2. analog
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Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

“For those who want the moon but can't afford it or those who can afford it but like to have fun and work with their hands, I'm willing to give out a recipe for a true high-end 'table which is easy to do, and fun to make as sky's the limit on design/creativity! The cost of materials, including 'table, is roughly $200 (depending, more or less), and add to that a Rega tonearm. The results are astonishing. I'll even tell/show you how to make chipboard look like marble and fool and impress all your friends. If there's interest I'll get on with this project, if not, I'll just continue making them in my basement. The next one I make will have a Corian top and have a zebra stripe pattern! Fun! Any takers?”

The Lead in “Da Thread” as posted by Johnnantais - 2-01-04

Let the saga continue. Sail on, oh ships of Lenco!
mario_b
oregon
828 posts
 
Got to chime in-
Hi Jean, TIA, Bill, 04rdking,

Hi TIA: the answer to the first question is how much is it worth to you? Considering that just sitting on bricks with a Rega stuck in the hole the Lenco easily bested a fully-tricked-out Linn LP12, and with not much more than that a VPI TNT (as reported in early days on the first version of this thread which can be downloaded on Lenco Lovers)

I'd like to add 2 others tables that were bested by a crappy old L75, original arm, sitting on bricks before full rebuild and custom plinth-
Nottingham Hyperspace
Well Tempered

Remember: friends don't let friends use belt drives!
lewm
13,294 posts
 
I suppose I'll get slammed for writing this, but I have had a lot of exposure for the last 10 years to my friend's Well Tempered Reference table and arm, and I find nothing there to yearn for. The sound is invariably overdamped and unexciting. And mounting a cartridge on the WT tonearm is a nightmare such that I noticed on a recent visit that my friend has given up trying to mount a Dynavector 17D3, after buying a Feickert protractor for that sole task. The headshell has round holes rather than slots, so the only way to adjust overhang is by loosening the screw that binds the vertical pivot shaft which permits rotation of the tonearm at its base. Problem is that the screw is located in a deep recess under the chassis; it's near impossible to get overhang correct and then tighten that screw without destroying the set-up. I know this is irrelevant to the thread, but I am upset about it on behalf of my friend.
bornin50
32 posts
 
Lewm, we share your empathy :) Lenco takes us from the legacy hifi hairshirt stance of 'no pain no gain', to NO PAIN ALL GAIN. It is too good to be true innit? ;)
lewm
13,294 posts
 
Well, we're using the Lenco chassis, and most of us are not using the Lenco tonearm and plinth, so it's not really a fair comparison to the WTR. But by any standards, the WTR w/tonearm is very difficult to work with if one wants to change cartridges. Also, the sonics don't hold a candle to any Lenco I've heard. In fairness, the WTR may have had a design upgrade in the 10 or more years since my friend bought his. Current models may be easier to use. I do think that the basic table is a very interesting, even brilliant, design among belt-drives. It's the tonearm that I dislike. And the design is such that without modifying the table one could not hope to use any other tonearm with it, except maybe an RS-A1. As long as I'm posting here and to get back to the topic, has anyone heard a Lenco in a slate plinth?
daiwok
3 posts
 
Yes - take a look at Lenco Lovers - PTP2 Slate. I am the culprit - knock the socks off my 85lb plinth. While it is in prototype stage, it already wins on sonics, refinement, air and everyting else you like to talk about. Just no going back.

David
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