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
Ah Dung Beetle, you know, I used to fight like a demon on all sorts of forums, like you, the difference being that I fought for a cause, the Idler Wheel Revolution which I was trying to make happen at the time, which consisted of righting a wrong: the unfair characterization of the idler-wheel system, and the error as to its ultimate merit and position on the Great Ladder of Audio Being. You, on the other hand, only attack your betters, The Mighty as you so generously call me, dig up dirt, manufacture dirt, misinterpret what you think is dirt, misinterpret the actual landscape (because you can't, being an insect, see above the dirt) are obsessed with dirt, and take pleasure in spiteful attacks, like the insect you aspire to be. Success, yes, but wrong insect, you'll always be only a Dung Beetle.

As always, my opponents, "men", for lack of a better word, being motivated not by constructive desires but by base motives, aren't too bright. As such, uh, insects, commonly do, you've got it Bass-Ackwards, it's not that the Mighty (thanks again for including me) have fallen, but that the Mighty Have Succeeded, as even Win's activities attest, which only furthers my own desires. Now that the Idler Wheel Revolution is truly underway, what left do I have to do? We'll get back to that at the end.

As to your ugly crowing and prancing about, I was there first, as this attests: first there, thanks a bunch for the opportunity to remind everyone. As to the dirt you imagine you've dug up on me, try using your tiny little insectile mind (can't expect much here): 6moons/Srajan Ebaen lives on Cyprus, and living on Cyprus must process many audio pieces through Customs in order to continue producing reviews. Given the volume and work involved in navigating Greek-speaking government bodies, he uses a full-time professional Customs brokerage firm to retrieve said pieces for review. It's his Customs agents, under his instructions, who handled the whole thing, and who could not retrieve the item from Customs...until the review was cancelled six weeks later (may be connected to that 6 moons thing), to the day as it worked out, interestingly enough. In fact, one of the ugliest experiences of my life, which is why I balk at discussing it, but, like the Dung Beetle you are, you keep digging and bringing it back up, your specialty. There's be nothing to help your cause here, so you'd better shy away from this particular topic, as it won't redound to the name of those you currently promote (but will likely turn on later, being who and what you are) but instead blow up in your and their faces. I kept records of the whole thing, as I do of all e-mails I see will later lead to trouble.

In fact, I have e-mails from Win (older than the ugly crowing one he sent me just recently), in the days before he clambered onto the Idler Wheel Revolution I was leading and directing at the time via the Lenco, with the help of other participants, the days when he was promoting his Pabst motors and thread-drive vintage juggernauts. I kept on telling him to proceed with the Lenco asap, and it evidently turns out I was right, as where is the Pabst motor-driven thread-drive now? So, thanks for giving me the opportunity to remind him, and others who have dedicated their lives to being a nuisance to me over the years, that their current status as Defenders of the Idler Faith (having in a sense become me, the man they did and continue to oppose and attack) traces back to me and my activities and plans: the Idler-Wheel Revolution which is now truly underway. So, here's your dirt, eat it and eat well, every victory of theirs becomes, ipso facto, a victory of mine, maddening isn't it? ;-). So how do they - and fellows like you - handle this? By going around the 'Net trying to erase memory of my history of battles (check out my postings, under the monicker "melomane", and battles on VA back when my claims for the Lenco and idlers in general receivbed nothing but vicious and ugly attacks), victories, writings and conclusions (many of which they steal outright), and distorting the facts (i.e. like the fellow about to unveil an exciting new product telling all who will listen that the Lenco is really not such a good machine, and has a truly questionable motor, as if my activities were restricted to only Lencos). Someone ALMOST succeeded with the accidental deletion of the original thread, which at that time was the largest ever in audio history. But, Mario, and others who had grown accustomed to my "Rants into the Void" and the generally positive exchange characteristic of the Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot - when fellows like you aren't involved - wouldn't let it be, even though I was prepared to "retire" due to the ugliness (reminiscent of your own) which was likely behind the deletion of the original Titanic thread (which is why it was Mario who brought it back and not me).

What have YOU achieved, Dung Beetle? Perhaps you should do a little real digging and aspire instead to the Socratic search for truth you claim to aspire to, and read this: The Record. Lenco Heaven was the first dedicated Lenco forum, which as the dedication proves, was a direct result of, and inspired by, my thread on Audiogon and overall activities (I posted often then on VA), which from the first - and still thanks even to postings by such insects as you - dominated the Analog section of Audiogon, for well over four years now? You got anything similar under your belt, Dung Beetle? And that dedicated forum led to another very sucessful one, now numbering over 1000 members. Blinded by the usual spite, as such opponents of mine through the years have been, you miss as well the obvious, the dedication to this part two of my original Building high-end 'tables cheap thread, read it again: "“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"

Look at the date, check your facts. As Lenco Heaven attests, I made the Lenco a worldwide phenomenon (with the help of those supporters who either had faith in me or were just attracted by my sheer cussedness) by my PR idea to disguise my Idler Wheel Revolution agenda as a budget DIY Super Project (which in fact I was also doing and believed in as well, one of my pet peeves being overpriced crapola), and so lauch it into the general population - as again the evidence supports (First Try. You, or Win for that matter, achieve anything similar? While you crow about a product, I helped change the stream of audio history, killing a Dogma, and helped create and make the Idler Wheel Revolution which is now truly currently underway. Many of the current "captains" of said revolution will sadly be found to have tried their damnedest to stop me by whatever means possible in beginning days, when someone bothers to write and research a real and accurate history of the Return of the Idler Wheel.

To those who wish to launch a new product, I offer the following, now tardy, warning: Don't launch an exciting new product on a foundation of dirt, before a review, backed by Dung Beetles, this is no way to make a fresh new mark. ESPECIALLY don't crow about such a fact. You should have immediately dissociated yourselves instead of embracing him/it. Instead of fresh steak, you now have on your hands rotten meat.

So let's do a little media analysis, my "gagne-pain": The announcement of said exciting new product was by Dung Beetle, who many remembered was here previously digging and promoting dirt, as Mario's response attests: "09-24-07: Mario_b...OK Gadfly, do as your handle implies and buzz off to snipe somewhere else. You’ve become repetitive in your negativity, so maybe you’ve convinced yourself that there’s good reason to hate others more than yourself." The fact he was recognized is indicated by the way the announcement went up like a lead balloon. In fact, I deliberately did not post for ages following the announcement in order to make clear to all watching that something was fishy in the state of Denmark, and that the smell reached many. One posting, and that cleverly mitigated, when usually such an annoucenment would be greeted by a great congratulatory clamouring. The product is the brain-child of yet another [recently-exposed] opponent with an axe to grind, Mosin. The product is made of slate. In a big foofarah just a few posts above, Mosin, being coy and not announcing the pending review, promotes the incredible superiority of slate over wood as a material given secret processes he would not share, and cautions readers not to believe everything I write because I sell some of the products I describe in great detail so any who can can follow (and in turn go on to feed their audio habits by Re-building these Mighty Machines for others).

Let's look at this claim, by the same fellow who cautions aginst believing those who are selling a product: "Hello again, "Is slate better then combo of MDF, ply baltic birch ???" There is absolutely no contest. Slate has properties none of those materials can match. Wood can be used to make a very nice plinth material, but slate has it beat. "What I do know is that making plinth for Lenco or any other turntable from slate can and probably is pain in the A$$ to execute successfully and effectively." True, but worth the trouble. Using slate is a simple case of careful planning, and proficiency with tools. It is definitely not a material for those who do "get by" work, however. Still, I believe it can be handled by most who possess rudimentary skills, and have a few decent tools at their disposal. A $300,000 water jet CNC and a crew to run it does help. ;) mosin"

Finally, the announcement and following (and previous) posts makes much of the fact the review is to occur in the same publication as that in which my own projected review was cancelled, said inept and destructive Dung Beelte revelling in the assumed fact this is a major blow. Do any of the parties involved come out looking good, excepting, perhaps, me?

Evil (to use an appropriate but perhaps too-large term), they say, is stupid. It works against itself, and so inevitably will never completely conquer and succeed. Here is that saying demonstrated and proven. To those involved parties who imagine this is only a thread with no reach, you better hope so, but, judging from the fan-mail I continue to receive, even long after I have seriously curtailed my internet activities (following the deletion of the original thread), this isn't so. Teres uses a term I coined and created to explain how to achieve incredible results from Idler Wheel drives: "Direct Coupling." VPI now has introduced the ilder-wheel principle as major upgrade to their products (as did Teres). A new dedicated Lenco forum has arisen, with membership reaching 1000 and likely growing. There's gonna be a serious rotten-egg smell aboput this whole affair and assocaited products and writings. What you all need as a PR expert, to prevent such titanic cock-ups and blowing-up-in-your-faces scenarios. But, evil is stupid. Enjoy your "victory" all, does it smell good?

Dung Beetle, perhaps you are an adult, but I picture you as an overweight, self-loathing, stringy-haired, pimply adolescent giggling as he posts on his parent's computer, that's how you come across anyway. I'm going to post a photo of myself - for the first time ever as I have always shied away from public exposure, believe it or not ;-) - and for your edification, since you seem to revel so in others', and espcially my, "misery," of me being miserable in Egypt, part of a four-month tour of Greece and the Middle East, as I wait for the Giant Direct Coupled Glass-Reinforced Lenco. Check it out under my "system", entitled "Waiting in Egypt for 6moons Lenco".

Now, getting back on-topic, which is "Building high-end 'tables Cheap at Home Despot", the showdown between, in THIS corner, The Mighty Giant Direct Coupled Glass-Reinforced Lenco (with "humble" MDF/Russian birch-ply plinth recipe) with a variety of tonearms and cartridges, versus, in THAT corner, the Pricey, $40K SME 30 mounted with a Graham Phantom/Benz Ebony combo, happens this coming week!! The comparison will be set up over a week or more to allow various local audiophiles to attend and witness the Big Event. Watch this space!!!!

As written for 4 years now, let's all sing along: Vive la Lenco, Vive la Idler Wheel!!!
.

Jean,

I have sworn off the thread, but please don't take too much credit for anything I have done, or am doing. You did not start me on my journey of turntable building. I have explored many avenues, including string drives, etc., and yes, the Lenco avenue. What turntable maker wouldn't look into the past to see what came before? Fresh designs shouldn't emulate the past, however, because doing that would be the antithesis of fresh. Still, nothing new is created in a vacuum. In the e-mail I sent you, I merely pointed out that my turntable is in no way related to a Lenco, aside from being an idler, because in the end, I chose an entirely different path. That e-mail was necessary only to correct a misconception that can be read into certain posts here, and that is all. The Lenco wasn't even the first idler that I explored, nor was it the last. It is true that certain aspects of the Lenco interest me, but there is no panacea offered by it, as far as I am concerned. In any event, I cannot see how that would offend you, or seem "crowing", as you say. In fact, you should be thrilled, so please don't make future references to me at all. It is appropriate, as we are obviously on different planes when it comes to turntable design.

Unless my name is mentioned again, I will post no more. I have other things to occupy my time.

Regards,
Win

_______
"As to your ugly crowing and prancing about"
One has to smile at that as Jean Natais pounds his concave chest.

"Teres uses a term I coined and created to explain how to achieve incredible results from Idler Wheel drives: "Direct Coupling."
- I will interpret this as Jean Natais invented the internet.

I will let stand your latest post as the chisel work on the gravestone of your popularity.
Hey, good for you Gadfly. Your next assignment: Learn to spell his name :-)
Hummmm???
Maybe its time to end Da Thread, Lenco Heaven and Lenco Lovers?
I propose LENCOS ANONYMOUS!!!
Twelve step program could go something like this:
-get some ply wood
-get a lenco
-throw the arm away
-get an RB300
-get a 103
OK, ya'll can add some more steps.
- Oh. one more step; email Mario, and get the the original thread which was mysteriously deleted at 4k+ hits.
This is where it started with me and many others when we saw a post about building a great turntable for 200 bucks, posted by some crazy nut. If you don't feel like sending Mario an email, (leave him alone, I'm sure he'd rather listen to some tunes), and simply see the 5 steps posted above, that's the basics.
This is where I first heard of a Lenco. I was actually prepared to buy a used (expensive) table. But when I emailed the seller, he said it had sold. Then he said, "the Lenco kicks the ass of the ..." (insert table name which the seller had just sold).
Now, I, like others, take the ideas which are shared on this thread- which Jean created, and lucky for us, Mario saved- and build some excellent, affordable* turntables.
I use the word lucky. Ideas are shared openly and transparently. At least that's been so with most of the Lenco fanatics on this thread.
*Affordable? The great Lenco was a stealing deal back when Jean started da thread. Now, even eBay seems to be looking for some.
Here goes: Lencos Anonymous
My user name is Oregon:I have several Lencos that I listen to, several which I've sold and some for sale. It baffles me that some folks would spend 40 THOUSAND DOLLARS for a turntable when there is a superb table which will bring the music from the grooves of your records to your grateful ears and still give you MORE pleasure. Just think of all the records you could buy with the $32,000.00 you have left over? Just think of all the synapses bursting in euphoric joy and sorrow when the MUSIC calls for it?
Jimi slicing down a mountain and building islands...
Beethoven and Schiller calling out to humanity...
Dylan opening a window...
Mozart reaching us through a clarinet...
Coltrane injecting us...

I quit the LA.
Time to put some records on!