Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

Hi Mike

RE: Degaussing Plastic - in a a word or two "It Works". I was very skeptical when I read about treating vinyl records to a degaussing before play - very counterintuitive on the surface.

Well, a listen to "Ambrosia" on the Monster L75, a slow pass with the bulk tape eraser (both sides), and another spin on the Lenco was all it took to cure my skepticism. Really. The nay-sayers will say "Nay" and that's OK... my Hi-Fi is resolving enough to let me hear the difference, and that experience is proof enough for me.

BTW - ditto for CDs. I've not yet seen if it shows up as a better picture from DVDs (anyone else tried that already ?)

...and remember to degauss your brain before a listening session (pink noise blast, decreasing to zero, played over headphones)... er - just kidding !

But seriously, do let us know your experience with treating LPs to a buzz from the eraser.

Cheers,
Grant

Hi All,
Happy Anniversary! Our four-year undergraduate program is completed. On to mastering the audio universe! With a bulk degausser in one hand and a Lenco in the other, nothing can stop us! Seem like ions ago since Jean cast his net and snagged so many of us into this blast. It’s been fun and continues to be so whether publicly extolling or privately building – seeking and questioning.
The ‘table playing field has changed in four years. If not in an outright ground swell of idler support, then belated, grudging acknowledgement and respect for a system that was all to quickly passed by. It seems that idler hands were not the work of the Devil, afterall.
Sail on.

- Mario

Hey, I missed the four-year anniversary of the beginning of the Idler-Wheel War!! We've come a LONG way baby, and actually affected the industry and brought to light the phenomena of stylus bforce drag, and the connected issue of speed stability and drive systems!!

Those who deny themselves the Glories of the Idler - the incredible transients, bass SLAM, reach and detail and natural presentation of detail - literally don't know what they're missing. But, thankfully, the Ship of Lenco - and other idlers and associated experiments and discussions with DDs and so forth - sails on, thanks for that Mario and all other participants!

I simply had to post and say that Lenco's are indeed awesome tables, able to spar toe to toe with many current offerings out there, including bleeding edge gear. I've been reading about the Ship of Lenco for a few years now, I finally had to break down and try one, so I built a relatively modified version of an L-75. I used a similar arm to my existing table for the Lenco and my same cartridge to keep all things equal. After a 3 month build, I was a bit apprehensive about what the modified Lenco would sound like-

To say I'm impressed about the sonics would be an understatement. I'm very impressed. All the usual descriptions apply here, frequency extension, air, soundstaging, prat, and above all... MUSIC ! Lots of foot tapping, albums and covers flying everywhere as old favorites are ripped out and rediscovered, playing air guitar, playing real guitar, me suddenly bursting into song, it's all there.

I'm not sure exactly how to describe the sonics, but something is just plain right. So many pieces don't have that quality that it becomes difficult to verbalize why the sound is just plain better, but it is. I'm not foolish enough to say that they will better any top tier (and top budget) tables out there, but they won't be embarrassed, and that much I'm pretty confident about.

Thanks to Mario, Jean, etc for carrying the flame about these wonderful tables. It would indeed be sad if these gems got lost to the hands of time and weren't enjoyed as they should be. It's a testament to a great and somewhat timeless design.

RFG

I made a post recently on Lenco Lovers about my fancy new CD player having sonically bypassed my Lenco (in my vintage living room system). Well over the weekend, I finally rewired my Sonus arm with the Cardas wire and purple sattelite wire (Thanks Jean and Mario) - and as you probably already expect, the Lenco is comfortably back in front.

What I did not expect was that rewiring would make the music more accessible. As happenstance would have it, I had a few uncleaned second hand records close to the table when I got the arm finished and put back on. I put on Ray Charles "Genius + Jazz = Soul". This sonically OK sounding record (Impulse) not only sounded great but for the first time I was able to understand what Ray Charles intended using the Hammond organ on this record. I must have heard this record for the first time 25 or 30 years ago in the college library, and it always sounded to me like a vaguely lame attempt by Ray Charles to use the B3 just because it was popular. However, after rewiring the Sonus and using a Ortofon VMS20Super MM, I realize now that Ray was not trying to copy the popular B3 sound of other famous players - to my mind, he was going for the same type of mildly distorted staccato sound he eventually got from the Fender Rhodes electric piano.

Cool, no?

Hi Grant - who knew? Will try LP records presently.

Mike