Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

My ode to the great bulk degausser was its possible role in curing my Rega 300 of mistracking a year or so back. After removing the hematite slug from the Rega’s anti-skate enclosure, I exposed the entire stub end to lengthy zaps from my demagger. Because I had fiddled with a couple of other variables at the time (including readjusting the Cardas wire at the downturn), I can’t say for certain that the degausser negated some magnetic charge that this Rega might have picked up from some improper storage somewhere (next to some huge speaker magnet?). But I’m open to the possibility that it might have taken care of the problem.

A few words in remembrance of the passing of the Athena AS series speakers, a modern design “budget” speaker that dared to move air with the “Big Boys” costing four times as much. They are gone - vanished from just about every supplier. Athena Technologies, along with a two other Canadian speaker manufacturers under the API umbrella were taken over by the Klipsh Group some 15 months ago. The AS line (Audition Series) was allowed to deplete without replenishment. The “replacement” for Athena’s top-of-the line AS-F2 floorstanders is the LS-500 (LS=Lower Standards?). Here are the specs for comparison:
AS-F2: 1” Teteron dome tweeter; Dual 8" Injection Molded Polypropylene with Rubber Surround; Front-firing bass reflex port; Sensitivity @ 93dbs; Frequency Response 35Hz-20kHz. Weight 51 lbs.
LS-500: 1” aluminum dome tweeter; Dual 6 1/2" Composite Fiberglas™ Cones; Sensitivity @ 90dbs: Frequency Response 30Hz-20kHz. Weight 32 lbs.

When an old established speaker company, buys up a young upstart and eviscerates its flagship product line, it can be said to be uncompetitive, if not predatory. To be fair, I have not auditioned the new LS-500, and so I cannot lay these pejorative claims at Klipsh’s doorstep. However, the specs do raise an eyebrow, and I would encourage folks to audition Klipsh’s replacement offerings and write to the company with their views. This goes for fans of Mirage and Energy speakers as well. Canada has earned too great a reputation in speaker manufacturing to watch it begin to go asunder without comment.

- Mario

Hi RFG, thanks for the input!! Haven't read a discovery post like this one for a long time now, I remember when the original thread was punctuated with just such regular reports from new converts, ah those were the days when nobody but an intrepid few dared try or believe! Kudos to you for giving it a go! Of course, being an "extremist" ;-), I will continue to say that the Lenco, maximized (there are Lencos and there are LENCOS), will outperform the best currently available, especially in that sense of rightness you write about, and if it ain't about rightness, then what is it about?!? Great post.

One recipient of one of my Giant Direct Coupled Glass-Reinforced Lencos has recently reported a big improvement in sound by substituting Stillpoints for my usual cheap-but-effective 3/8"/16 carriage bolts solution. Will have to see just how much more we can continue to squeeze out of these Mighty Machines!!

On the budget front, great news ot report: my Satin M-117 removeable-stylus HO MC (yes!!!! weird cartridge!), from which I always heard the potential for Great Things (about $200 when available, no longer made, rare as hen's teeth), when matched to my own rewired $200 Sonus tonearm (usual Cardas/Petra mix), has matched, or close to, the Mighty JMW 10.5/Ortofon Jubilee combo!! The Satin, though plastic, is extremely heavy, and who knew that this Beast would sound so great on an ultra low-mass unipivot?!? But, FINALLY, bass to match that of the Denon (Satin always being fuzzy in the bass before), allied to close to the detail of the Ortofon (and this with a conical tip!!), and with a HUGE dose of Magic. Obviously the Satin was also a high-compliance cartridge, what an oddball. But its sound is SO magical, even before when the bass was weak (on heavier tonearms), that I always thought it might have the legendary alnico magnets in its engine. If anyone knows anything about the Satin range of cartridges, please report to this thread!! Anyway, the point being, that at the budget/vintage point, it is possible by fortuitous matching to find combos that can duke it out with the current extreme/$$$ High End. Tonight I try out the MAS 282/Grado Reference Master to see how that works out, the MAS itself being one ingredient in the lost lamented days of the Kundfalini Effect in my living room.

On another budget front, I just picked up the Big Brothers to the fab Yamaha 625s I used to rave about back in the days of the Kundalini Effect (along with the MAS/Grado Platinum), the Yamaha NS-690s. These speakers also have the ability to raise the hairs on the body, and I sense soon a return to the Kundalini Effect. The 600 line of Yamaha speakers belonged to the famed NS-1000 line, and are extremely well-built, with the heftiest drivers I've so far encountered (with massive magnets and massive die-cast metal face plates and baskets, and extensive bracing and HUGE crossover components), and the 690 was the top model before the NS-1000 and variants, and in fact has more bass, going down to 40 Hz vs only 55 Hz for the NS-1000s (studio monitors), so some might prefer the greater richness of the NS-690s. The NS-690 has a large dome midrange driver, and a 12" paper woofer in massive basket, being an acoustic suspension design. Gawd these speakers are musical!! And I'm STILL astounded that the little shoe-box Sony amps from the '60s can drive these difficult acoustic suspension designs so easily, while today it takes the likes of Bryston and so on to do the same thing, but with less swing!!!

And speaking of musical/magical speakers, I had written a while back about the Klipsch takeover of the Athena line of fabulously musical speakers. So Mario, they've begun to water down their inherent Musical Greatness have they?!? AND the truly great Mirage line, BOO-HOO. As a testimonial I'll dig out my Athena SP-3s and set them up again and write them up. I also know where to find a lingering pair of new RT-5s and RT-9s, should haste me over there soon and get them, as the RTS-5s were SO musical I rarely hit the sack before 1 am, unable to leave the soundroom!! The RTS-5 were just one model up from the famed RRTS-3s which Harry Pearson fell in love with and regularly wrote up back in the day.

Anyway, have fun all, and don't hesitate to join the growing Lenco Army, which marches with such perfect rhythm and timing and POWER :-). I can't believe that after years of successes, conversions, and such a deep effect on the analogue industry and the analogue landscape, that the cost of Lencos still remains extremely low relative to the pricier Garrards and EMTS!! But good news to all the budding and potential Lenco-philes, as economic conditions are about the same as they were back four years ago (except the days of $25 Decca tonearms are over) when I threw down the gauntlet and dared the world to take the Lenco Challenge (but now we know much more about how to maximize these beasts and extract much more!!!), back when the Lenco was considered the WORST turntable in the world and I was considered insane (this, at least, hasn't changed ;-))! Vive la Lenco, Vive la Idler Wheel, Endless Rightness (thanks RFG)!!

Hi all, just a reiteration of a previous rave on piece of vintage audio: the fabulous MAS 282 tonearm!! After playing with the Sonus and the Audio Technica ATP-12, both of which came close to the JMW-10.5/Ortofn Jubilee combo, I mounted the MAS and set my Grado Woody up on that. Once again this combo SLAMMED, with bass which might in fact be more powerful than the fab JMW/Jubilee combo (and even the high-end experts agree the Jubilee may have the best bass in the business), and which in terms of dynamics is absolutely rivetting, along with the sense of togetherness/gestalt and PRaT. But then I set up the Ortofon M15E Super MM (the leading and first cartridge in the VMS range, though VMS is not in the moniker), which seemed to surpass even the Grado Statement Master for resolution, if not for the Wowie-Zowie Decca-like sense of excitement. In fact, the MAS/M15 combo came closest so far to the JMW/Jubilee combo in terms of detail/resolution/transparency, surpassing even the Mighty RS-A1 Denon DL-103E combo!!! I used a live recording of Carmen MacRae, and only the JMW/Ortofon and MAS/Ortofon M15E/or MAS/Grado managed to resolve the crowd and associated back-stage and stage noises (recorded in a club).

What's truly interesting is that the MAS uses a technique patented by none other than Lenco: the rubber-decoupled counterweight end-stub, though done to a higher and more solid standard than that which came with the Lenco L782 and L75s. Obviously, the whole device is to a higher standard than the Lenco tonearms. Having done some research as to why this arm was so good, I discovered the design was done by the designer of the Linn tonearms, Mr. Ito, whose specialty was most specifically bearings, and the MAS bearings are superb. Ito gave his name the Ittok and the Akito tonearms. Now, these arms are alternately respected and dismissed, and perhaps the MAS tonerarm is a bit of a fortuitous luck, being the result of combining a low-mass (but very stiff and strong arrangement, apparently a sturdy graphite tonearm tube and sturdy/strong plastic headshell) with the Lenco's decoupled counterweight design, the bearings doing the last bit to extract even better detail than the unipivot Sonus, which should in fact be borderline impossible (especially considering the Sonus is rewired with my favourite Cardas/Petra combo, soldered, while the MAS has the original internal wiring and removable headshell, and so should be at a disadvantage)!!

Back when I had tracked down a case of fifty, but in the end I only found and sold a few, but those who have these need to replace the crappy tonearm cable which comes with them and substitute something better, and try quality MMs with them. To reiterate, so far the biggest surprise in vintage tonearms I have experienced are these MAS 282 tonearms!

Next up, the Rega on an Ipe tonearm board (a very heavy exotic wood I'm hoping will surpass my fave walnut and give the Rega a leg up) and the lovely Athena Technologies SP-3 three-way top-of-the-line speakers (but still budget ;-), if unavailable). Have fun all!

"What's truly interesting is that the MAS uses a technique patented by none other than Lenco: the rubber-decoupled counterweight end-stub"
Sorry John, no rubber in Lenco tonearm end-stub, only a piano wire that connects it to the main wand.....

Cheers,
François.

Thanks for your input Francois, it's been a looooonnnggg time since I played with a Lenco tonearm, the only one I ever rewired was back in '92 when I first discovered the Idler, then found my first Mighty Lenco!! That tonearm I also modified by gluing a better headshell in the front, with epoxy-resin (I found one which fit snuggly into the drilled-out end), and via advertising at the back of British audio mags found the address of Technical & General for new armblocks. The end result was quite good as I recall.

So I guess the MAS tonearm is excellent for reasons all its own ;-). On another budget front, I just cleaned up a Sony 1130 integrated, truly a work of engineering art with matched capacitors and so forth, and it came within a hair of matching the top-of-the-line Sony 2000F preamp/TA-3140F combo which is my current reference!! Lots o fpower too for those looking for audiophile sound and Party Punch on a budget!! Weighs a ton. Have fun all, want to check out my Piezo YM-308 MKII next :-).