Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

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

It was remiss of me to neglect the comments of my wife, JoAnn, who had a chance to listen to Jean’s Mr. Red for about 15 minutes. She has asked me to post this in addendum:
“Everything was so clear. Each instrument stood both separately and in harmony - like a chord where each note can be distinguished. It was a wonderful sound.”
JoAnn, I should add, has become quite adept at spinning vinyl on both my manual Lencos as well as threading up tapes. She rarely plays a CD if there is an analog alternative and acknowledges the “Living Presence” has grown on her. When I prodded recently whether she might be another HoltyHelen in the making, she demurred. “You build it and I will listen.”