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
That article was such a tease! I can't wait to read the final results. If the new, full out Nantais can beat the Forsell and make Arthur say its the best he's ever heard, that's quite something as he's a hypercritical and fussy reviewer.
I don't need Arthur to tell me how good one of Jean's Lencos really is. Having owned and used many great turntables in the last 40 years, including Linn, Oracles, SOTAs, Maplenoll Ariadne Signature, and (lastly) a VPI TNT, I can definitely state that my Nantais Lenco is the best that I have owned. Incredible dynamics, huge soundstage, jet black background etc., etc., this tt is simply superb. And I don't even have one of the super heavy tables that Jean sold to Arthur. Now, if Jean could just come up with a permanent fix to that resonating spring to which Arthur refers (a fix I understand Jean has developed) Lenco supremacy will be assured.
Cleopatra 52: "Now, if Jean could just come up with a permanent fix to that resonating spring to which Arthur refers (a fix I understand Jean has developed) Lenco supremacy will be assured."

A ways back I thought up an idea for an electromagnetic tensioner for the Lenco idler arm, whereby a solenoid would provide a magnetic force via a moving armature, which would be solidly linked to the Lenco idler arm...no spring. If the magnetic force were properly governed and the solenoid could be made to operate silently, without introducing vibration into the idler system (most solenoids make noise as the armature moves back and forth), it could be just what's needed, but at a cost: a much greater level of complexity. The Lenco spring whose only function is to get the idler into engagement with the motor and platter; and the self-engaging design of its idler (and of any properly-designed idler) that generates most of its grip from the rotation of the motor shaft, is SO elegant in its simplicity.
Arthur Salvatore has updated his comments about the Jean Nantais Lenco at his site:

http://www.high-endaudio.com/

It is in the Recent File (and the Reference Turntable File).

NOBODY here is so lazy as to read just this one line and not go to read the rest, so I don't feel amiss in quoting Arthur:

"This is the finest turntable I have ever heard."