Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

Just by way of brief introduction, I am currently working on a Lenco project with the generous assistance of "Oregon."

I wanted to throw in what I believe is an interesting little bit of background. When I was in high school, a good friend of mine had an awesome hi-fi. It was my first exposure to good music reproduction. We would partake in the sacrament (the sale of which financed the purchase of the hi-fi) and listen to music for hours and hours.

In college I started on my pursuit of quality sound reproduction. But, alas, no matter how much money I have spent (and I've spent a LOT of money over the years) I have not experienced the depth of emotional connection to the music that I experienced back in high school. For years I have attributed that to the naive inexperienced ear of my youth. But now I think I understand. His turntable was a Dual 1229, an idler wheel design.

So many thousands of dollars later, and twenty years of digital jitters, and my stoned high school buddy's little system with an idler wheel up front would probably still best mine in terms of sheer musicality. I feel like I should be able to sue somebody!

By the way, does anybody have any experience with the Dual 1229? There's one for sale on e-bay and I'm thinking of buying it.

So the vintage Dual arrived today. Unfortunately, it was not in the "Mint" condition that was advertised. But I did manage to get it set up with my Van Den Hul moving coil cartridge. All I can say is, wow! (and not in the "wow and flutter" sense either). Even before I was able to tweak it, in several areas it sounded better than my Well-Tempered. The midrange was beautiful, smooth, detailed, musical. Highs were just a bit thin and it lacked quality bass, but I find it amazing that a machine that cost me under $300 could sound that good.

Man, I cannot wait until I get my Lenco up and running!

Unfortunately, I had a mishap and broke the stylus off my cartridge. (This has not been a great day.) Does anyone know the best way to get a stylus for a Van Den Hul replaced short of sending it to Europe?

Wondering if anyone can offer some advice. It seems that I have a European model Lenco 75 that I've been working with. The motor has these red jumper wires. Is there anything I can do to make this motor compatible with US mains or am I out of luck? It seems to work when I plug it in, but am I causing any kind of damage? Apologies for my electronics ignorance.

Okay Mario. I gone and done it. (Sorry...Listening to EmmyLou Harris)

My Lenco is finished! All I can say to anyone contemplating this project is, "Just do it!" and "Run, don't walk!"

It's taken me about two weeks of obsessive tweakage, burn-in of tonearm wire, etc., but the results are absolutely glorious. Frankly, I have to say that what I am listening to right now is, without a doubt, the best music playback system I've ever heard. And this is with a $300 cartridge and a $600 tonearm. The complete cost of this record player stands at under $1,500. That includes cartridge, arm, a $150 fee for renting shop space for a month, $200 for the used Lenco and under $200 for supplies including some tools I had to buy.

My Lenco has just replaced a very highly regarded belt drive table that I've had for 18 years and has been very well upgraded and tweaked.

And not to conflate two different threads, but anyone who says that digital currently beats vinyl in any kind of sonic way either has not heard excellent vinyl playback or they have tin ears. Sorry, but it's the way I see it. I have what was Naim's top of the line CD player just a year and a half ago, and while it sounds very GOOD, it does NOT sound NATURAL, like what I'm listening to right now. Granted, I have not heard the new top-of the-line Naim player, which some have said sounds analogue. But then again, the vinyl playback system that they're using as their reference is probably a belt-driven LP12.

Uh-oh....Am I becoming an "idler snob"?

Mario, what do you mean by a "system thread?"

Hi All. My new Shelter 5000 cartridge arrived last week and after about 25 hours is starting to make some real music. Unfortunately, I'm experiencing a lot of sub-sonic rumble. I can tell that part of it is coming from the bearing and I think some of it is coming from my idler wheel. It felt rough when touching it as it spun. I've tried taking a Q-tip with tape-head cleaner to it and it seems to get better but then gets rough again. Was it a mistake to use the cleaner? Is the old rubber susceptible to fraying? Would appreciate some advice from the Lenco gurus who've been around the block with this.

Thanks. It's metal and I have a spare, so I sent it to a shop in Mississippi that does resurfacing for a very affordable price.

I've spoken to a few machine shops in Portland and none of them seem to be able to polish my bearing well and spindle. Anyone have any suggestions about what kind of specialty shop I should be looking at?

Thanks for posting that, Gp49. It sounds like a lot of work, but I've gotten this far, I'm sure that I'll be able to figure it all out. I've learned to trust the Lenco experts. Hearing is believing.

Here's an idler assembly question. There are these little washers that slip onto the bar that holds the idler wheel. My first question is, are there supposed to be two of them, one on the inside and one on the outside? I have two assemblies and I've jumbled things up a bit, so I forget the way it was originally set up. Also, one of these washers snapped in half. Does anyone know what they're made of? Size? Where they can be purchased? Right now I only have one placed on the inside and I think iI'm getting a vibration that seems to have robbed me of some of the magic.

Thanks,
Glenn