Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

Ah Jejune, living up to your name as always, and waiting for the first sign of trouble. I have written repeatedly about different arm-cartridge combos, and their interactions with various electronics. I am just putting a positive spin on a negative development. Don't try to make this worse than it has to be, a stock-in-trade of your own. Try something constructive for a change. And to get the facts straight, I use the epoxy not to glue the plinth or glue the Lenco to the plinth, but simply to fill in gaps in the metal top-plate and kill resonances. Otherwise, there was just speculation as to whether epoxy was a plus or a minus in gluing the layers (elasticity vs rigidity), no "insects" involved, other than a trouble-maker much like you, the first one, who was not pushing epoxy in the design/plinthing of Lencos. Produce the relevant passages and we'll look at it more closely.

To those out there watching whose behaviour mirrors Jejune's, don't try to capitalize on what has been an amicable "break-up" and make it ugly, the experiment is over, we see things different ways, and I'm very grateful to Rick for giving me the opportunity to go as far as we did, as I repeatedly emphasized. Now let's move on. I know I will, and will take the lessons learned to further develop my own Reference System.

Here's the thing, jejune. Rick's conclusions may have merit, but we'll never know because both the tonearm and cartridge were not alike in this comparison. I am also willing to believe Jean's claim that some of the shortcomings of the Lenco, if indeed they can be traced to the Lenco given the aforementioned variables, were due to problems with the idler arm. Any noise generator in the playback system, like an excessively vibrating idler arm or a noisy motor, is going to be perceived as a hf roll-off and/or as a loss of spaciousness and transparency. What's lost here is that for an expenditure of less than $2K, one should not expect or require a turntable to better the performance of a $29K competitor. I use and enjoy my Lenco, to the extent that I am not concerned whether or not there is something better out there. Indeed, for the amount of money that some people spend, I hope they ARE getting something better. However, I do not necessarily subscribe to the "you get what you pay for" school when it comes to audio equipment.

Agreed. My Lenco project was not just the TT on the cheap.....believe me I can afford multi $$$$ turntable but chose other wise. Not only Lenco gave me the chance to transport myself into the World of Music but forced me to gain knowlodge and know how on turntable building , basis , setup, materials, constraction etc. It is not always about the money.......is it????? It can not be........right? At least for some of us. I am glad and thankfull, those that influence me and help me build it and restore Lenco......that is what it is all about.....or at least should be.

Cheers and enjoy your records anyway you can....being it a 30K or $200 analog rig. Whatever makes you jump, dance , sing or cry.

Mariusz

Am I the only one who has read the reviews of the big SME tables that almost uniformly say that they are dry and uninvolving?

Rick is obviously a well healed and experienced audiophile and I respect his opinion in the context of his post but I dont see the reason to go off in a huff. He likes what he likes but that doesn't mean that he is correct - audiophile detail vs wooly musicality... How should systems sound? Like you are sitting on the bandstand or in row "m".

Anyhow it must have killed Jean to kowtow in print as much as he did :) Good for character building :)

Mike

Mgreene, I pointed that out, too. In at least one or maybe two reviews of the SME30 that I recall, the reviewer found it to be very neutral, almost to a fault. The fault line lies near to the phrases "dry" and "uninvolving". But lets remember that these adjectives were used in relation to other state of the art tables or to the writers' favorite table, usually high end, too. And they were used to describe relative qualities, not absolutes. So, I think there are elements of LP reproduction that you and I would like better about the Lenco as compared to the SME, but overall it is certainly not surprising that the SME30 would be superior. As Jean himself has noted, we are only beginning to see the potential of idler drive fully realized. I haven't heard Mosin's latest creation, but I will wager that it would more than challenge the SME30. OTOH, it may cost as much.