Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II


“For those who want the moon but can't afford it or those who can afford it but like to have fun and work with their hands, I'm willing to give out a recipe for a true high-end 'table which is easy to do, and fun to make as sky's the limit on design/creativity! The cost of materials, including 'table, is roughly $200 (depending, more or less), and add to that a Rega tonearm. The results are astonishing. I'll even tell/show you how to make chipboard look like marble and fool and impress all your friends. If there's interest I'll get on with this project, if not, I'll just continue making them in my basement. The next one I make will have a Corian top and have a zebra stripe pattern! Fun! Any takers?”

The Lead in “Da Thread” as posted by Johnnantais - 2-01-04

Let the saga continue. Sail on, oh ships of Lenco!
mario_b
Oregon, a small correction. We are no longer producing any belt drive turntables. For more than a year now our top of the line table has been direct drive.

With all of the noise about rim vs belt, direct I think that the most important point about the Verus motor is being lost. The reason we are adopting rim and direct drive is that we now have a motor that has dramatically less cogging than anything we have seen before. This allows us to couple the motor more intimately with the platter without the detrimental effects of cogging.

Isolation between the motor and platter (from a belt, idler or whatever) is a very good way to reduce the negative effects of cogging. But as this group knows so well it also causes loss of pace and smearing. An idler setup suffers from cogging effects but to my ears it's a better compromise than the smearing you get from the greatly increased isolation resulting from a belt. But it is a still a compromise.

Because the Verus motor is essentially coggless, we are able to couple the motor as intimately as possible to the platter without introducing degradations from cogging. This is why we created a drop in replacement for the Garrard motor. With the major reduction in cogging and more intimate coupling to the platter the improvement is not subtle. It was rim drive both before and after so there is more to the story than just the drive topology.

I have contemplated creating a drop in replacement for the Lenco. Any interest?

Chris

Can you give us more info on the replacement motor for the Lenco? When you say "drop in"...does it occupy the same dimensions as the original Lenco motor?

A bunch of us have BIG plinths...just wondering how much rework of the plinth will be needed.

Thanks...and cool development!

-Jim
Teres,
I appreciate your help in clearing this up. It's always risky to put info out there without good, clear information.
I applaud Teres for seeking a better way to bring joy to our hobby and way of life.
Please keep us posted on any new developments.
Respectfully, Oregon
Yes, Chris. From my end, there is certainly interest in a drop in replacement for the Lenco motor. Should be a huge improvement.
Jim, not trying to speak for Chris at Teres but the replacement motor for the Garrard is much more compact than the Lenco or Garrard motor. There would be no reason for the Lenco replacement motor not to be as compact. It would let you cut out less plinth material and retain more mass. I have a pretty good hunch that an eighty pound plinth would no longer be needed. The Teres motor is very smooth. Also, no vibrating speed control lever to make room for. The lever could just be removed as all speed is controled from the black box. The speed is very accurate I might add.
BTW, I am listening to a Versus/Teres driven 301 right now. It is a very nice improvement over the stock 301 motor. Part of which no doubt comes from the removal of all of the stock linkage and idler. How much is yet to be determined.
I am curious how the Lenco nation feels about removing the stock motor and idler wheel, the heart of the beast, even if removing them makes a marked improvement in sound? Is it no longer a Lenco?