glass Lenco using the ARs to see what advantages and disadvantages there were, musically-speaking , as the ARs are PRaT masters, given a Lenco and suitable electronics. Sure enough, when I mounted the SME on the regular Lenco the shivers stopped, though the hair-raising phenomenon and whiplash-inducing head-banging continued. Tonight, after a week of living with the Lenco on the normal Lenco, I moved it to the Glass Lenco: the shivers, the intense spasms, the whole-body hair-raising is back with a vengeance, and a form of intense BEAUTY which is quite simply sublime.

Now, like the Direct Coupling, set up is important, as, yes, there is more detail, speed and focus, and this can lead to some unpleasant surprises, like discovering a certain album is bright, or a certain arm/cartridge combo is not as optimized as you thought. You'll have to optimize these to compensate, but what is most important, the musical payoff is TREMENDOUS. It should be, as it does more of what high-mass and Direct Coupling already accomplish, which is to hold the Lenco down nailed to the universe so as to allow that near-perfect drive system to do its work unimpeded, and with total confidence. The result is Pure Magic. If it was only in audiophile terms important, I would simply go back to Dynamat. So, for the intrepid, and in the knowledge the mod is permanent (or at the very least a total bitch to undo), I would appreciate any feedback on the success (or not) of this mod!!

Now while I have drastically reduced my participation on forums to a large extent, this doesn’t mean I haven't been very active in the Lenco War. I've stepped it up a notch: expect to see the Lenco show up at shows in the future fronting various types of equipment the better to demonstrate them (anything upstream of a Lenco or other large idler is bound to be shown to best effect!) thus showing in no uncertain terms just how potent and successful (in fact the MOST Potent) a drive system idler really is. Vive la Lenco, Vive la Idler Wheel!!

Jean,
Interesting developements! You have taken a route that I been thinking about too. However I have recently decided to go into an other direction, namely to drop the Lenco topplate altogether. I intent to have a new topplate lasercut from 5mm thick steel that is totally flat and will be glued to a ply/mdf sandwich. I hope this way you solve all the damping issues in one go. I am still working on this and don't know the cost involved yet, but I do know that most of the cost involved will be the programming of the lasercutter, so if more people would be iterested in this maybe I can order a small series instead of just one and prices will drop dramatically. More on this will follow!
Peter

Hey Jean,

Glad to see you back. An interesting post - as always.

I did something similar on my stalled G99 project that may be of interest to the fellers. You can now buy a semi-solid two part epoxy that looks kind of like a candy bar. You tear off a chunk and knead it with your hands - which mixes the two parts. I used one from the auto parts store that is supposedly made to stick to steel. I was a little more conservative than Jean and just applied it in two spots around the rim of the top plate of the G99 - afraid of overdamping as Jean implies. (I know the Despot also sells a version of this stuff.) It may be easier to apply than liquid but I wouldn't be surprised if it has slightly different damping properties. There is another version on the Lenco heaven site where a guy used lead shot captured in Epoxy on his G99 - again one would expect different damping properties.

Of course, you dont get the benefit of patching the holes on the L75 type top plates. Come to think of though, my G99 arrived with an extra hole - I used a small autobody repair kit that included some metal screen material to back and fill it before repainting the G99. Looks stock now.

I was reading through the old thread yesterday, as captured on the Lenco Lovers site, and was amused to read all the objections and caveats regarding the Lenco's ultimate performance that people still felt back then - around page 14-16. Even the guy who I bought my G99 from said it was inferior to both his Garrard 401 and Techniques DD. When I got it I instantly noticed that it had an old worn out plastic idler and no Lenco mat. I can only assume that it probably wasnt tested in a plinth according to the "recipe" either. Although it generally looked beat to shit, it has the tightest bearing of all my Lencos.

Mike

Peter et al, It seemed to me when I saw a cut down Lenco top plate for the first time that one could fairly easily replace the Lenco top plate with aluminum sheet. I have worked 6mm Al sheet at home and making small holes on a drill press is a cinch.

The hardest thing to reproduce on the Lenco top plate would be the slot for the ider arm - you would need to carefully secure the Al sheet and use a router with a straight cutting bit and jig. The Large hole for the wheel could be cut by a jig saw and Bob's your uncle.

However, Peter if you go forward with the steel idea I am sure that some of us here (me) would like one too and would be happy to help defray the cost. Now the question - which would sound better Al or steel?

Mike