The Achates SE is a no-holds-barred all-out design of the Lenco. Chris ultimately designed and executed a table that delivers all of the best of an idler with neutrality, background silence and probably most importantly, life! This table allows music to come to life like nothing I’ve experienced in over 25 years of this hobby.
Bravo, superb taste sir. Agreed, a properly designed idler drive can be a breathtaking, thrilling musical source for analog playback. As an analog enthusiast of 30 years and fellow AF idler drive owner (301 Statement), I can vouch for that first hand.
The Achates SE, in my personal view, remains a very special homage to the Swiss Lenco design. When this came out a couple of years ago, it was (perhaps still is?) by far the most evolved, modern interpretation of a Lenco 75/78 idler drive I had ever seen. Personally, as an admirer of beauty in finishes, I slightly prefer the aesthetic profile read: curves of the Achates, but respect the modern, scaled contemporary design of the more compact SE sibling. Judging by the modest footprint, one would never imagine the SE weighs ~ 100 lbs. If we had another smaller listening room setup, I may seriously consider this model for an additional source, or for curiosity sake perhaps a the new Sp10r fitted into a proper plinth, but of course these are vastly different animals altogether.
Are you using a dedicated ac power supply? If not, you may want to try one with variable frequency control, sometimes they are easier than fixed power supplies to finely trim and lock speed. I use one like this with the 301.