Sorry for the late response to your questions B & G--I've been out of town.
Barbapappa--The 78 was an all automatic unit when purchased from the dude in Peru, if you use it as is. I didn't want the arm as it is not very nice and I already owned a much superior Origin Live Silver II arm for years. I'm not saying the OL is the current greatest arm at it's price on the planet, but it's superior by some distance to the Lenco arm. I had to figure out what had to go on the 78 in regards to all the automation on the arm without messing with the on-off button functions and drive mechanisms of the turntable itself. There is that part in dealing with the auto portions of the tonearm that you don't have to deal with on the 75--otherwise, they are equal in the amount of work needed to restore them to Jean Nantais' recommendations. They are also slightly different from my perspective--no PTP used in what/where you have to carve out under the platter in the 10-layered 100 lb. plinth (not more work either way, just different in location. So a 75, without the PTP, like mine, could not just drop in an identically prepared 78 plinth as a drop-in replacement w/o carving and drilling out different areas in that wood plinth. If you were willing to figure out what had to be drilled/cut out to accommodate the different location of the 78's undersides vs. the 75's, you could make it work eventually. They will sound equally good--they are the same quality in all other ways.
Gilles,
The Simone Lucchetti idler wheel is a beautifully CNC cut high quality aluminum idler wheel with 2 sets of different rubber tires with 2 pairs of each included. One pair of the rubber tires has a thinner profile and the rubber is slightly more dense--the rubber on the other pair is fatter and slightly more cushy (slightly is the key word here). I really haven't done a lot of AB comparisons yet as I just bought back my VMPS RM40 speakers I sold about 9 months ago. They are my idea of affordable perfection and just replaced a very good speaker in my system--one that others may even like better if they have different preferences--no contest to me, however. Too much info, but I didn't AB the wheel the Lenco comes with yet to the SL wheel. On looks alone, the SL wheel is beautiful with nothing less than perfection it how it spins without ANY even slight visable to the eye lack of trueness as it turns. My metal Lenco idler had a very slight out of true point while turning. As to how they work in the act of turning the platter, I'd say no difference I can tell. Sound wise, it's very hard to tell the difference without a fairly lengthy listening session to several cuts just like a reviewer would do. This is because the change to a different wheel is tough when you also have to take out the 4 large brass machine screws that I tighten down to securely bolt that Lenco chassis to the plinth--no bouncy springs involved like a Linn--I cut them all off. Changing the wheel once the chassis is freed by removing all four 1 1/2" long bolts is somewhat time consuming as the replacing of the bolts and getting all 4 of them to start without stripping is not fast and easy--it's very tight tolerances in the hole sizes I cut in the chassis so the holes did not show once the screw was tightened down. Getting back to the 2 types of rubber tires they include with the SL idler, the thicker, softer rubber tires are supposed to suppress the motor vibrations more, the firmer and smaller tires grip better so they are supposed to pull the platter to start more quickly, but have slightly less cushioning effect due to tire size. The tires slip on somewhat easily with the wheel already in place so changing from one to another is maybe a 2 minute job. Getting my chassis off and on, however, with tightening down the bolts, takes about 15 to 20 minutes because of one screw always is difficult to get started past the 10 or so turn and always takes me several minutes to finally get past that point without stripping the threads. That's what makes an A\B difficult. There's no question which wheel appears to be the better one, but again, not sure the Lenco one doesn't work almost as well. Watch for my final results--I'll post it soon. Heck, I'm real curious on the possible sound difference, if any, too. By the way, Simone sells these on Ebay under Lenco turntables occasionally--$75 plus shipping from Italy ($8 to Chicago in the US). This does not include the arm. The only tricky part is learning how to take off the spring ring that holds the idler on--I use a very fine flat blade screwdriver that came with one of my early cartridges I bought once. You carefully weazel the blade under the 2 pointed tips of the spring ring clamp and start to rotate the blade by rocking it back and forth until it finally starts to push the ring up. Then you just work the screwdriver's blade around the entire ring slowly until it is very near coming off. Your attention better then be on keeping the ring from flying off, so cover it with a finger of the hand not holding the screwdriver and ease the ring off. Just for your info.
Hope that helps, although that was probably more info that you required. That's why I'm a Dorkwad.
