Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

Idlers rule, baby! Another one of the small Garrard contingent here, 301 played every day ( no Lenco, they are becoming scarce, too bad I didn't find this in '04 ). I probably would not have sweated to build my 'table if it hadn't been for "Home Despot" . Good on ya for keeping the flame alive!

Up early today for the Labor Day weekend estate/garage sales. In the college town where I live, this is also move out/move in week where the total cast-offs in the garbage lanes would keep some third world countries afloat.

Those in the U.S. still in the Lenco hunt who are within driving distance of Canada should consider a little getaway to our great northern neighbor. Canadian imports of Lencos appear to have been ten-fold of what the U.S. took in under the Bogen badge. Bring pre-printed cards with the models that you’re after (L-75, L-78, GL-99 etc.) and your contact info to hand out at flea markets, antique stores and even thrifts. Have a good time and network!

Speaking of Bogen Lencos, I’ve finally broken down and sent off my L-70 plastic idler wheel for a retread while I ready the marble/birch-ply/mdf/ birch-ply/marble plinth.
The O-ring modification that Mike Greene and I have been dabbling in does seem to work fine – just thought I’d give the rebuild a try for comparison’s sake.

Enjoy the holiday weekend and remember Labor – the folks who brought us all the weekends.

Happy Labor Day weekend all, and here I am once agan labouring at the keyboard on this new Home Despot Thread!! It warms my heart to see the words "Home Despot" once again at the top of the analog forum, and I would like to thank you very much Mario for so adroitely re-igniting what has come to be know as Da Thread, due to its incredible humongousness: what was once very likely the longest thread in audio history, not just Audiogon's history, and a real feather in its crown that grew, changed and developed naturally, a testament to Audiogon's leading-edge format (I think it's the best), open-minded discussions of viable alternatives, and interest in achieving true advancment in the audio arts!!

That they not only tolerated our "subversive" activities (which were actually in the interest of real advancement, however many may have taken them), but indeed encouraged them by allowing us instant posting, is a policy I fervently hope they will once again allow us!! At least until they somehow manage to restore the original thread, or Da Thread, which represented 3,700 posts of accumulated experience, details, evidence, and a fascinating case study invaluable in its own right, of a technology/vintage turntable/Lenco which was at first greeted with mild curiosity, disbelief, resistance; through gradual acceptance, gobsmacked-ness ;-), and evolution of the fulfilling of its potential (beyond enormous to perhaps a New Standard), still underway!! So let's pray this information and record which was beginning to draw some more serious attention out there to Audiogon (Home Despot), which was the subject of discussions - positive and negative, definitely controversial - on forums and in private chats across the internet and around the world (I'll post this very reply on various Lenco forums to add to their archives), and was seen as an important element in the idler-wheel revival (and so a further testament to Audiogon's potency and fame). The accidental deletion of this resource and record (and what may have come to be regarded as history) certainly gelds this particular bull to a certain extent, but it's too late to stop the Idler Train now, to put the Genie back in the bottle, to close the barn doors!! Just check out the "Garrard 301: Some additional questions" on this very forum.

Jim, you have done an amazing job of summarizing my writings and findings on "Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot", you are hired!! Thanks to all for their e-mails and support on various other forums, up here among the snow-bears I am exploring lands of unparalleled and hair-raising, back-shivering musicality, thanks to some supernaturally-musical components (including, of course, a Giant Direct-Couped Lenco), the sort which should be examined by the design experts to isolate what it is that make them "tick", rather than dismissed as budget flukes or niche oddities, as the idlers were not so long ago treated - "If it measures good and sounds bad, it is bad;
if it measures bad and sounds good, you have measured the wrong thing" - and the resultant knowledge used to improve statement products. At least, I would hope so :-)!

Enjoy your idler-wheels all, and for those who have not yet found one or tried one, enjoy your idler-wheel dreams and plans!! As Mario reminds us, get out there and hunt down those Lencos, which sold in large numbers and are practically unkillable, and if you stumble on Garrards, Rek-o-Kuts or others, then pick them up too!! If not any of these, I've written it before and I'll write it again, (and it looks like this time it will be taken more seriously), satisfy your curiosity by picking up a humble Garrard SP-25 (try to make it a MKIII or later, as the palters are aluminum and not magnetic), restore it as-is (clean, re-lube and perhaps damp with bits of Dynamat or rubber), perhaps get rid of the rattly automatic system to free the surprisingly decent tonearm (same bearing type as the much-respected Audio Technica 1005 and 1009), solder a decent signal cable, and mount a decent MM or even MC (!!). Now these won't match one of the Big Boys, but they'll make your collective jaws hit the floor regardless, as they have the characteristic idler-wheel sound - incredible potency, dynamics, life and PRaT - I keep on writing about and drawing attention to, you should be able to find these for roughly five to twenty bucks. Alternatives are the superbly well-built Elac idlers (my fave record-changers, beautifully designed and built, and FUN), and the idler Duals. Have fun, and good luck!!

"Mosin had posted something about a new concept about the idler's assembly or something like that. Mosin ...?...If you read this, can you tell us more about it?" ...As1715

Well,

At the outset of this project around two years ago, I e-mailed Jean with a few bizarre ideas. Then, I made some changes, so I e-mailed him again to tell him that I would retain the "Soul of a Lenco" with enough left that an observer could tell what it was. That was a thousand changes ago. Now, it is finished to the point that I have made a trial run to check its operation. All that remains to be done is the finish, and that is driving me nuts. Only recently did I come to realize that a Steinway is worth every cent simply because piano black is extremely labor intensive. Once that is finished, the turntable will be completed.

That, and the final ingredient which is the idler assembly. I saw a jpeg of it from my friend, InDaGroove, last night. He is a wonderful machinist who made a Schroeder Reference clone that some of you may have seen over at Vinyl Asylum. Anyway, I presented him with an alternate design for the Lenco idler, but he had a better idea, so I scrapped mine. Instead, I went about refining his idea, and it will probably be finished in a day or two. All I will say now is that it is one of those obvious ideas of the "Why didn't I think of that?" variety. I must reluctantly give credit to him for it, but hey, I am supervisor of the project, right? ;) You'll see it soon. I promise that there has never been an idler like it on any make of turntable ever. Best of all, it will be noise free. It is different for sure, but it weighs approximately the same as the standard aluminum Lenco idler. ( The overall weight of the turntable is approximately fifty pounds.) InDaGroove didn't know what an idler turntable was until I explained the mechanism to him. It just goes to show that sometimes a pair of fresh eyes are good to have. I lucked out, and found the perfect pair.

The rest of the turntable does retain the Lenco's soul, but one cannot tell simply by looking at it. It is a single speed design that can be fine tuned, and the linkage has been radically changed, as has the one remaining control. The topplate is history, and VTA issues are a thing of the past, as are resonance issues associated with the top plate. Ringing of the platter has also been corrected. Only idler magic remains, and virtually everything that typically applies to past Lenco modding is not implemented. It is that radical. It does have a single whimsical touch because nothing should take itself that seriously, not even a Lenco.

Hopefully, you guys will see it in a few weeks, maybe in as few as two.

My next project is underway. It is a string driven Rek-O-Kut that employs the Papst Aussenlaufer motor. This three phase design will have precision OCXO control, and each phase of power will be regenerated by stereo channels. A frequency PCB will feed the amps which power the motor. Imagine three very small PS Audio Power Plants with variable speed control. It will be interesting to see how this one rates against the Lenco. Expansive design isn't the order of the day with it, aside from the power supply, so maybe we will be able to find out in a reasonable timeframe. Mark Kelly is designing the circuitry now, and early tests have been successful.

Hi all,
Idlers roll again...I have a pdf that has been given to me by Richard STEINFELD from Lenco Lovers. I contains some "bits" of "Da Thread" and you can get it at http://www.lenco-lovers.com/forum/ in the "Technical and General" section.
It is not the whole thread, but at least 44 pages of tips and tricks: better than nothing ;-)
"Faites rouler les galetets !!!"
François.