ianlenco
04-12-2016, 15:07
Although I've been messing with idler drive Lencos for a few years now there seems to be a bit of a forum buzz about 70's Japanese direct drives from the likes of Sony, Denon and JVC so I bought (and recently sold) a Sony PS-6750 which I thought pretty impressive but really wanted a go at something I could try to upgrade - like the flying saucer shaped Denons and JVCs. So this came my way.........
http://i.imgur.com/SqqQKgbh.jpg#gWPQG
......and it sounded pretty darn good in stock form. In typical Japanese quality of the time all the controls worked beautifully and speed was rock solid. As plinths are pretty easy to cut for this deck I started using materials I had to hand. First up was a "no plinth" set up as I'd read elsewhere that this can work well. It uses delrin legs I made for another TT project.
http://i.imgur.com/Uh1buOhh.jpg#gWPQG
This sounded much the same as the stock JVC but with a small tightening up in the bass (all comments according to my ears :) )
Next was an offcut of beech worktop.
http://i.imgur.com/K3zUzlSh.jpg#gWPQG
Actually an improvement over the no plinth plinth. Sweeter and with a bigger soundstage.
........and then to slate which took hours to cut!
http://i.imgur.com/jHeZrsgh.jpg#gWPQG
I've always liked slate for Lencos - there seems to be a synergy between the two but I'm not so sure with the JVC. It had a more powerful presentation than the beech but I sort of preferred the latter's more relaxed approach. I was thinking then about building a fairly traditional birch ply plinth when a discussion about Permali, Panzerholtz and MU25 (variations on compressed, resin filled plys) over on Lencoheaven got me thinking and after pricing up the options I went for the MU25 which is the least dense of those mentioned and not much different in cost to a bit of decent baltic birch ply.
So finally I've arrived at this.
http://i.imgur.com/0Ns7qsGh.jpg#gWPQG
http://i.imgur.com/nGpavkUh.jpg#gWPQG
Arm is a 12" Jelco SA750L with a Zyx R50 Bloom and it's all sounding quite splendid :) To be honest I'm not certain the MU25 is that much better than the beech block but it's been fun trying different materials.
Cheers, Ian
http://i.imgur.com/SqqQKgbh.jpg#gWPQG
......and it sounded pretty darn good in stock form. In typical Japanese quality of the time all the controls worked beautifully and speed was rock solid. As plinths are pretty easy to cut for this deck I started using materials I had to hand. First up was a "no plinth" set up as I'd read elsewhere that this can work well. It uses delrin legs I made for another TT project.
http://i.imgur.com/Uh1buOhh.jpg#gWPQG
This sounded much the same as the stock JVC but with a small tightening up in the bass (all comments according to my ears :) )
Next was an offcut of beech worktop.
http://i.imgur.com/K3zUzlSh.jpg#gWPQG
Actually an improvement over the no plinth plinth. Sweeter and with a bigger soundstage.
........and then to slate which took hours to cut!
http://i.imgur.com/jHeZrsgh.jpg#gWPQG
I've always liked slate for Lencos - there seems to be a synergy between the two but I'm not so sure with the JVC. It had a more powerful presentation than the beech but I sort of preferred the latter's more relaxed approach. I was thinking then about building a fairly traditional birch ply plinth when a discussion about Permali, Panzerholtz and MU25 (variations on compressed, resin filled plys) over on Lencoheaven got me thinking and after pricing up the options I went for the MU25 which is the least dense of those mentioned and not much different in cost to a bit of decent baltic birch ply.
So finally I've arrived at this.
http://i.imgur.com/0Ns7qsGh.jpg#gWPQG
http://i.imgur.com/nGpavkUh.jpg#gWPQG
Arm is a 12" Jelco SA750L with a Zyx R50 Bloom and it's all sounding quite splendid :) To be honest I'm not certain the MU25 is that much better than the beech block but it's been fun trying different materials.
Cheers, Ian