The Reference Lenco Pt LXXXIV - Gaining Clarity
Just a little update tonight. Quite some time ago I decided to change the tonearm mount on the 75 from medium density EVA to Birchply. Well the change has been well worth it. I admit the job isn't a very good one but it has again brought benefits to the sonic performance of the '75. I have to admit that the changes are very subtle but it's only after a good few listening sessions that you appreciate just what the change in materials fetches to the sonic presentation. In short there is a small but pleasing increase in clarity to the soundstage. The birch ply has had exactly the same effect as when I replaced the ebony tonearm board on my Technics 1210, again a small but pleasingly noticeable improvement in soundstage clarity. The '75 is still behind the 301 and 1210 with respects to soundstage insight and clarity but its slowly catching up. Ideally I'd like to try a Panzerholz tonearm board on the '75 and even produce 4 mounting washers for the mounting threads. The panzerholz washers would have a better dampening rate than a simple washer and would also be non-metallic which I hope is useful in EMI purposes. An example of the Panzerholz tonearm board can be seem in the second picture, my 301.
deck.jpg
3012panzerholz.jpg
As ever, stay tuned!
SS
CD Teac VRDS25X(Audiotuned) DECK 1210 Mat Crystal Audio Mods MN Base/Bearing/Platter+Ebony armboard Feet Isonoe PSU Paul Hynes SR7EHD-27XL/DCSXL Ag DC lead/3 Stage Regs/Recap PCB+No Pitch/Strobe/Light ARM SME V(Kondo Ag Rewire&Tags) MC Cadenza Black FGS CABLES Arm Yannis SPD-4 IC Yannis 222 Litz+Ag bullets Power WAR PRE ATC SCA2 SPEAKERS ATC 50ASL STANDS Atacama PHONO Sugden Masterclass PA4 SUT Ortofon ST80SE POWER PSAudio P10
VALVE
PRE Croft Epoch(Modded) AMP Sondex S100 (Modded) SPEAKERS Tannoy 15"MG+RFC Warwick cabs+ Ref XO + Batpure supertweeters DECK Garrard 301 Mat Teunto Bearings 401(Bastin) Plinth Bamboo Arms 3009/3012 PSU Eagle+Tachometer MC Ag Meister II/FGS + Ortofon SPU MONO CABLES Arm Yannis 420.5 Litz+ SpeakerPC Tripple C+WBT-0681 Ag IC Oyaide FTVS-510 AgWBT 0110Ag Phonostages Paradise(4 Box Mega-Modded) / Croft Musicmaker
MONO
Pre Croft Epoch Power Sondex S100 Deck Garrard 301 Tonearm SME 3009 Cartridge SPU MONO mk II Phonostage Croft Music Maker Speaker Quad ESL 57 Cables Tonearm SME IC - Duelund Realsound Speaker SEAC 850C
Location: Suffolk, UK
Posts: 1,473
I'm Paul.
Really interesting project Andrew. Was it you that was asking about vibration measurements a while back? I managed to cobble together a workable system recently. It consisted of a cheap stethoscope from Amazon a plug in mic and an Ipad with some free software.
~Paul~
SS
CD Teac VRDS25X(Audiotuned) DECK 1210 Mat Crystal Audio Mods MN Base/Bearing/Platter+Ebony armboard Feet Isonoe PSU Paul Hynes SR7EHD-27XL/DCSXL Ag DC lead/3 Stage Regs/Recap PCB+No Pitch/Strobe/Light ARM SME V(Kondo Ag Rewire&Tags) MC Cadenza Black FGS CABLES Arm Yannis SPD-4 IC Yannis 222 Litz+Ag bullets Power WAR PRE ATC SCA2 SPEAKERS ATC 50ASL STANDS Atacama PHONO Sugden Masterclass PA4 SUT Ortofon ST80SE POWER PSAudio P10
VALVE
PRE Croft Epoch(Modded) AMP Sondex S100 (Modded) SPEAKERS Tannoy 15"MG+RFC Warwick cabs+ Ref XO + Batpure supertweeters DECK Garrard 301 Mat Teunto Bearings 401(Bastin) Plinth Bamboo Arms 3009/3012 PSU Eagle+Tachometer MC Ag Meister II/FGS + Ortofon SPU MONO CABLES Arm Yannis 420.5 Litz+ SpeakerPC Tripple C+WBT-0681 Ag IC Oyaide FTVS-510 AgWBT 0110Ag Phonostages Paradise(4 Box Mega-Modded) / Croft Musicmaker
MONO
Pre Croft Epoch Power Sondex S100 Deck Garrard 301 Tonearm SME 3009 Cartridge SPU MONO mk II Phonostage Croft Music Maker Speaker Quad ESL 57 Cables Tonearm SME IC - Duelund Realsound Speaker SEAC 850C
The Reference Lenco Pt LXXXV - Grand ideas.
We are now up to part 85 of the Lenco development blog and more ideas seem to swirl around my bonce. I've had such a positive response with the Panzerholz tonearm boards on my 301 that I now want to replicate the findings over on my Lenco. I was in the process of making a new birchply plinth for the 75 but I have decided to put this on hold and maybe think about producing an optimised Panzerholz replacement for my 75. I was also thinking about decoupling the tonearm and buying a heavy mass tonearm pod but now I think it would probably be just as beneficial to have a heavily dampened Panzerholz plinth and tonearm board to reduce motor vibration into the tonearm and cartridge. So in effect dumping decoupling the tonearm and going down the route of more coupling. The tonearm is pretty immune to vibration and the cartridge is mounted into a wooden mount that has a good dampening factor so all in all motor vibration should have a hard time getting into the cartridge/vinyl interface. I've also got a Mpingo cartridge spacer that I used to use on my Denon 103M, I'm in the mood to see if this could be used to help the sonic performance of the 75 even further by providing another layer of vibration supression into the cartridge. I'm also thinking that Panzerholz washers might be the way to go for even further vibration supression and dumping more metallic components. The deck has never sounded better. I recently updated the EAR 834 with x3 telefunken ECC83's and they have produced a large improvement in detail and ability to see into the mix. Now I need to spend a little time getting used to the Telefunkens!
SS
CD Teac VRDS25X(Audiotuned) DECK 1210 Mat Crystal Audio Mods MN Base/Bearing/Platter+Ebony armboard Feet Isonoe PSU Paul Hynes SR7EHD-27XL/DCSXL Ag DC lead/3 Stage Regs/Recap PCB+No Pitch/Strobe/Light ARM SME V(Kondo Ag Rewire&Tags) MC Cadenza Black FGS CABLES Arm Yannis SPD-4 IC Yannis 222 Litz+Ag bullets Power WAR PRE ATC SCA2 SPEAKERS ATC 50ASL STANDS Atacama PHONO Sugden Masterclass PA4 SUT Ortofon ST80SE POWER PSAudio P10
VALVE
PRE Croft Epoch(Modded) AMP Sondex S100 (Modded) SPEAKERS Tannoy 15"MG+RFC Warwick cabs+ Ref XO + Batpure supertweeters DECK Garrard 301 Mat Teunto Bearings 401(Bastin) Plinth Bamboo Arms 3009/3012 PSU Eagle+Tachometer MC Ag Meister II/FGS + Ortofon SPU MONO CABLES Arm Yannis 420.5 Litz+ SpeakerPC Tripple C+WBT-0681 Ag IC Oyaide FTVS-510 AgWBT 0110Ag Phonostages Paradise(4 Box Mega-Modded) / Croft Musicmaker
MONO
Pre Croft Epoch Power Sondex S100 Deck Garrard 301 Tonearm SME 3009 Cartridge SPU MONO mk II Phonostage Croft Music Maker Speaker Quad ESL 57 Cables Tonearm SME IC - Duelund Realsound Speaker SEAC 850C
The Reference Lenco Pt LXXXVI - Wood for the trees....
It's been a long time since the poor old 75 got some attention, I've been mainly working on the 301 converting it to a two arm SME machine . TBF I've also been waiting on some parts for the 75 and they arrived this week. I have Si (of Paradise fame) for the lovely big chunk of Panzerholz. This is going to form the base of my tonearm mount and is considerably more dense and mass(ey) compared to my current birch ply lash up. I'm going to try and retain as much mass and surface area as possible when making the new tonearm mount. You can see that the thing weighs in at 0.34kg, about 10 times the weight of the current Birchply version .
weight.jpg
Secondly I have also dug out my Mpingo spacer for the M55E cartridge. It adds an additional layer of dampening to the cartridge and it's also a different wood material. Again I'm trying to disrupt and dissipate and mechanical energy (vibration) getting to the cartridge. I will now have to fine tune the VTA of the M55E and change the counterweight to accomodate the extra few grams but this give me the ideal opportunity to make sure that the tonearm and cartridge geometry are spot on.
woods.jpg
The M55E is now encased in lots of weird and wonderful woods.
Mpingocart.jpg
It's probably going to be some time before the Panzerolz tonearm mount is finished as I have still to finish the 301 (which is nearing completion). I then have the really horrible task of assessing if these latest mods have any sonic impact by listening to lots of vinyl. Sometimes I feel all I do is work.....
Anyway.... now for some Sunday Jazz and single malt......
SS
CD Teac VRDS25X(Audiotuned) DECK 1210 Mat Crystal Audio Mods MN Base/Bearing/Platter+Ebony armboard Feet Isonoe PSU Paul Hynes SR7EHD-27XL/DCSXL Ag DC lead/3 Stage Regs/Recap PCB+No Pitch/Strobe/Light ARM SME V(Kondo Ag Rewire&Tags) MC Cadenza Black FGS CABLES Arm Yannis SPD-4 IC Yannis 222 Litz+Ag bullets Power WAR PRE ATC SCA2 SPEAKERS ATC 50ASL STANDS Atacama PHONO Sugden Masterclass PA4 SUT Ortofon ST80SE POWER PSAudio P10
VALVE
PRE Croft Epoch(Modded) AMP Sondex S100 (Modded) SPEAKERS Tannoy 15"MG+RFC Warwick cabs+ Ref XO + Batpure supertweeters DECK Garrard 301 Mat Teunto Bearings 401(Bastin) Plinth Bamboo Arms 3009/3012 PSU Eagle+Tachometer MC Ag Meister II/FGS + Ortofon SPU MONO CABLES Arm Yannis 420.5 Litz+ SpeakerPC Tripple C+WBT-0681 Ag IC Oyaide FTVS-510 AgWBT 0110Ag Phonostages Paradise(4 Box Mega-Modded) / Croft Musicmaker
MONO
Pre Croft Epoch Power Sondex S100 Deck Garrard 301 Tonearm SME 3009 Cartridge SPU MONO mk II Phonostage Croft Music Maker Speaker Quad ESL 57 Cables Tonearm SME IC - Duelund Realsound Speaker SEAC 850C
Location: Bournemouth Dorset england
Posts: 31
I'm Steve.
A modded Lenco with a well matched arm and cartridge will do much more than run rings around a Scottish springy thing ...pace rhythm and timing? The sondeck is left in the dust . Bass control....The sondeck doesn't stand a chance . now put a good uni pivot (noted fore lovely open midrange) and the right cartridge on the Lenco and you have something that shouldn't be compared to the sondeck....as it would be VERY unfair to the sondeck. I have been in a very lucky position , i have a friend who has a few quid and i have listened to some of propper top flight turntables...sme 20,technics sp 10,orical Delph 5, .......The Scottish springy thing doesn't even come close! ......but a carefully modded Lenco could give you a very big surprise ! Oh and I have looked under the bonnet of a sondek the engineering is okay.........okay! At those prices !!!! It should be on a pare with any of the tt's listed up above ....It doesn't come close!
SS
CD Teac VRDS25X(Audiotuned) DECK 1210 Mat Crystal Audio Mods MN Base/Bearing/Platter+Ebony armboard Feet Isonoe PSU Paul Hynes SR7EHD-27XL/DCSXL Ag DC lead/3 Stage Regs/Recap PCB+No Pitch/Strobe/Light ARM SME V(Kondo Ag Rewire&Tags) MC Cadenza Black FGS CABLES Arm Yannis SPD-4 IC Yannis 222 Litz+Ag bullets Power WAR PRE ATC SCA2 SPEAKERS ATC 50ASL STANDS Atacama PHONO Sugden Masterclass PA4 SUT Ortofon ST80SE POWER PSAudio P10
VALVE
PRE Croft Epoch(Modded) AMP Sondex S100 (Modded) SPEAKERS Tannoy 15"MG+RFC Warwick cabs+ Ref XO + Batpure supertweeters DECK Garrard 301 Mat Teunto Bearings 401(Bastin) Plinth Bamboo Arms 3009/3012 PSU Eagle+Tachometer MC Ag Meister II/FGS + Ortofon SPU MONO CABLES Arm Yannis 420.5 Litz+ SpeakerPC Tripple C+WBT-0681 Ag IC Oyaide FTVS-510 AgWBT 0110Ag Phonostages Paradise(4 Box Mega-Modded) / Croft Musicmaker
MONO
Pre Croft Epoch Power Sondex S100 Deck Garrard 301 Tonearm SME 3009 Cartridge SPU MONO mk II Phonostage Croft Music Maker Speaker Quad ESL 57 Cables Tonearm SME IC - Duelund Realsound Speaker SEAC 850C
The Reference Lenco Pt LXXXVII - Idle sod!
Just a really quick mini update for this blog. I've had the Mpingo spacer in for a few weeks now and I initially didn't like what I heard and then I realised that I was using the Sugden MM phonostage whilst my EAR 834 clone was being modded by Alan @ Firebottle Labs! The EAR is now back and the 75 is singing again. I've noticed that surface noise seems reduced and on well recorded vinyl there is no surface noise whatsoever! I've also rehoused the PS Audio P10 off the main rack which houses the 75 so I'm hoping to have eliminated so transformer noise and hum away from the rack framework. So far so good. The Mpingo spacer has added a very small but positive improvement to the 75. I'm now sitting back and enjoying the sonics.
SS
CD Teac VRDS25X(Audiotuned) DECK 1210 Mat Crystal Audio Mods MN Base/Bearing/Platter+Ebony armboard Feet Isonoe PSU Paul Hynes SR7EHD-27XL/DCSXL Ag DC lead/3 Stage Regs/Recap PCB+No Pitch/Strobe/Light ARM SME V(Kondo Ag Rewire&Tags) MC Cadenza Black FGS CABLES Arm Yannis SPD-4 IC Yannis 222 Litz+Ag bullets Power WAR PRE ATC SCA2 SPEAKERS ATC 50ASL STANDS Atacama PHONO Sugden Masterclass PA4 SUT Ortofon ST80SE POWER PSAudio P10
VALVE
PRE Croft Epoch(Modded) AMP Sondex S100 (Modded) SPEAKERS Tannoy 15"MG+RFC Warwick cabs+ Ref XO + Batpure supertweeters DECK Garrard 301 Mat Teunto Bearings 401(Bastin) Plinth Bamboo Arms 3009/3012 PSU Eagle+Tachometer MC Ag Meister II/FGS + Ortofon SPU MONO CABLES Arm Yannis 420.5 Litz+ SpeakerPC Tripple C+WBT-0681 Ag IC Oyaide FTVS-510 AgWBT 0110Ag Phonostages Paradise(4 Box Mega-Modded) / Croft Musicmaker
MONO
Pre Croft Epoch Power Sondex S100 Deck Garrard 301 Tonearm SME 3009 Cartridge SPU MONO mk II Phonostage Croft Music Maker Speaker Quad ESL 57 Cables Tonearm SME IC - Duelund Realsound Speaker SEAC 850C
The Reference Lenco Pt LXXXVIII - Monotonous!
It's all change and moving and experimentation with the 75. I've removed the Mpingo spacer as after extended listening I found that some of the magic and propulsion of the 75 has been lost. Karma was restored once the spacer had been removed. I've decided to give the Garrard 301 a little rest as the Croft Epoch will be going to Mr. Firebottle which means my main valve system will be silent and this means time to tweak the 75. I'm finally going to make the Panzerholz tonearm mount and may even finish off the new top plate with several more tweaks along the way. I'll detail these tweaks and include lots of photo's in the next update or two. I have now also managed to snag a mono-stylus for the M55E cartridge for the princely sum of ~£40. This is coming from Germany and was quite cheap compared to the near £70 that Thacker wanted for exactly the same product .
s-l1600.jpg
The Mono stylus is now going to enable me to take advantage of the mono-switch modification available on my EAR 834 clone and has neatly avoided the need to continually replace the M55E and mount a specific Mono cartridge, or even worse still the need (and cost) for a second tonearm. I'm slowly running out of steam for additional mods for the 75. The two biggest are of course the decoupling of the motor and tonearm and one day I may go down that route but at this moment in time I'll plough my own furrow and see what these new modifications bring to the sonic picture.
As always, stay tuned....
SS
CD Teac VRDS25X(Audiotuned) DECK 1210 Mat Crystal Audio Mods MN Base/Bearing/Platter+Ebony armboard Feet Isonoe PSU Paul Hynes SR7EHD-27XL/DCSXL Ag DC lead/3 Stage Regs/Recap PCB+No Pitch/Strobe/Light ARM SME V(Kondo Ag Rewire&Tags) MC Cadenza Black FGS CABLES Arm Yannis SPD-4 IC Yannis 222 Litz+Ag bullets Power WAR PRE ATC SCA2 SPEAKERS ATC 50ASL STANDS Atacama PHONO Sugden Masterclass PA4 SUT Ortofon ST80SE POWER PSAudio P10
VALVE
PRE Croft Epoch(Modded) AMP Sondex S100 (Modded) SPEAKERS Tannoy 15"MG+RFC Warwick cabs+ Ref XO + Batpure supertweeters DECK Garrard 301 Mat Teunto Bearings 401(Bastin) Plinth Bamboo Arms 3009/3012 PSU Eagle+Tachometer MC Ag Meister II/FGS + Ortofon SPU MONO CABLES Arm Yannis 420.5 Litz+ SpeakerPC Tripple C+WBT-0681 Ag IC Oyaide FTVS-510 AgWBT 0110Ag Phonostages Paradise(4 Box Mega-Modded) / Croft Musicmaker
MONO
Pre Croft Epoch Power Sondex S100 Deck Garrard 301 Tonearm SME 3009 Cartridge SPU MONO mk II Phonostage Croft Music Maker Speaker Quad ESL 57 Cables Tonearm SME IC - Duelund Realsound Speaker SEAC 850C