Hi Ronnie, reminds me of my first Lenco of all, sitting on stilts with just the Rega bolted in the tonearm-hole. Minus the big white brick of course ;-).
Up here I've just finished another Giant Lenco, the Burgundy Bomb, and listening to it with the RS-A1/Denon DL-103"E" I am once again amazed: it's hard to believe ALL Lencos can sound this good, and so before playing a new one I always expect it to be a disappointment, and am always delighted to be proved wrong!!
The instantly-recognized Lenco sound can be summed up in two words: "Unstoppable" and "Liquid". There is an inevitable POWER to the sound of the Lenco, a sort of juggernaut-type unstoppable sound - which is speed stability SO potent it is actually audible - allied to an utterly fluid and ultra-finely-grained smoothness which is purely liquid. As often written, like the aural equivalent of the Amazon in full flood: Unstoppable, and liquid. Add in ultra-accurate and razor-sharp transients, unbelievable amounts of detail, unmatched gestalt, ultra-deep and limitless and TIGHT bass, limitless dynamics, a soundstage as wide and deep as the Pacific, and you have the case of the Mighty Lenco: the turntable which is SO unbelievably good that even after three years of total conversions - and gaining in frequency, and replacing pricier and pricier belt-drives and yes, DDs - witnesses to the Lenco/Idler Phenomenon cannot believe it is for real.
In fact, I've thought about this often: if the Lenco were not quite as good as it is, acceptance of its Greatness would actually likely be more advanced than it is today. But so incredibly, unbelievably good is the Lenco (and so proving the case of the Idler-Wheel Potency), that this leads to strong (but accurate) language which leads onlookers to dismiss it as wishful thinking. Right now Eurythmics "Touch" is playing, and NEVER have I heard it hit with such transient alacrity/agility/speed/slam, backed up by POWER and PRaT which makes one get up and dance, and shiver and shake uncontrollably...yes: the Kundalini Effect!!!! Dismiss as hyperbole you watchers out there, and deny yourselves what it is you all claim to be seeking.
Cheap to buy a Lenco, simply sit it up on stalks like Ronnie or on bricks like Palmnell long ago, and find out just where your pricey overengineered (and underperforming, as you would find out) belt-drive rates!!! I just received an e-mail from a group of fellows who, reading the 6moons preview, set up a Lenco - unmodded, untweaked, unrestored - and were utterly blown away when they set it up against a pricey belt-drive, which shall remain unnamed for now.
Why is the Lenco so good? There is a logical reason: speed stability. That's it. It demonstrates just how bad belt-drives are, and just how audible the complex circuitry in DDs are. Of the three systems, the idler - which was built and developed specifically to combat Stylus Force Drag (the braking action of the stylus in the groove) - is the superior one. Decades of development of what was a good idea to begin with (as opposed to belt-drive, which was a bad idea to begin with), which is today continuing with the ongoing Idler Revolution!!
The Lenco especially relies to a large extent on pure physical fluid momentum to achieve its particular form of speed stability: the flywheel platter (much more of a flywheel than any other idler ever made), coupled delicately to its vertical (and very thin and accurate) wheel which does not pull or push the platter to either side, leaving the platter to spin like a top with an inexhaustible source of energy, the 1800-rpm cogless motor. Platter-motor, motor-platter, a closed system which, once again, utterly ignores the existence of stylus force drag, and at the same time provides an extremely sophisticated and unstoppable 33 1/3 RPM.
Speed stability figures for belt-drives are evidently averaged out, as are those of DDs as comparison to Lencos makes ultra-evident. Where the Lencos and other large idlers score is down down down to the micro level. Current speed stability figures are like using rulers in which the smallest graduations are centimeters to measure millimeters. The incredible musical prowess of the Lencos demonstrates that the human ear is MORE sensitive to speed instabilities at the micro/(millimeter)-level where idlers rule than at the macro level where, perhaps (think loaded dice and the three types of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics), high-mass belt-drives achieve better figures, when averaged out. Where's my proof you ask? My proof is this: listen to a Lenco, and Dare to Compare.
While Lencos sitting on bricks and perched on stilts sound great, what mass brings to the party is this: greater extension at both frequency extremes, more silence, more detail, more dynamics and slam, and the reason for all this is partly increased speed stability. Yes, being nailed to a very large plinth prevents the Lenco from moving however minutely, and concentrates all the Lenco energies on its amazing Mill: the closed-system platter-motor motor-platter, with the vertical wheel delicately and unintrusively acting as Liaison.
All these things will be proven with time, the Great Audio Ladder is being climbed, the Audio Gods are with us!! In the meantime, enjoy your Lencos and other idlers all!!
