LENCO - GL75 Project

[walpurgis]

By the way. Despite metal idlers being favoured, I'm fairly sure the plastic items are at least as good if not better. They are more inert for a start, so less prone to resonance or transmitting vibrations.

[brian2957]

They don't seem to be favoured on LencoHeaven for some reason Geoff.

[walpurgis]

They don't seem to be favoured on LencoHeaven for some reason Geoff.

I know. But I have several and they all run true with no warps and as I say they are pretty inert. The only drawback really, is that plastic idlers will all be old and the rubber edges have a finite life. However, there is a potential fix for those.

[brian2957]

Is it cheaper than 54 Euros ?

[walpurgis]

Is it cheaper than 54 Euros ?

Probably!

I was thinking rectangular section 57mm i/d rubber (not silicone) 'O' rings with the outer face accurately ground to a finely radiused 'V'.

I can probably cut suitable rings if I can find unreinforced pure rubber hose the right width. Or 4.5mm sheet.

And, yes. You can grind rubber. That's how some turntable belts are finished.

[brian2957]

Please keep us posted on this one mate . I for one would certainly be interested .

[Jimbo]

Well 54 euros is quite expensive but I wonder if it's needed? I mean the old idler wheel in your deck is probably approaching 40 years old and the one in my Garrard is >50years old, they both probably work really well. But, a new idler has less wear and probably is probably even thickness which is something that worries me about my Lenco. Some members over on LH report reduced vibration into the platter, but how can they tell? Some report that the deck starts quicker and seems to be quiter, but, we have no idea of their deck's construction. It looks like the new idler wheels do make an improvement but again I think I would like to "know" the house sound of my Lenco before I start spending £54 on a new idler wheel. Just out of interest have you seen an other members making similar products?

The rubber on the outer edge of the idler wheel can be prone to flat spots which can cause issues with noise on the platter. To get these sorted I believe the options are:
1 New idler wheel
2 Idler wheel rubber is ground back to perfect even depth on the idler wheel.
I think Dom at Northwest Analogue can do this.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Another night, another update! IT'S ALIVE!! IT'S ALIVE!!!

Tonight has been about getting the basics of the deck sorted. Speedy Steve finally came through with the excellently made Alphason collar mount, it fits and works perfectly with the '75.

Tracking weight. The JICO SAS replacement stylus for the M55E is quoted as tracking from 0.75g to 2g, have you tried doing 2g with this cart? Maybe it's because the collar is only held in place temorarily, but I was getting mistracking at 2g so I'm down to about 1.6g until I can get the collar properly mounted and fully level. The Alphason is shown to be tracking here at 1.9g but it's more like 1.6g.

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I get Dr. Feckhart's protractor out and checked alignment, the Alphason was spot on for Lofgren A, so no problems here. A few other basics checks revealed spindle to pivot distance of 211mm and measured effective length at ~228mm. Tonearm looked pretty parallel to vinyl but the mounting collar for the tonearm is not properly mounted so this is bound to be off. Still makes a nice sound!


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The deck is at least level!

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The first picture of the deck actually playing a bit of music. I'm now back down to single platter for the moment and as mentioned I will be fine tweeking the setup of the deck of the next few days/weeks. Usual stuff like offset and overhang angles, are all to be checked out and of course I'll do some pix to assess how parallel the cart to vinyl appears. I also decided to ditch my old Lenco mat and swap for my Garrard 301. The old 301 mat was king o' the crop for ages before being ousted by the Tenuto gunmetal platter mat, so I kinda figured that it might give the '75 a little extra dampening. I'll probably do a little experimenting with my copper record puck as well to see if that helps the musical presentation.

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I decided I wanted to clean up the power supply going into the '75. This is the Russian power filter I bought off eBay for £55 it has the same circuit that Lamm amplifiers use to filter power supply.

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Right that's it for tonight I'm ker-Knackered!!!

[brian2957]

Very nice Andrew . I look forward to your findings in all of this work .

The new plinth looks very nice indeed.

I've been tracking mine at around 1.5g . I'll put mine up to 2g when I get a chance and report back .

[Jimbo]

If it's. JICO SAS stylus in an M55 cartridge then maximum tracking weight is 1.5g. Mine is quoted at 0.75 - 1.5g