Friends reunited

[NRG]

Reacquainted myself with an old friend today...my GL99 is back in the system! Yay!

:lolsign:

Boy have I missed it....while my SP10/SlateDeck was a very fine combo I just could not get on with it...something about the presentation just did not engage with me and I found myself playing with DAC's and all things digital, ignoring the LP collection.

I've not given up with the SP10 I'm going to try some tweaks and a new tonearm in the future but for now the GL99 still sits at the top of the tree for me.

Here she is, the Kontra B is away being re-tipped so the Ortofon Bronze is on duty...

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l82/_NRG_/other/DSCF4131.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l82/_NRG_/other/DSCF4132.jpg

The Bass is not as tight as the SP10 but it's almost there and no doubt could be improved with a hardwood or plywood plinth. The mid range, top end and detailing is every bit as good though it really plays tunes.....it has a nice tone as my mum would say :doh:

:gig:

[Spectral Morn]

Hi Neal


Wow what a beautiful turntable :):) I would love to hear TT,s like this at some point in the future.....In all my years I have never seen any of this more mature kit. I guess where I live audio enthusiasts must have overlooked it or were wrongly to embarrassed to bring it into the shop where I worked(I suppose they fitted their own carts) Oh well.


Regards D S D L

[NRG]

Hi Neil, yes, the old kit is a bit of shock when you get to hear a well sorted example.

I moved to the GL99 from a fully sorted Gyro deck with Orbe platter and DC motor upgrade....which had previously blown away a (then) top spec LP12/Ekos/Cirkus/Lingo/Arkiv combo!

So thats how high I regard the GL99.

I got mine from Ebay in the ply plinth above....I made up the MDF spacer to raise the deck for the GH242 arm....as you can see it's a bit heath robinson but it really sings.

The arm plate is also home made, as you can see, from a cup coaster! The motor has been fully serviced and it has a NOS idler wheel and NOS platter bearing assembly that has been upgraded with a full oil kit from a guy of the old Lenco Lovers forum.

Happy days!

[Clive]

Maybe you're just more of an idler chap. Strange though, you'd have thought an SP10 would be the DB's. Did the slate plinth change it much? As you know I'm a great fan of slate on idlers, I think this is partly because it cleans up the sound somewhat, maybe that's too much of a good thing with an already clean sounding SP10? Or maybe it's just the arm as you're suspecting.

[NRG]

Hi Clive, maybe.

I've not heard the SP10 in any other plinth so can't compare. I was in two minds when ordering the plinth to go for SP10 or GL99....maybe I made the wrong choice :doh:

I've tried an SME309 with the SP10 and also the Hadcock (which was better) but still no cigar....I'm tempted to get the jigsaw out and knock up a quick plinth out of the Norwegen ply I have in the garage....maybe later in the year :)

[SPS]

i find your comments quite suprising Neal,...

I have an old 88 in the garage i may be tempted to put it on a decent plinth...

mind you.. i felt that way with the 124..

I assume the 99 is better than the 75, Will's 75 sounded very nice...

cheers
s

[Ammonite Audio]

This thread reminds me that I really must get around to rebuilding my GL75, which has been in bits for at least two years. In the box of Lenco bits I have Joel's bearing upgrade kit as well, as yet unused. A recent bit of building work in the kitchen has yielded some large offcuts of solid oak worksurface which may be suitable for a plinth, at least for a start.

I need a router, though! Where's that Screwfix catalogue?

I'm not far off the point where I can compare my two Jap DDs, and it would be really interesting to throw the old Swiss thing into the ring as well!

[NRG]

Sounds like a plan Shuggie...Joel, yes that's the name I couldn't recall earlier...its a good kit and works well.

Steve, the 75 is the same as the 99, the 99 never came with an arm and has variable speed adjustment....otherwise they are identical.

[Ali Tait]

I don't have a TT and don't pretend to know anyfin much about them,but I'd heard Nick Gorham's SP10 many times in it's old plinth in his system,and I can say the change to a slate plinth was nothing short of jaw dropping.Beguiling doesn't do what I heard justice.

[DSJR]

The 88 and 99 are superb if not allowed to rumble. As well as many GL75's over the years, I had a G88 with mk1 12" SME (where the bias assembly was an extra - from 1962) and at the time the arm wouldn't work with any of the cartridges then available and plinth makers weren't around....

Please try this if you're good at soldering and can get some large diameter heatshrink to insulate it properly and make it safe. A HiFi Sound review of the period (1968) suggested a 10 Watt resistor in series with the mains supply, which reduced motor vibration a lot and the "kick" on startup a bit. I think I used 25 Ohms or so. It really helped the noise floor and had no effect on speed or slowing under load (the Lenco's don't.....).

[Marco]

Congrats, Neal, on your newly reinstated 'relationship' :eyebrows:

That's a very nice T/T, which I'm sure will work a treat with your 'Haddy' and Ortofon.

I've not yet heard a decent Lenco (hopefully that situation will change soon) but it does seem to have a different presentation to the Garrards and Thorens decks, and certainly the Techies...

There could be a multitude of reasons why you (so far) haven't got on with your SP10, nothwithstanding of course the fact that it might just not be your thing.

Were you using the Haddy on it, too?

Marco.

[Beechwoods]

I like the GL-99, Lenco's answer to the 401. I've an eye out for an 88 or 99 as a project TT to partner with a tonearm my dad made to go with his 301.

The last 88 on eBay a month or two ago went for about £150 so I think the secret may be out :)

[NRG]

Hi Nick, yes I think the horse has well and truly bolted with the Lenco but you can still get the odd bargain on the 'bay if you are lucky.

DAve, the resistor idea is similar to the light bulb mod used on the Garrards, unfortunately it does not work that well in practice. The motor torque is lowered resulting in a softening of the sound with less speed and impact.

It's better to properly service and fettle these decks than muck about with the power supply. The plinth has a big effect on rumble as well. I built a 50W AC supply for my Lenco using a monolithic bridge amplifier to generate a clean 50Hz 240V...but it was not as good as using the raw mains.

Marco, yes tried the GH242, it was better but still no cigar. I've a few ideas I'm going to try and will revisit it sometime later.

Cheers.

[Clive]

It's better to properly service and fettle these decks than muck about with the power supply. The plinth has a big effect on rumble as well. I built a 50W AC supply for my Lenco using a monolithic bridge amplifier to generate a clean 50Hz 240V...but it was not as good as using the raw mains.
Too much of an inductive load methinks....

[DSJR]

Hi Nick, yes I think the horse has well and truly bolted with the Lenco but you can still get the odd bargain on the 'bay if you are lucky.

DAve, the resistor idea is similar to the light bulb mod used on the Garrards, unfortunately it does not work that well in practice. The motor torque is lowered resulting in a softening of the sound with less speed and impact.

It's better to properly service and fettle these decks than muck about with the power supply. The plinth has a big effect on rumble as well. I built a 50W AC supply for my Lenco using a monolithic bridge amplifier to generate a clean 50Hz 240V...but it was not as good as using the raw mains.

Marco, yes tried the GH242, it was better but still no cigar. I've a few ideas I'm going to try and will revisit it sometime later.

Cheers.


Apologies, but I'm confused.. How can "slightly" reducing the motor torque (there's still loads there and the platter is hardly lightweight) and knocking a good few db off the rumble figures (actually motor harmonics) softens the sound and reduce dynamics? I didn't think that was possible myself, but there you go. It certainly improved the GL75's I did it on and using cartridges which tracked at 2 grammes or less.. I mean, Linn and NAS specialise in having their heavy platters "just" being given enough torque to keep them rotating and Linn have finally bitten the bullet and gone over to DC drive (at great expense for LP12 fans). I was just thinking of a deck designed for 220V being slightly over-run by 10% or so, causing slightly more vibration (these old motors have easily proved their reliability in service - bless 'em).

Next time I visit HiFi Dave, I'm going to try to get there early and forage in his vast store of old mags. I'm hoping he'll have the 1968 HiFi Sound issue with the turntable group test, including the 401, G99, TD124 and Sony TTS 3000. It would be handy to scan it for the technical bits if nothing else. There are some good old cartridge tests I want to scan if possible too - SL15e, ADC 25/26 and Empire 1000 ZE/X as well as the pre London era Decca's.

Still, you guys are working at quite rareified levels these days compared to when these decks were made, yet alone when they were being chucked out in the seventies, so things that were recommended back then may not be suitable today.

I'm trying hard you know ;) I'm well past the age when narrow waists and broad minds swap places and it's very hard to reverse this process as "experience" takes over from youthful enthusiasm :) - I first played with these things back in the mid seventies, when the GL78 was still current and direct drives ruled. This was before a certain Scottish product got its poo together :lool:

[NRG]

Its not 'slightly' Dave ;) Its effect is clearly audible, the low torque high mass angle does not work with these decks the motor is directly coupled to the platter and the speed recovery / control with a lower torque is worse because of it. Rumble is better controlled via plinth design and correct servicing / setup.