Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

As a proud owner of what I understand was Jean's first Mighty Glass-Reinforced Direct Coupled Giant Lenco, it's past time that I checked in here to express my enthusiasm for this amazing turntable and to thank Jean, and all of you who are involved in the Lenco/idler wheel drive revival.

Here's the bottom line of my initial impression. This turntable - the Black Beauty - with a $150 cartridge is blowing away my former rig that had a $3500 cartridge mounted on a VPI HW-19 MkIV tricked out as close as you can get to the TNT level. I'll need to try other arms and cartridges to get a fuller sense of what this table can do, but there's no doubt that it's huge jump beyond the VPI.

I didn't appreciate until recently that I'm actually a charter member of the idler wheel movement and probably got into it even before Jean did! My first turntable, over 30 years ago, was a Rek-O-Kut. I didn't know an idler wheel drive from a nuclear reactor at that point and was just into music, not equipment. I kept that Rek-O-Kut for nearly 20 years until I came across the audio establishment's magazines and realized that there's this whole world of shiny, modern, expensive, must-be-better equipment out there, and that all of the modern turntables use belt drives. So I finally ditched the Rek-O-Kut and got a VPI HW-19 Junior. My gleaming new turntable looked great, but there was one problem: It didn't sound as good as the old Rek-O-Kut! So I upgraded it all the way to the Mk IV+ level and put on an SME V arm and a Koetsu cartridge. That did beat the Rek-O-Kut.

I must confess, at that point, for a time, I actually did believe in the superiority of belt drives. But, thanks to my friend Dave Pogue, Jean, and tuning in on Da' Thread, I
rediscovered the virtues of idler wheel technology. Misled by the audio establishment, I wandered off the True Path for a while, but it was just a temporary diversion. I'm back!

I suspect many of us have taken this trek from idler wheel to belt drive back to idler wheel. It's a lot like the trek from vinyl to CDs back to vinyl. Whatever the latest fad or audio dogma, there's just no substitute for running the experiment, hearing for yourself, trusting your own judgment. Onward Lenco Renegades!

That is very interesting - a standard trick for the Garrards. For 120V/60hz I am planning to try this as I will be setting up my 401 with the Lencos when I finally get unpacked enough to finishing the woodworking.

Mike

The same result, reduced vibration with lowered operating voltage, was observed in the Garrard 301 and 401 many years ago.

Something like 90 volts or so (in the USA where 117 volts is nominally "Normal") was generally considered optimal.

I don't hear a negative effect in the bass or dynamics.I did tune the motor early on when I almost lost that little nose-screw too.I believe that the "flywheel" effect of the 9LB platter driven at speed accounts for most of the control of the Lenco and the idler may not be that heavily relied on.Once the speed has been set with a strobe it seems to stay on speed much as before.There is not as much torque as before of course which you can feel with your fingers,but as I stated the speed is fine.I used a stethoscope to judge the best place to set the Variac to where the motor seemed to "quiet-down".At full voltage the motor does seem to vibrate and shake a little too much.The Variac eliminates this motor shaking,which seems to be obviously correctable.

It just occurred to me.... that there in the States and Canada you only run on 110V 60Hz so your vibration floor would be normally lower than mine at 240v 50Hz?My motor runs pretty fast to begin with so taking the voltage down I am now on a par with you?The speed can be regulated just turning the Variac knob as well I noticed,so the Lenco does respond immediately to a voltage change.