Well I see this thread certainly kept going during my absence, these types of debates will occur again and again, and perhaps thankfully infrequently. Thanks Raul for recognizing my point in referring to the history of astronomy, and for always questioning!: people are blind to fundamental assumptions, which being invisible, are not investigated and not questioned. People respond emotionally and not logically to these comforting assumptions being questioned, as in the end we most of us prefer stability (;-)). Thanks to Musicdoc and Albertporter as well for their support, you're both gentlemen. I can see Albert's point that a true fair comparison between drive systems is not possible due to the integral nature of his turntable (I certainly wouldn't want to touch that animal), and am very grateful to Albert for his support and fun spirit, but I have to say that Albert, you are being somewhat disengenuous (picture finger-wagging auntie gently scolding) in stating that "In spite of my admiration of the Lenco and Garrard idler wheel designs, there is no contest between these and the Walker." Since the Lenco was mounted with a humble stock Decca International (with its stock thick tin wiring and plastic frcition-fit pieces) and Shure V15VxMR while your Walker was mounted with a state-of-the-art air-bearing tonearm, cables and a Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum (not to mention other discrepancies) then this statement is hardly meaningful, is it, something which should have been pointed out. I mean, if you were to stage a contest between your Walker and a SME 30 and mount the SME with a Decca International and Shure V15, would people stand quietly by (as they do now) and simply accept your verdict it doesn't even come close to the Walker?
At that time as well, I could not even convince anyone to mount a humble Rega on the Lenco to give it a fair trial by my peers, and so was forced to track down and publicise the extremely cheap Decca International tonearms, which at time sold for 25 euros, which indeed got the ball rolling. When bowled over by the resultant sound, many wrongly attributed this greatness to the tonearm, and not the platform: the Lenco. I started to kick their asses to stop playing with the cheap budget stuff and stretch the Lenco's legs with at least a Rega, which finally resulted in the following comment from an intrepid Lenco-er which got THAT ball rolling: "And yes...it sounds fantastic, blows my STD305D away, quieter background, enormous controlled bass, incredible detail, just altogether jaw droppingly good...and it don't look bad either!." For context, the STD supplanted a Linn LP12. Finally, the best tonearm/cartridge ever mounted - Graham 2.2/Benz Micro - received the following report: "Well, as I indicated previously, we have installed a Graham 2.2/IC-70 cable on our latest creation, an L75. At the advice of Jean, we went whole-hog and mounted my Benz Micro Reference2 Copper, a cartridge custom built by Mr. Lukaschek himself. We have now spun about 15 LPs with this combination...This is, with doubt, the best combo Ive ever had in my system and one of the best Ive ever heard in any system with remotely comparable components. Of course, the slam and pacing of the Lenco is there in spades. I was not, however, prepared for the expansive soundstage which goes well beyond my speakers and into the side yard. There is a ton of detail without being anything close to analytical. The midrange is very sweet and female vocals are just a gas! From those who have used the Graham with other tables, the one very minor complaint of some is a hair bit of lightness in the bass. Not in this front end. I have heard the Graham 2.2 now on about 8 different tables and Ive never heard it sound better. A real winner in every respect. A spoiler, actually." For context, the fellow's previous 'table, which he subsequently sold, was a Nottingham Spadedeck. I trot out these reports occasionally (and new ones keep coming in) as they constitute the evidence in my experiment/challenge.
At the time you asked me which way to go, and I wrote you "for musicality go for the Decca, for information go for the Rega" (or something along those lines), as I fully understood you had no real interest in pitting the Lenco against your Fabulous Beast but were in it for the fun aspect, and for providing that shining example kudos! Now I am extremely grateful for the support and good humour you provided in the early days of the vulnerable thread (in fact I miss your witty contributions, I still laugh at the "pillow-fluffer" comment), but have to point out that the Lenco has indeed humbled quite a few highly-regarded current title-holders when armed with nothing better than "mid-fi" tonearms such as the Regas and such-like, (and even then someone recently reported a Lenco traded blows in an extremely sophisticated set-up with a SME 30 armed with an exotic MC while the Lenco was armed with the usual budget items). Barring that, if a Lenco armed with a RB300 can stay ahead of a VPI TNT, what can it do if it were armed with a good air-bearing tonearm, such as the Walker's "father", the Maplenoll, or with a sota unipivot such as the Graham 2.2, and a Koetsu mounted to that? I'm not saying it will beat or even match the Walker (though in some ways, such as drive, it might), but as I wrote long ago, if it takes a 40K-$50 belt-drive in order to clearly defeat a Lenco (i.e. if this can only be achieved at ruinous cost), then what does this say about the belt-drive drive system?
Now I would truly like to see such a showdown, I don't think making everything absolutely even is necessary to make the point (and since it can't be done then the point is moot), but I am not going to use my [limited] travel money for such a venture, preferring instead to concentrate my hearing on the sound of belled goats and lapping waves in the Greek hillsides above the Aegean, or indeed beer in the heart of Berlin. I could however someday send an emissary in the form of a specially-built Lenco, or one of the Lenco followers nearer could take their own. If in the process we find that the Lenco has a ceiling of, say $20K equivaklent belt-drive, then we know this and I finally know what the upper limits are. In the process, the idler-wheel is re-instated as a serious drive system with its own set of strengths and weaknesses (which certainly was not the case a year ago, so we have learned something already). The DD afficionados also point to certain strengths over belt-drive (which again exposes weaknesses in the system which it is wiser to acknowledge than wish away if true progress is what we want). Anyway, even the fact this is being discussed is good news, that people understand that something must be tested in order to be fairly judged, and to keep an open mind. Until the next Great Debate, enjoy spinning that oh-so-lovely vinyl all, and I would say always suspect your unseen assumptions (and those of others, such as the chemical/food companies), use that little-used muscle in these days of reality television and Disney-run/corporate-run newscasts, the brain, we have never, EVER, needed it more! Now, back to my lovely Lenco/Rega/Denon for some more of that Baroque, which perhaps the Lenco favours, I'm so obssessed with it these days, gotta love those Eratos! Sorry to those who have hung on so far for such a long post, too late to delete, the smart ones are drinking beer.
