LENCO - GL75 Project

[Wakefield Turntables]

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

This is the cheap £40 version and not the expensive variant.

[Jimbo]

This is the cheap £40 version and not the expensive variant.

Ah then that will not be an SAS stylus but the Jico N55 replacement. Tracking weight I think is up to 2g for that stylus. I have this one too and track about 1.8g.

[helma]

A word on the idler wheels, I have the 54 euro one from lencoheaven bought something over a year ago. I think overtime the guy making them has had to use different rubbers, so they might not all be the same. I also have an original aluminum 5-hole idler, but it is bent. I got the new one with the intention to have a go at fixing the old one, I figure since it's made of pretty soft material there's a chance I might be able to whack it true with some careful hammer work. Haven't got around to it though.

I don't feel the new idler was an upgrade on the original, other than not being bent... but the rubber on my original one is still really supple and not hardened at all, so with the 50 year old idlers I figure there probably won't be two which have aged exactly alike... Neither idler was/is prone to rumble, but what little comes through (when turning up the volume way beyond sane listening levels) the rumble charachteristics seem different, as I recall with the original wheel what comes through was very low frequency while with the new one there seemed to be less very low freq rumble but relative more higher up in frequency, my guess is because of different rubber compounds. But again, this is cranking up the volume to levels that would make my Kef 104aBs explode if there actually was a signal coming through. In practice both do a good job on that front.

The new wheel seems well made and does the job just fine, but if you have an original wheel in good shape, I don't really think it's an upgrade, just slightly different. But good option to have around and all in all, 54 euros seemed a pretty fair price to me for a well made idler wheel, especially taking into consideration it's not exactly mass produced.

[Wakefield Turntables]

A word on the idler wheels, I have the 54 euro one from lencoheaven bought something over a year ago. I think overtime the guy making them has had to use different rubbers, so they might not all be the same. I also have an original aluminum 5-hole idler, but it is bent. I got the new one with the intention to have a go at fixing the old one, I figure since it's made of pretty soft material there's a chance I might be able to whack it true with some careful hammer work. Haven't got around to it though.

I don't feel the new idler was an upgrade on the original, other than not being bent... but the rubber on my original one is still really supple and not hardened at all, so with the 50 year old idlers I figure there probably won't be two which have aged exactly alike... Neither idler was/is prone to rumble, but what little comes through (when turning up the volume way beyond sane listening levels) the rumble charachteristics seem different, as I recall with the original wheel what comes through was very low frequency while with the new one there seemed to be less very low freq rumble but relative more higher up in frequency, my guess is because of different rubber compounds. But again, this is cranking up the volume to levels that would make my Kef 104aBs explode if there actually was a signal coming through. In practice both do a good job on that front.

The new wheel seems well made and does the job just fine, but if you have an original wheel in good shape, I don't really think it's an upgrade, just slightly different. But good option to have around and all in all, 54 euros seemed a pretty fair price to me for a well made idler wheel, especially taking into consideration it's not exactly mass produced.

Kai, that's an excellent post and thanks for your honesty. I'm still sitting on the fence with regards buying any new idler wheel's, the 54 Euro's could be better spent elsewhere.

[Wakefield Turntables]

More!

I think the cartridge is now parallel to the vinyl.

DSCN2662.jpg

Tonearm is now parallel and the antibias is set correctly. The tonearm collar is mounted properly and the cart now tracks like a Shure should, extremely well at 2g. The bass is deep and well defined less taught than my 1210 reference system but there again I'm comparing a £63 cartridge against a £4.70 Ortofon cadenza black/ SME V combination . Tomorrow I'll have a look at the spindle to idler wheel position, it should be 115mm (I think) and also platter speed stability, altough this variable will be pretty useless when the speed controller arrives. Now, the next few days are just going to be spent learning the sonic characteristics of the deck and then Frankenbearing starts to make an appearence.

[brian2957]

I was using my M55e / JICO cartridge at 1.5g . I'll try mine at 2g tomorrow and see how it changes the SQ . Bit busy today building bedroom furniture

Be interesting to see what you think of the various '' upgrades '' to the bearing Andy .

[Jimbo]

More!

I think the cartridge is now parallel to the vinyl.

DSCN2662.jpg

Tonearm is now parallel and the antibias is set correctly. The tonearm collar is mounted properly and the cart now tracks like a Shure should, extremely well at 2g. The bass is deep and well defined less taught than my 1210 reference system but there again I'm comparing a £63 cartridge against a £4.70 Ortofon cadenza black/ SME V combination . Tomorrow I'll have a look at the spindle to idler wheel position, it should be 115mm (I think) and also platter speed stability, altough this variable will be pretty useless when the speed controller arrives. Now, the next few days are just going to be spent learning the sonic characteristics of the deck and then Frankenbearing starts to make an appearence.

Glad it's going well Andy and you are getting some good results from the Shure cartridge. I may well be doing a bit if work on my Lenco at the weekend if I get a chance.

[brian2957]

How's the soldering going James ?

[walpurgis]

Any scorches on the table, holes in trousers, solder embedded in carpet, burned fingers?

[Jimbo]

I have ear marked Saturday morning to have a go.