Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

Has anyone tried a power conditioner with adjustable voltage (something like a PS Audio Powerplant) to lower incoming line voltage? I read somewhere that this was a very effective addition; lowering voltage = lower motor noise+ better timing stability...... THis seems like basically the same thing as the Loricraft PSU. Incedentally, I cannot get a response from Loricraft regarding their products... even with repeated atempts.

Thanks

Chris

PS another thought; has anyone ever experiment with a wooden platters?

Yes I use a power conditioned Variac into a Lenco.Firstly I have a power conditioning box that the preamps and turntable plug into.Before the turntable I have the Variac which is set for 220v the rating of the Lenco motor and the Variac goes into the power conditioning unit,turntable into the Variac.I haven't made direct comparisons because it is too clumsy to change around all the time but it seems to be fine.

Anybody try aftermarket powercords on their Lenco's ?? I'm having Jean build me a Giant Plinth Lenco and am thinking about having him install an IEC to try various P.C.s. Would like to hear from people who have ACTUALLY TRIED AFTERMARKET POWERCORDS ON THEIR LENCOS. The theoretical arguments are interesting, but non-conclusive.

Just a reminder to budding DIYers and the curious, though it's true that a Lenco can be brought to unimaginable (and as-yet unmeasured) heights by going to various extremes, let's not forget that the success of the original thread was due to the Mighty Lenco's amazing sound quality, even in humble - or even NO - plinth. AND no tweaks or even lubrication!! In the beginnings of the original thread, though we laboured to build various [what at the time we thought] heavy CLD plinths, in imitation of the Garrard plinths the Japanese were then building, one fellow, owner of a fully-tricked-out Linn LP12/Koetsu set-up, posted his experiences with Lenco with no plinth at all, with Rega tonearm in original hole, with all the geometric and VTA inaccuracies this entailed:

"This evening is the first chance I have had to play with the beastie. I found (it took me a little while) the Origin Live modified Rega 250 that I bought two years ago intending to mount on an Empire 208 if I ever found one. I didn't. I also found my little used Denon 103D. An hour later we were ready to go. No plinth. I precariously balanced the Goldring on two lead shot filled plywood boxes that I made ages ago to set a pair of Carver Amazing speakers on. The speakers are long gone, but the heavy little boxes thankfully remain. Albert I don't know what TT you had before the Goldring, but my expectations were certainly not high since I have a heavily modified Linn LP 12 with an Ittok arm and Koetsu Black cartridge. I have to say that the Goldring with the lesser cartridge (the Denon 103D at $225, while a very impressive cartridge is no match for the $1,500 Koetsu), unravelled the music and separated instruments better than the Linn with the Koetsu. At first I thought that was hearing over-simplification of passages, but when I started hearing things in the foreground that were either distant on the Linn or very subdued, I knew this was not the case. Separation of lead and backing vocals and clear enunciation of words seemed better on the Goldring. I think I have to switch the Ittok and Koetsu to the Goldring to be completely fair. But then I think that there would be an even greater bias towards the Goldring."

"I continue to be impressed by this TT - even without a plinth - which I know will improve everything. It's subtle for the most part and reveals everything with a very light touch, never screaming "look at all this detail". But when there are massive dynamic swings it is scary. For the ultimate test of just how scary, play "No Pasaran" from Joe Jackson's 1987 LP "Will Power". It will make you leap out of your pants. Also even in it's plinthless state it sails through those classic 'test' tracks like "Sad Old Red" by Simply Red and "Ride Across The River" by Dire Straits - both tough tests of the ability of a system to reproduce bass that stops and starts on a dime with no overhang."

"I am a long time Linnie. I have own LP 12's for 28 years. My current Linn has an Origin Live DC motor and a Cetech carbon fibre subchassis. On a whim I bought a GL 75 and put an Origin Live modded Rega 250 and my beloved Koetsu Black on it. Holy shit, better bass, much better leading-edge dynamics and pretty remarkable imaging. This is all without a plinth. I'm just resting this beast on two lead-filled boxes. I am about to make a decent plinth and see where it goes."

"I STILL haven't built a plinth for my GL 75, OL Rega, Koetsu Black. But I'm playing it all the time. And I get more impressed with every LP. I should mention that I went from thin, model train oil to Mobil 1 grease and then a combination of the last two. My last choice seems to be the best. When I eventually get around to building the plinth it will be on this site. Just listened to Dire Straits' "Brothers In Arms" and Little Feat "The Last Record Album". I'm hearing things that were not there AT ALL on the Linn. Buggeration. Is that possible?"

Now over the duration of the original thread I emphasized fun, and posted my own shoddy plinths for all to see - which are still up there and viewable (after all its' about sound quality and musical magic, not ultimate aesthetics), I have done nothing I am ashamed of and much I am proud of, including the Canadian Rustic ;-)! - so everyone from the totally inept and inexperienced to the better-trained would be encouraged to join in and see what all the fuss was about. I asked the more talented among us to continue to encourage the neophyte and untalented, and downplay their own efforts, as I knew that if I did not strive to prevent it, it would become a pissing contest, and the thread would die, and instead of the joy it should have brought, bring instead ugliness and pettiness.

So, now the original thread is dead and this but its "baby", let's not forget the fun component, and please do not believe the various forms of poison being spread about on this topic, a phenomenon which is inevitable considering the success (with its concomitant envy and other base and destructive human feelings) of the original thread and its intent, to have both the Lencos and idler-wheel drives in general recognized as serious, viable high-end 'tables.

The Lenco is indeed Mighty with nothing but a Rega tonearm unceremoniously plopped into the original hole, sitting on bricks, and mounted with your cartridge of choice. It is not true that it will cost you a "bundle" to achieve true high-end performance, it is not true that you need endless talent, materials and time (though it will improve performance) to achieve this. What IS true, is that with the purchase of a Lenco, some bricks, some solvents, cleaners and lubricants (Mobil 1 products), and some damping material, and a humble tonearm at a couple of hundred bucks, you can achieve sound quality that in audiophile terms can duke it out with $5K turntables, and which in musical terms (i.e. PRaT, gestalt, harmony) cannot, I think be outmatched by anything, at any price, and all this, STILL, for roughly $500 total or, depending on your luck, less.

So let's remember all, that though, indeed, I DO believe the idler-wheel system is the best of all systems, and continue my activities in proving this point/wait for the evident evidence to be absorbed, that ALL efforts should be encouraged and welcomed, and that those neophytes out there should not look at the tremendous aesthetic and complex efforts being made out there and be cowed, and should instead meditate on the Case of the Fully-Tricked-Out Linn LP12 owner. Don't get carried away with the thought that you will get the One Ultimate Turntable of all Time, as evidently even those who rebuild Lencos achieve varying degrees of success, and likely at some future point some new thing will come along to seriously boost its performance: things are not static. So do what is in your power to do, whether it be four bricks or complex woodwork, and be at peace: the Lenco will NOT disappoint, regardless. Have fun, and be proud of your bricks ferchrissakes (sorry, M.)!!!

And those sitting on the sidelines: what have you got to lose?!? The original thread was heading towards 4000 posts and had lasted nigh-on three years, not because the Lenco was mediocre or questionable, but because it was unbelievably good. And Ay, There's The Rub. The Lenco is so literally unbelievably good, that all who read accounts of it believe it MUST be a case of hyperbole and exaggeration, and so dismiss it, despite 3,700 posts before it was deleted (the longest thread in audio history at the time the delete button was hit), and 3 years of success, and more, counting this new spin-off. So, take the hint, start using your heads, and get ye out and buy a Lenco, and achieve what you are seeking at a budget price. What have you got to lose? And more to the point, what might you gain?!? While Garrard-ers on other forums gaze longingly and with awe upon the Impressive and Legendary EMTs, Lencos are out there, in largely original trim but for massive plinths, casually and with no sweat outperforming them. Who knows, like me, you might find yourselves developing some woodworking skills! Though, to confess I DO miss the days when I had fun with creative and crazy designs (as a substitute to tools and talent) and spray-paint from Canadian Tire, sigh, and fun and sound quality (i.e. MUSICALITY and not audiophile detail) counted, and not aesthetics. Think I'll go re-set-up my Canadian Rustic, I'll NEVER let it go ;-).

This is so true about the stock Lenco’s ability to engrave its bold presence in our listening rooms. So much so, that early on in the original thread there were quite a few reports of procrastination because of it. Many of these Lenco pioneers were so smitten with the stock “iron fist in velvet glove” treatment to music retrieval, that some plinth builds languished for awhile. It was as if Ulysses Nantais had neglected to cover the ears of his crew to these seductive sirens songs. There were grumblings among the men - “Can it really get any better than this?”

Well, of course, time went on - plinth builds proceeded and the answer to those early grumblings was a resounding, “yes!”

My confession for today is that while I promptly sank a Lenco L-75 into a mass, constrained plinth - complete with direct coupling and two tonearms, I have another Lenco – a BP L-61 - that has been on stilts for nearly two years in my basement workshop system. It was sent to me as a trash unit for parts. I cleaned & lubed all the proscribed workings: Took an unruly, noisy motor and made it quiet: Got a wonderful the idler tire rebuild for $25: Reaffixed a broken idler arm anchor to the speed adjustment sled.

The tonearm was replaced with a Sonus Formula IV unipivot that was a perfect fit for the Bogen/Presto placed armhole. The Sonus, a longer tube version of the Mayware, sports a Shure V15Vxmr (of which the replacement styli buy-up and hording seems complete and criminal). A modest Marantz 2230 receiver drives a pair of Rectilinear speakers of unknown model designation. The music all this produces is so enthralling, that it seems vastly out-of-place for my humble basement.

There are plinth plans for this L-61. The marble for the outer shell that will envelope a traditional mdf/birch-ply sandwich, has already been dimensionally cut. Large, internal borings and epoxy fills to the inside of the 7/8” marble shell will be my attempt to break up any potential resonance from the marble.

Those are the plans anyway - which continue to languish amidst the siren songs of this stilted Lenco.

- Mario