Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

I'm back to discuss the RS Labs RS-A1/Denon DL-103"E" combo: it is superb, and could easily be that mythical thing, the Final Analogue Set-Up! I've just discovered the key to this combo - so it performs as well in the bass as it does everywhere else, which is to say fully and perfectly - is solidity. Either it should be mounted on a thick and solid tonearm-board (I made an extra-thick one of walnut bonded to birch-ply), or directly to the plinth (the RS-A1 directly on the plinth the Lenco is set-up on provides perfect VTA).

As I've written before, in musical terms - i.e. SLAM, PRaT, gestalt, naturalness and tonal "unexaggeratedness" - the "humble Denon DL-103 is the King of MCs. But mount it on a tonearm which truly realizes its potential - and so far in my experience this means either the SME V (pricey) or the RS-A1 (at the price an incredible bargoon, given it ranks as one of the Best Tonearms in the World at $1350 full retail) - and it becomes a prime detail-meister as well, especially if it has the elliptical tip (80 euros for the re-tip from phonophono in Berlin).

I cannot get over just how incredible this match - Giant Direct Coupled Glass-Reinforced Lenco, RS-A1, Denon DL-103"E" (regular 103 with elliptical tip) - is!! It has as much musical magic as I've ever heard from anything, dynamics to blow the furniture out of the room, it has the detail of $5K tonearms allied to state of the art MCs, AND it's dead quiet and picks up none of the Mighty Motor's electrical field, even when the cartridge rides directly over the motor (and the arms wires are totally exposed, and there's no ground wire for the tonearm, perhaps that's why?)!! AND it's dead quiet in the groove!!! As to PRaT, I've never heard its equal, and the bass detail is better than I've heard from the Denon (and pretty well anything else) except when its mounted on the SME V.

The Lenco, which may well rank with the Best in the World (or better ;-)) when properly optimized, is an incredible bargain. The RS Labs RS-A1, which ranks with the Best in the World (when matched to the Denon especially) is an incredible bargain. The Denon DL-103, when one concentrates on the music instead of the information (and even on the information...when mounted on the RS-A1), is King of MCs, musically-speaking (and in many important audiophile areas as well, such as imaging and balance). Put them all together, and you have a combo which for many will be their Last of All Time. The strengths of MMs (gestalt, PRaT, warmth) allied to the strengths of MCs (speed, detail), and pumped up to the MAX via the Giant Lenco, yikes!!

Enjoy your Lencos and other idlers all!!

What auditory delights I'm blessed with! Sometimes I just feel so grateful for having such amazing sound quality to listen to...yeah, my system hasn't cost a fortune, but after listening to £50k+ system a couple of weeks ago, I don't see how anyone can justify spending an extra £49,300 for a system that didnt sound a vast amount better than mine! The RB300 arm is growing on me more and more, have put TWL's fishing weight mod on (anyone want to buy a Decca International arm??? I'm sticking with my Rega!). Got an Empire EDR9 cart on it at the moment...thanks to Gilbodavid who suggested it on Raul's recommendation. What an amazing match for the Rega arm and the Lenco. Wham...an incredible flexibility...presence and slam as well as the capacity for infinite softness and depth of timbre. And the carts only had about 30 hrs run in so far.
Only thing at the moment I'd like to improve on at the moment is my speakers. My problem is having heard Quads, i want that sound, or as close to it as I can get. My room is only 6x10 feet, so Quads arent really feasible. Am using a combination of some prototype Tannoys and Spendor BC1's at the moment...anyone got any suggestions for how to get a Quad sound in a smaller and ideally cheaper speaker?

Helen,

You could consider doing a smaller open baffle design with a subwoofer for bass. Somewhat smiliar to Quads, but a lot more efficient. Fostex makes great drivers or you could go vintage. There are a lot more commercial OB's than ever before and you can easily go DIY for super cheap.

Hi Helen, congratulations on discovering the Glories of the Lenco/Rega, and of course of a great MM, by all accounts. The MM vs MC debate is not over yet :-)!! Good and cheaper substitutes for the Quads are speakers with various alternative tweeters, such as ribbons (of course), and the Heil Air Motion Tranformers, such as those in my ESS AMT4s. While I think it would be very hard to find ESS speakes in Europe, there are current speakers using these elements, including of course Heil speakers, and Elac (speaking of idlers!!). Infinity built and marketed several ribbon-tweeter speakers in Europe and there are other sources too. Of course, these are all hybrids (ribbon/AMT tweeters, cone bass drivers), but they do catch a large chunk of the planar magic (my ESS are still unsurpassed in the mid/highs, and I'm in fact looking forward to setting them up again).

As to the Lenco/Rega, after years of this thread and reported experiments and comparisons, it's not so much that the Lenco/Rega is in particular a synergy, but that indeed the better the tonearms mounted to the Lenco, the greater the results, period. This is, of course, mostly in terms of information-retrieval. The Decca is still perhaps the most PRaT-ful tonearm ever made, thought the RS Labs might give it a good run for its money. The Dynavector 507 MKII (very pricey), is also incredibly musical. The SME V/Denon DL-103 combo is EXPLOSIVE, and has supernatural PRaT, and incredible detail too. ALL tonearms so far tested have sounded incredible on the Lenco....provided, of course, the proper synergy is found. Some cartridges favour certain tonearms, and preamps and phono stages too. Even transformers and active head amps extract different things from different combos: a 'table/tonearm/cartridge combo which works in one set-up may not in the next (and vice-versa), as there are preamp and phono stage electrical issues to consider as well. And even then we're not out of the woods, as a change of speakers can change what one had previously concluded and thought settled. A great 'table/tonearm/cartridge/phono stage set-up, as I discovered when I tried the RS Labs/Denon via my FR transformer - which did not sound as good as my active step-up via every other speaker I had - sounded better with it via my Klipsch Heresies! Remember to make no ultimate judgments all, excepting of course, the Mighty Lenco and other idler wheels, which underpin all said set-ups, and reliably outperform, well, everything thrown at them so far, in every system!! I LOVE that reliability/dependability :-)!!

On the exciting news front, I just booked my ticket to Greece, and am working on a prototype of the Lenco/plinth I'll be sending to Cyprus, assuming I get that far. I'll take the steps, and hope for the best!! Of course, I'll be sending my usual Russian birch-ply/MDF recipe, continuing the Great Traditions of Accumulating Evidence and Putting my Money Where my Mouth Is. Let's put it on the line.

Let's consider what this recipe has accomplished, when applied to a Garrard 301/Dynavector 507 MKII/Denon DL-103 in a very high-end system, pitted against both a Platine Verdier/Koetsu Urushi and a Cain & Cain low-mass, two-tier plinth: "Well, got the stock i/c on the Dyna, and not all tweaked yet, and nothing sitting on stand, without isolation, and it betters the Verdier/Koetu Urishi on a special Isolation stand...I am candidly surprised. I did not expect this. I had the the Cain and Cain plinth and it did not sound good. This is way above. The 301 is incredible in your plinth. It has only the inexpensive Denon 103 R and that is not redone yet...and only a stock cable and it is better by a long ways than the Verdier on a special isolation table. Next I will try the Koetsu in the arm....and in my best phono stage and see. Damn...don’t let this get out, or it will ruin the high end." I'll post a photo under my system of the Garrard sitting next to the Platine. So there you see why I am so confident of this recipe, which has also, let us be reminded all, the fabulous EMTs, which make the rabid anti-Lenco Garrard-ers quake in their boots and drool. For reference, the Cain & Cain did not sound good in that system, compared to the Platine Verdier. This changed, however, when the Garrard had been properly restored, and built into a high-mass Russian birch-ply/MDF plinth, with no tricky separate tonearm pod. We'll know more once the Lenco sails to Cyprus (assuming it does, knock on wood).

Have fun with all your audio experiments all!

Helen, If you don't mind using up about half your space, you COULD try Quad 57s in your small room. It would be like having the best, most transparent headphones ever made.