Hi Mosin,
Your points are well taken and center in on the crux of the “growth pains” that have been simmering for quite some time on Project Lenco, that being - at what point does innovation, be it simple tweaks or redesign, take away (or add, for that matter) from/to the “signature” sound of the original Lenco? And if we are assured enough by the listening results of our re-designs, that marked improvements can be made with innovations, what weight should be given in homage to the original Swiss essence?
Jean Nantais’ point of keeping it simple for a broad base of plinth builders, who took up his original challenge in this “thread as portal”, certainly had a good deal of validity in spreading mass appeal and maintaining a high degree of momentum which has lasted nearly four years. This philosophy neatly melded with the “collector” contingent, many of who use stock Lenco tonearms and maintain complete reversibility even from mass constrained plinths.
But this portal seems to have pretty much dried up as an induction center, whether that’s because potential takers have been tapped out or seek guidance over at Lenco Lovers which has a registered user base of 550… who knows?
But for some experimenters, it became an issue of “How you going to keep them down on the farm, after they’ve seen innovation”.
The Teres motor aside, the greatest innovation to come Lenco’s way after the wonders of a mass constrained plinth, at least for me, has been Peter Reinder’s custom designed top plate. It’s now in a second “improved” run and attacks what many feel is the Lenco’s weakest link – the thin stamped top plate which was not designed for edge coupling to a plinth and can take a bit of gymnastics with trial and error for successful direct coupling through the platter pan.
This 4mm hunk of laser cut steel affords a much fuller coupling to a solid plinth and makes the issue of tonearm plate cuts moot. Plinth cutouts are vastly simplified – all layers being the same – unless one wants to innovate further.
One of those “one step-further” tweaks that I have attempted using Peter’s plate has been trying to capture and “sink” bearing noise into the plinth. In the next week or so, I should know whether this has any added benefit.
But while we have you here Mosin, what would do (have you done) to redesign the Lenco bearing while keeping the original spindle and platter sleeve?
- Mario
Your points are well taken and center in on the crux of the “growth pains” that have been simmering for quite some time on Project Lenco, that being - at what point does innovation, be it simple tweaks or redesign, take away (or add, for that matter) from/to the “signature” sound of the original Lenco? And if we are assured enough by the listening results of our re-designs, that marked improvements can be made with innovations, what weight should be given in homage to the original Swiss essence?
Jean Nantais’ point of keeping it simple for a broad base of plinth builders, who took up his original challenge in this “thread as portal”, certainly had a good deal of validity in spreading mass appeal and maintaining a high degree of momentum which has lasted nearly four years. This philosophy neatly melded with the “collector” contingent, many of who use stock Lenco tonearms and maintain complete reversibility even from mass constrained plinths.
But this portal seems to have pretty much dried up as an induction center, whether that’s because potential takers have been tapped out or seek guidance over at Lenco Lovers which has a registered user base of 550… who knows?
But for some experimenters, it became an issue of “How you going to keep them down on the farm, after they’ve seen innovation”.
The Teres motor aside, the greatest innovation to come Lenco’s way after the wonders of a mass constrained plinth, at least for me, has been Peter Reinder’s custom designed top plate. It’s now in a second “improved” run and attacks what many feel is the Lenco’s weakest link – the thin stamped top plate which was not designed for edge coupling to a plinth and can take a bit of gymnastics with trial and error for successful direct coupling through the platter pan.
This 4mm hunk of laser cut steel affords a much fuller coupling to a solid plinth and makes the issue of tonearm plate cuts moot. Plinth cutouts are vastly simplified – all layers being the same – unless one wants to innovate further.
One of those “one step-further” tweaks that I have attempted using Peter’s plate has been trying to capture and “sink” bearing noise into the plinth. In the next week or so, I should know whether this has any added benefit.
But while we have you here Mosin, what would do (have you done) to redesign the Lenco bearing while keeping the original spindle and platter sleeve?
- Mario