Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

Thanks for the compliments all, you know what they say, "practice makes perfect!" As an aside, I deliberately showcased my amateur/slap-dash efforts in order to entice those with no experience to give the Lenco Challenge a go and join in the fun and report in with their creations, a PR tactic which was effective. Had I either built beautiful plinths or had them done and THEN posted them in the beginning, the original thread would have died in its infancy. I leave these original (and FUN!...I had so much fun substituting inventiveness for experience, good tools and talent and look back on those days of simple jigsaw, pencil, Home Despot and clamps with nostalgia!!) plinths up in my gallery and continue to urge neophytes who have never approached a tool to join in the fun, report in, and showcase their efforts: there are NO self-made plinths which are not admirable, and aesthetics does not affect sound quality a whit!

Anyway, the Garrard plinth is still unfinished, and is in fact my Prototype plinth which I'll use as a platform for future Garrard experiments. Now I know I can push the Garrard into Destroyer Lenco territory, I've already got plans for a very funky/cool/modern/fun Garrard plinth (inventiveness with cheap materials), and for two tonearms minimum of course!

I was a HELL of a battle to get the Garrard to perform up to the heights we've pushed the Lencos to so far (I was indeed ready to declare defeat), which I'm certain will displease certain Garrard snobs (the lower components of human nature will always guarantee some will find a way to keep their lead over their neighbours, even if they have to invent it by denying reality, as they most often do) who want to continue to believe the Lencos don't rate so they can continue to feel superior by the simple expedient of owning a Garrard. Nevertheless, most of those who have compared Lencos to Garrards (and if we count only those who don't have an ego-axe to grind then ALL whose testimony is then trustworthy) in their own systems have greatly preferred the Lencos, which are a more highly-evolved/elegant implementation of the idler-wheel technology. In the end, what works for the Lencos works for the Garrards, though given their different construction (the Garrards are much better-built, just not better designed) different solutions must be found to implement the principles. In order to get the Garrard up to the unbelievable heights of a Lenco taken to extremes, attention must be paid to every single detail (as with the Lencos), including taking apart and restoring the motor, cleaning and re-lubing all linkages, making sure the wheel is up to snuff. Fall behind in a single aspect, and the Garrard will not match the Lenco (which proves the Garrard is in no way inherently sonically superior to/more effective than the Lenco).

For feet I use the same technique as I do for the Lenco: large carriage bolts which with their rounded heads approximate Tiptoes. The T-nuts are hammered into the inside of the plinth so that when torqued down (after levelling) with two wrenches (one to hold the bolts in place, the other to REALLY torque down the locking nut against the large washer which goes between the nut and the Lenco plinth), the marriage/effectiveness is supreme, the solidity incredible. This results in a great increase in detail/focus/dynamics and bass tightness/slam. Again, what works for the Lenco works for the Garrard, and as for any high-end turntable at all, be it belt-drive or not, suspended or not, a good platform MUST be found to maximize the performance. That done, I still have not found footers to match what I get from my carriage bolts. Of course, there are those who don't like the aesthetics, or prefer real Tiptoes, or who have special circumstances (cannot mount on a stand of sufficient integrity) and so on, and so must find their own way.

Now the Lencos don't mind a neoprene rubber gasket at all, but to the Garrard, this is anathema. Ditto rubber mats: the Lencos LOVES them, the Garrard HATES them. Now those who don't have an ultra Lenco and are using a Garrard with rubber mat are not aware of the sonically-destructive effect of rubber on Garrards. But with a Lenco as Reference, it is all too clear. I found a Spotmat sent to me long ago by Willbewill (thanks Malcolm!) finally found its natural home on my Garrard!!

So finally, when I attended to every little detail, securely and effectively coupled the Garrard to the usual Giant CLD plinth, removed every vestige of rubber, absolutely torqued-down the bolts/footers, put an identical marble/acrylic platform under the Garrard, removed the rubber mat and replaced it with the Spotmat, THEN the Garrard was precisely in the same league as the Lenco. The moral of the story being, don't assume the Garrard is superior due to a longer history of recognition, snob appeal or better build quality: the Lenco has only recently been recognized and is not as substantial (except for the platter, which is very evidently a better and better-built design) and has no snob-appeal, but it addresses problems by sheer elegance and clarity, where the Garrard resorts to Baroque brute force to achieve the same level of performance. Those who continue to champion a low-mass approach will get excellent sound because the idler-wheel system is superior, NOT because the low-mass approach is better (an idler mounted to a pile of fertilizer will sound better than most belt-drives at whatever price). The high-mass approach is more difficult to get right, but once done right is vastly superior, and at some future Idler Festival, the low-massers will find their asses getting firmly kicked by the monsters. Too bad, as my back would LOVE for the low-mass approach to be better, and maybe some day some wunder-material will be found to do just that.

If I fight so hard to have these various approaches recognized, it's because I want to be certain the idlers have every chance of unequivocally crushing their belt-drive "competitors", for lack of a better word ;-), and do the Amazing and Unthinkable: together force the industry which saddled us with an inferior system to recant! Now THAT would be exciting, would it not?!? Btw, this is not and never was an ego issue (those who have levelled this accusation periodically since the very beginning do us all a disservice, muddy the waters due to their own ego inadequacies, and consign us all to a bizarre, ineffective and meaningless fringe element to further their own spite, and I am deeply embarrassed to have to acknowledge this problem at all), this is a matter of Ideals (I am an Idealist, with a capital "I"), of the strictures of Science faithfully followed (i.e the empirical and verifiable truth, no room for political correctness, one does not compromise with experimental results/the evidence), and always was.

One other problem I never expected to be such a large one: Political Correctness. It is currently fashionable to go about believing that no one system is superior to another, and those claiming to have THE answer must be motivated, again, by ego. And so people volunteer to belong to a kooky and quiet fringe element rather than participate in a larger and meaningful battle. But in discussing drive systems we are in the realm of science and engineering, and here we are very definitely in the realm of THE answer. No one but a dunce would pretend that steam-powered engines are more effective than, or as effective as, a combustion engine. The combustion engine is quite simply superior (in terms of performance/effectiveness/power), which is why it dominates the world today. Similarly, there IS a superior way to play a record, and that is the way that most effectively guarantees as close to perfect speed stability in real-world conditions, actually playing a record (and with perfect speed stability comes everything else: bass, SLAM, detail, imaging, gestalt, DYNAMICS, transient response). Hearing an idler-wheel drive next to a belt-drive, one CLEARLY hears the superior speed stability, which shows that the measurements published mean diddly-squat (and that therefore the tests used to achieve the measurements are ineffective/meaningless). Remember, we have come a long long way, and what appeared to be impossible in the begining is now within our grasp (if only we continue and honestly and without fear report in!), the recognition of the idler-drive system, THE system throughout many decades and into the '60s', as the superior system all along!!

Last night I was invited to the audio abode of a serious collector of vintage euqipment, and among the many experiences there, he played old 78s on a Rek-o-Kut Rondine (which despite serious noise emanating from the hockey puck/idler-wheel and traveling across the room was not audible in mono at all) via a vintage tube/Quad ESL57 system, and this turned out to the THE clearest and most audiophile PRESENT and detailed sound of all!! And what struck me apart from the excellent sound quality was the recognizable absolute speed stability and SLAM of the old Rondine/system (I laughed out loud when I heard it!), in many ways, due to the idler system and the fact than in mono no rumble is audible (only in stereo is this picked up), the sound enjoyed by those music lovers of the '40s and '50s was superior to that enjoyed by audiophiles today (excepting those who have returned to the idler-wheel fold). There's life even in those extremely noisy idlers of the distant past, provided they are used for mono recordings and 78s!

The Garrard is a stunning performer, as is the Lenco, and even the rumbly Rek-o-Kuts in mono!, which proves (and will I hope in future) just how incredibly potent and successful in every area of audiophile interest an LP spun on an idler-wheel turntable is, and so Vive la Idler-Wheel!!!!

Hi All,
The stunning arrival of Jean’s latest endeavor prompted some nostalgic waxings for me last night (never a good ingredient for empiricism). But his post today reminded me that this was not so much about “passing the torch”, as about lighting other torches.
Certainly, “For those who can’t afford the moon,” (Grease-bearing 301), the venerable Lenco continues to be the best value option in getting to the music.

New age Lenco tinkerers, practitioners and theorists have not been sitting idle by their idlers while Jean has been honoring UK ancestry. A score of Rheinderspeter’s redesigned Lenco top plates will soon be on their way to experimenters across Europe and North America (including one for our prime host) . These laser cut steel plates will advance on new design territory in motor isolation and speed linkage, as well as deal a deathblow to the inherent weakness of the Lenco’s stock top plate. And this may be just the first run. I know Mike and I plan to use Peter’s steel plate as a template for hand cutting aluminum ones.

Jean’s listening assessment about the Rek-O-Kut Rondine mirrors conclusions that I have come to face over this and Presto’s design: That their thrust plate bearing motors cannot be tamed enough to quiet transmissions for rumble-free stereo play. Maybe Herculean efforts in motor transplants and idler wheel rebuilds to a more supple composition might work, but I’m not sure.

But there is one mono era American idler still left – The Metzner Starlight – and it continues to show promise. It has a 4-pole inductor motor that is quieter and higher cranking than the Lenco’s. Its hybrid puck drive isolates transmission along the motor/spindle/platter path by the very nature of the puck’s composition – rubber. And we all know well how to isolate transmission in the other direction (motor/plate/tonearm).

After kibitzing with a couple of other DIY Metzner owners on another forum site, it became apparent that we all suffered from a stop-you-in-your-tracks design flaw. All our machines had gross platter wobble because the soft platter spindle sleeves had “egged out” over the years. I suggested that a high performance auto shop might offer a solution with pressing in a new sleeve, machined from a hardened valve guide in a line box. Well one of the guys took this baton and ran with it. He got a cooperate machine shop, run by an older gent who recognized the project for what it was and did the deed for $50. So we press out, press in and press on.

- Mario

Hi all, actually, "stunning" might be too strong a word for my simple maple-veneered plinth, but thanks all the same Mario!! It was Willbewill's Spotmat which made the total effect (and I have a white one too), thanks again Malcolm!!

And I signed on for TWO, not one of Reinderspeter's brilliant new Super Top-plates (thanks again for the enormous and perfectionist efforts Peter), one for two tonearms (I would have loved three!), and one with none, for my long-threatened Lenco-Noll project! Can't wait to get my mitts on those, I'll have to clone myself in order to keep up with projects (not that I need any more, as the current iteration of the Giant Lenco - and Giant Garrard - is so far beyond anybody's ken there are simply no words adequate, excepting perhaps Superkalafregilistic!)....(ex-pee-al-i-do-shus).

Yesterday, my Morch/Decca suddenly snapped into focus, giving my RS-A1/Denon DL-103"E" combo a run for its money where beforehand it was but a pale and sleepy imitation. Don't know if the wiring in the UP-4 finally burned-in, or the Decca cartridge is finally burning in, or if it was the superb ca. 1976 Sony TAE-5450 phono stage (and I mean superb: it equals that in the Mighty ARC SP-8, it's the line-stage where the ARC whips it) which finally warmed up (it always takes a few days with vintage Sony stuff) and which I have wired into the ARC SP-8 aux input via tape outputs (effectively using it as a separate phono stage), or perhaps all of the above! When I received the Morch UP-4 as a part-tradies deal, I saw this beautiful jewel-like gem of a tonearm, saw its very sensible construction (tonearm wands of varying masses to match any cartridge and easily swapped) and I PRAYED to the Audio Gods that it be a killer!! Immediately, it killed the Rega RB-300 for speed and detail (but not for PRESENCE or SLAM), and was also more detailed than the SME V.

But then the RS-A1 came along and suddenly the Morch seemed lacking in energy and vigour (not to mention everything else), and I foresaw I might have to sell it (weeping, the Beauty! the Beauty! the Ease of Swappies!). So today with its flowering I am happy to report this is another Giant-Killer of a tonearm, when one considers the company it can keep ($4k tonearms), AND it can handle Deccas, which is no small feat, and good news, as a Decca Super Gold, when happy, is nigh-unbeatable by any MC in the world for detail, SLAM/dynamics large and small, powerful/fast/slamming bass or even imaging, unless like the Decca it is a Direct Scanning type (this doesn't mean that there aren't MCs or MMs which sound warmer or more romantic, or match it in this area or that). But be aware that a Decca is in an entirely different league than a Denon DL-103 (except gestalt and PRaT, and perhaps a certain naturalness), so that the Denon DL-103"E" can match a happy Decca in such a superb tonearm as the Morch speaks volumes for the capabilities of the RS-A1. But no matter, they both now blow my socks off, time now, to do the final set-up of my Garrard (the Dyna is a loaner) and pick a tonearm-cartridge combo for it, then its a Slammin' Christmas!

Anyway, enjoy your respective idlers all, and to the poor belt-drivers out there I wish you a Merry Idler and a Happy New Ear!

Jean and all,
Remember- FDLFUBD!!!!!!!!!!
friends don't let friends us belt drives.
Have a merry-merry Christmas!

Having actually seen Jean’s luscious Garrard 301, I have to stand by the original assessment that it is, in fact, “stunning” - no overstatement about it.

Our afternoon of listening at Jean’s digs, however, was taken up exclusively with Mr. Red which was quite a treat for me. (While Grant aka gjwAudio1 was there too, these impressions are solely mine and he should weigh in with his own take.)

Well, first the journalist in me was so much reduced by the subjective enjoyment of the session that I failed to objectively keep track of what combo was playing what – i.e. the Morch/Decca or the AS-R1/Denon DL-103“E”. But no matter – as this wasn’t a track by track comparison session to dig out the nuanced differences between the two (on which Jean has already reported) – but an audition where both armed combos were given free range to come “on song” by utilizing the Mr. Red based Lenco as a foundation and springboard.

My initial impression (and this will have to be for both arm combos as I was at a loss to discern the difference) was that this was a level of detail that defied the analog sourcing that I was listening to. This was a “digging out” that went beyond crisp/full frequency response and marched right into the field of quick paced timing and rhythm.
Non-analog descriptors came to mind like “attack & decay” – “tight envelopes” and digital “pace”. It was truly a listening experience that would have had many searching for a hidden SACD player. But if one listened carefully, the absence of truncation and clip allowed for a bloom that could only be analog.

For dessert, our amenable host outfitted the golden Morch Unipivot with the Grado Platinum woody. This produced a lush warmth that I was much more familiar with. Detail wasn’t lost, but was simply upstaged by the richness of what one might call a glorious “music hall” sound. The Grado promptly staked out its own turf in a field that would encompass all large ensemble recordings.

For me, there really wasn’t any issue of supercedence between the cartridge/arm combos. Each claimed its own laurel as an analog retriever. Before this session, my audition exposure to “detailed” retrievers was invariably linked to a “clinical” experience. Jean’s set-ups have changed all that. I love my Grados and someday soon, I’ll go Platinum. But I was so enthralled in what I heard from the D&D twins that I’m glad my Lenco plinth can host two arms.

We also were able to apply and test MuMetal on Grant’s Lenco platter in Jean’s system. This, I would call a qualified success. Success, in that it clearly provided a barrier to EMF induced hum on the Decca. Qualified, in that there was some slight hum in the first ¼” to ½” of play arc. This may have been attributed to:
1) That I had previously hammered out some slight ridging in this area. (Hammering, I would later learn, breaks down Mu shielding properties.)
2) The Canadian winter conspired to hamper a glue set-up temperature for an optimal meld to the platter.
3) Jean’s system was able to pick up a diminished “wrap-around” of EMF that I wasn’t able to pick up on my home system.

In the end, this was a wonderful and an all-around educational experience for me: Plumbing the depths of how this seemingly primordial means of recorded music can be retrieved in a magical way into something so full blown. I know there is a scientific explanation for each step along this analog trail – but somehow I can’t shake the notion that wizardry is somehow involved.

-Mario