LENCO - GL75 Project

[tapid]

Hi Andy , Recently purchased a reso mat on ebay and really pleased with results so far on my 75 with mayware / decca combo ( have you tried it ?)
Also do you think 2 mats is generally better than 1 ?. Lastly are you see doing the 5 mile, or was it 10 everyday.best wishes

[Wakefield Turntables]

Hi Andy , Recently purchased a reso mat on ebay and really pleased with results so far on my 75 with mayware / decca combo ( have you tried it ?)
Also do you think 2 mats is generally better than 1 ?. Lastly are you see doing the 5 mile, or was it 10 everyday.best wishes

Brian, I've had the resomat befor and yes it worked well on my 1210 but it got replaced with a crystal mat. Now, with respects to your questions. I usually stick with one mat as I find VTA problems can sometimes arise which means faffing about with the vertical height of the tonearm. You may also have problems with the two mats not sitting correctly on top of each other, so a record might be needed. It's hard to give honest advice but after messing around with platter mats for quite some time I've come to the conclusions that on my 75 two mats seems to work better than one. But I think it's fun experimenting. Finally, yep the five mile walk is still a daily occurrence.

[tapid]

Thanks Andy, yes flaffing around seems to be a continuos theme at this game me thinks, but as you suggest its all part
of this hobby!

[Wakefield Turntables]

Tonights Update - The Reference Lenco Pt XXXXXIX - Lenco addiction is worse than meth crack!

Sitting hear tonight listening to the Lenco and some Led Zeppelin as I can't be bothered being boiled half to death with the Sondex & Croft being switched on. I have a single malt in my hand and have started musing what can be done next to the Lenco and after spending a little time over on Lenco Heaven have come up with some new ideas. I've been following the build threads on a few decks and I'm always amazed at what can be done with these excellent little decks. So, the first idea is to dampen the Alphason's tonearm pillar with EVA. It's a cheap material and I have plenty sitting in the workshop. For those of you who want to do more research, fill 'yer boots http://www.castel-engineering.com/en...n-pads-219.htm I have no information with respects to how well EVA works at dampening but for the sake of a little work in the workshop it could prove a nice cheap improvement. We shall see .

Secondly I also considered further dampening the underside of both the heavy platters that I'm using, probably with some Dynamat. This has several advantages. Firstly it should theoretically dampen the platter further and further mitigate vibration getting into the cartridge. Secondly it adds a little mass to the platter which again is beneficial for the fly wheel effect on the platter and finally Dynamat has a thin aluminium base which should proof a little extra shielding for the cartridge from EMI (well it possibly could). The Lenco is the only deck that I've ever worked on which seems to better as it's progressively dampened. I'm also considering re-spraying the platters satin black to match the top plate of the deck, again it's only an idea but we shall see.

Finally I've thought long and hard with respects to this upgrade but it could be extremely beneficial. I've been considering buying a new idler wheel. I currently use a 5 holed version which is widely considered the best, but I have one big issue with the idler wheel. I have no idea how old it is and consequently it could be upto 40 years old.
The rubber looks good externally but could be buggered internally. It's also got ~40 years usage and subsequently could have uneven wear so I have plumped to order a new idler wheel. Again, we shall have to see what, if any this wheel brings to the table. I hate using new parts and have been quite pig headed in trying to retain original parts, this is why I refused to get the Frenck motor installed onto the Lenco. From what I can see the Norbert Idler wheel is very sympathetic to the original lenco design, so I'll give it a whirl.

I thought that this deck was finished but it looks like we have a summer of upgrading, foolin' around and having fun experimenting. What else can I say, stay tuned.

[brian2957]

Interesting ideas Andy . Firstly , I agree with you on the idler wheel replacement . I always wondered if it was one hundred percent . It must also be remembered that the rubber on the idler wheel provided a barrier to the vibration from the motor . Any time the motor touched a part of the turntable I was quite taken aback at how much it vibrated .

Agreed again on the mods you have suggested for the platters , although I would think twice about painting them as you may have difficulty getting the paint to take to those highly polished surfaces .

I don't know the arm Andy but I'm sure any kind of damping will yield good results .

Anyway thanks for keeping this thread updated . Always food for thought and an excellent resource for Lenco modders

[Wakefield Turntables]

Interesting ideas Andy . Firstly , I agree with you on the idler wheel replacement . I always wondered if it was one hundred percent . It must also be remembered that the rubber on the idler wheel provided a barrier to the vibration from the motor . Any time the motor touched a part of the turntable I was quite taken aback at how much it vibrated .

Agreed again on the mods you have suggested for the platters , although I would think twice about painting them as you may have difficulty getting the paint to take to those highly polished surfaces .

I don't know the arm Andy but I'm sure any kind of damping will yield good results .

Anyway thanks for keeping this thread updated . Always food for thought and an excellent resource for Lenco modders

Well I'll be doing some more tweaking and making sure tonearm setup is correct etc. It'll be a little more time before I dampen the tonearm pillar etc. I need to buy some drill bits and a few other bits and pieces. All good fun! The idler wheel is going to take ages before it arrives. I think painting the platters should be easy, just loads of primer, paint and then laquer, should look good. I've just started experimenting with a tripple combination of platter mats and seem to be getting better results! I'll be updating at some point.

[brian2957]

3 mats Sounds interesting mate .

[Wakefield Turntables]

3 mats Sounds interesting mate .

Well I think the extra detail I'm hearing is due to one of either 2 things. 1. The extra GIMP mat is helping a little more with the dampening or 2. The extra 2mm of height from the GIMP mat is helping with the VTA of the cartridge. More listening and tweaking/testing over this week I'm afraid.

[helma]

Andrew, regarding the idler wheel - the rubber compound used will change the spectrum of the energy that gets through the point of contact. Even if the Norbert wheel had identical compound to the original, it would be 40+ years younger and thus different The Norbert wheel is significantly heavier as well. I have one and I think it's a good wheel, based on the example I have of the original 5-hole metal idler, I wouldn't say it's really better or worse - just slighty different. I did record a noise spectrum of what gets through at one point, and as far as I recall there wasn't significant differences in noise levels, but the spectrum was slightly different. For actual music, I can't say I noticed a difference between the two, so I'm using the new one because I feel more confident in it especially after having to straighten a slight bend in my original wheel. Since your Lenco has gotten way more attention than mine, and probably has lower noise levels all around, I'm really interested in hearing your impressions on the different wheels.

I'm currently using 2 LPs + a mat made of cork/rubber compound for "mat". 2 LPs mainly because I needed the added height for VTA. When I first put an LP under the cork/rubber mat (again, for VTA purposes) I was very surprised to hear noticeably better SQ - slightly lower noise floor and just more clarity overall. Haven't since done any trials or changes, other than adding the second LP, which didn't affect SQ at least in a way that was readily apparent. So I'm not really surprised a two mat approach (or 3? lol) works well with the Lenco.

Btw. what are you using for lubrication in the main bearing and did you do any trials with that? Just asking because instead of getting a new bearing (like I probably should) I was wondering if changing to heavier oil or even grease would do favors to my knackered bearing - I had to polish the shaft myself using hand tools (it was badly oxidized), so tolerances can't be anything like new. After the polishing and replacing the bottom plate it does sound just fine though... as far as I can tell. Original Lenco bearings could be had for peanuts but haven't pulled the trigger on one, because I figure at the point I feel like I need to get the bearing sorted, I might as well get something that is an upgrade on the original.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Kai, i would like to discuss this with you further, can you please send me a PM with your email address.

Thanks

A

Ps I will answer your questions tonight after work when I have a little more time.