Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

Lewm,

It's quite possible we may be left with a "Who was that Masked Man?" situation with Mosin.

But he did leave this part reveal about the "Backstage Pass" over at Lenco Lovers yesterday:

Andy,
Thanks for the kind remarks. I certainly appreciate them, and I share your pain for having too many projects, but not enough time.

My turntable started as a Bogen B61 which is the US equivalent of an older Lenco model. I selected it because the metal was thicker, and for no other reason. However, as the project progressed, more and more of the original turntable began to disappear. Soon, almost all was gone, and everything that remained was seriously modified. Most was dispensed with, altogether.

The linkage, for example, became a single articulated assembly which serves as a turn-on lever for the motor, and also engages the idler. The Lenco idler was completely scrapped in favor of a scratch-built assembly. The spindle and its bearing assembly were also severely modified to reduce noise, and to accommodate a new platter arrangement. The platter is a combination of part of the original, but with the addition of rubber sides and a non-compliant top. There is no mat, and while I prefer a lightweight clamp, the arrangement plays fine without one. My primary goal was to make a nice Lenco turntable that avoided the issue of VTA with the cutoff top plate corner, etc., but I went wild, and designed a tonearm module that can be quickly replaced with other ones without the fuss of alignment and other setup steps. The plinth is Baltic birch, but with a few strategically placed damping materials that work in conjunction with the turntable's integrated isolation platform. The bottom platform is not attached to the top, but the top sits on three pucks made from a slightly compliant extruded material, and the platform itself has four adjustable feet. All the horizontal sides are clad with a thin layer of black acrylic, but the sides are acrylic paint that was precisely matched to blend with the top and other horizontal surfaces. Those surfaces, all four, were rubbed to match the adjacent paint. The isolation platform is tuned to the resonances of the turntable, as best I could without sensitive measuring devices, and it is made from seven different materials. Because I like unipivot tonearms, I wanted a quick way to level the turntable. I thought level vials set into the top would be nicer than the typical bubble level. The yellow color added a nice contrast, and they are easily read. I am really happy with how that idea turned out. The light is powered by 3V LEDs that get their power from an external wall wart type power supply. That's what the additional connector is for on back of the plinth. The graphics are silver when the turntable is off, and blue when it is on. Internal mirrors diffuse the light. I hope I have covered everything.

Regards,
mosin

Needless to say, there's a full-court press going on over there to get more information. I'm not so sure it will be forthcoming.

I have growing sympathy for Win's (Mosin) predicament. On the one hand, he probably is justifiably proud of his miraculous accomplishment and wants to share that part of it, for the pats on the back he so richly deserves. Who wouldn’t? On the other hand, revealing too much may open up areas to an uncontrolled collective he deems proprietary to his design. Adding to this is his history with Jean Nantais – that rightly or wrongly he feels has been a rip. Damn me for being a fence sitter on this – but that’s an area to be settled (if ever) between the two of them.

But after a lot of re-reading and reflection, I must come down off the fence on this. Jean’s 8-10-07 post from Jerusalem was baiting and spoiling for a fight – and he got it. It would seem to me that one can’t refer to groups of people as tree-dwelling, feces-slinging Cretins, in addition to other disparaging remarks, and not expect to be venomously attacked. Our Kiosk is public, with no one-way filter. What goes around, comes around.

I’ll not ref one of those showdowns again.

- Viva Pacem
- Mario

I’ll not ref one of those showdowns again.

Wise and prudent choice, Mario.

Thanks for the post, Mario. Mosin actually clears up a lot of my questions in the context of the paragraphs you quoted. Thanks also to Mosin.

Hello all. Not posted here for a while, but feel the need after enjoying the wonderful lack of logic and misunderstanding and resulting strange assertions that follow jean's posts. I'm not sure about "feces-slinging" (i hope he did say that somewhere) but am sure of:
"With all the negativities so far in this trip (relating to the Lenco, the trip itself a fabulous adventure), it's no surprise the Yahoos, baboons and hyenas on VA continue to sling mud and deny the evidence - as all good Yahoos do - of three years and more of Mighty Lenco success"
I love jean's writing style, and accept the sentiment i think its written in. Jean has never said he is the inventor of anything, more the discoverer. He is happy for others to have discovered before him, and would doubtless praise Mosin's stunning player with its lenco motor. If you are in doubt as to what jean meant by "discover" when there are obviously more than one meaning, then I suggest you do not jump to potentially embarressing conclusions, but ASK HIM. he is always honest, courtious and erudite in reply, both privately and publically, as far as I know from being involved in both threads from near the beginning. he has also had i think many venomous private emails for every public one, so his occasional loss of calm must be seen in this context.

To right off Jean and others implimentation of the lenco and say your modern expensive deck is so much better without seemingly having heard it is frankly laughable. It also misses jean's very point of making the lenco mods simple so many could try them. The fact that they have turned out so well is wonderful for all of us. All my audiophile friends (some with extraodinarily knowledge) still laugh at me re the lenco NOT HAVING HEARD IT. however, Jean is right to say that a highly regarded EMT owner has admitted his Lenco is better, and I remember clearly Albert Porter did say on the origional thread that the lenco pre direct coupling and heavier plinths was close to his Walker and in some respects bettered it, with an inferior arm and cartridge! My Lenco outsmarted my Garrard 401 (though Jean says for him they are too close to call) and he was very aware, as I remember, of people like Shindo in Japan doing similar things before he discovered them.

Now what jean does not like, as far as i can tell, is people having blind prejudice, and judging with no evidence. In this way, he says, they are ape-like. I see this, if anything, as a slur on our leaf-eating friends, who may indeed be more intelligent than certain members of the audiophile community when the word Lenco is breathed. I can kind of understand this because i have had rather large prejudices based on limited experience, and am still learning the value of synergy.

Furthermore, jean has tirelessly and generously shared all his discoveries in vintage gear, some of which i have followed and found him to be totally accurate on. The sony V-fets smoked my leak tl12+'s, and sell on ebay for $70-$80 still! the RB300 rewired with TWL's mod equalled my Origin Live Silver. The Denon 103 is used by some of the industry's giants, and suddenly he is in very good company saying for 3 years that vintage mm's can equal modern expensive mc's. Raul used to get a lot of flack too re his dislike of stepups for mc's, until he introduced his preamp and met many of this community's high fliers who found him, like jean, to be an enthusiastic, nice and extremely knowlegable person. Suddenly people realised he has a wealth of knowledge (and gear!). And what's he saying now - that for him vintage mm's equal expensive mc's. His thread is fascinating, and like jean, he has obviously put in huge amounts of time. Yes, the Empire mm at $70 is almost as good as the Allert (sorry for mispelling) and yes he does own the Allert (and many others).

So to end my longest ever rant, this has been from the beginning the friendliest and most welcoming long term thread that i have been part of, mostly because of jean and a few others. So please dont try and spoil it as some have with your misquotes, missunderstands, or judgements of him without experience of what he is talking obout or being willing to even try it. Dont be one of those people. take Jean in the good spirit he obviously tries to share, enjoy his journeys and take what you want from it. Isnt it so amazingly cool that a "lousy" deck that still goes in the UK for $100 can approach with head held high one of the most expensive decks ever made! Isnt hifi addictively nuts, and why have i got bids on 16 bits of kit on epay right now?

mosin, your deck is absolutely amazing, and thats just the photos!

Good luck with customs jean. I have been looking forward to seeing how Srajan gets on with you and the Lenco, specially as he soes not seem to be a turntable man at all so far. It would be a shame for everyone, and specially you with the expense and work in getting there if it didnt happen.

Thanks Gilbodavid. My sentiments entirely.
Jean has enhanced our audio experience in numerous ways.
(Seems it's the same folks posting negative, non-productive comments which would be more appropriate in a gossip column.)