Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

Another idea to follow with the 103 is a re-tip by Peter at Soundsmtih or VDH. I got the ruby cantilever on mine and it still sounds like a 103 with a touch more refinement and better imaging.

Ah the Old MM vs MC debate! Reminds me of the early/middling days of Da Thread, and the Great Cartridge and Tonearm Frenzy: signs of health to see it re-appearing here! Myself, overall I'm an MM man, but, certain tonearms do sound excellent with MCs on the Lencos and Garrards. But, in the final analysis, MMs are simply superior to MCs in the difficult-to-pin-down gestalt arena, and if I had to choose, I would have to vote for an MM. Fortunately, I don't have to choose!!

And the "humble" Denon DL-103 goes a loooonnnggg way to narrowing the gap between MMs and MCs at gestalt, and when mounted to a sympathetic tonearm (and it is VERY sensitive to phono preamp/loading, I find that, *generally-speaking*, with active devices it prefers 100 ohms, and with transformers it seems to open up at low impedances, like 3-10 ohms or so...but these are generalizations and final results unpredictable), simply rules at PRaT, which goes some way to making up for the slight shortfall in gestalt.

Ah what a complicated web! The Ortofon Jubilee, when mounted to the JMW 10.5 tonearm, gives THE most evenly balanced and "accurate" tonal balance I have ever heard (the JMW actually pulls this trick off with quite a few high-end MCs, seems to be its characteristic), and it also excels at PRaT and gestalt, though not to the extent of the always-slammin' Denon. But this too is valuable, as perfect tonal balance (AND perfect emphasis/capture of dynamic shadings, another JMW/MC characteristic) allows one to simply sink into the music (as opposed to being physically dragged into it - Kundalini Effect - as with the Denon) and forget about audio.

Though my Decca is always hooked up these days, I'm pining for my MMs, and if I have the time I want to mount my Black Widow or my Mayware (and some others) to Mr. Red and play with my MMs: the fabulous Ortofon M15E Super (which wows everyone without exception, and is the precursor of the rightly-respected and famed VMS series); the Piezo YM-308 MKIIX (which is a state-of-the-art information-retriever, and I have yet to hear it in my new set-up); and of course the various and glorious Grados, which may be the most overall musical cartridges ever made, and which set the standard (especially the Woodies) among ALL cartridges for retrieving air, imaging, and the sonic resonant signatures of acoustic instruments, AND of course the human voice. Plus, they rock, they do PRaT, they do bass, and they have a warmth which once heard, is very difficult to live without. Time, methinks, for some more fun with MMs :-)!! Thanks for inspiring me all!! Have fun with your removable-tonearm Lencos and other idlers!!

Another idler wheel turntable to look out for. I recently purchased a McCurdy Turntable (pictures at http://www.tamminen.ca/mccurdy/).

The story behind it, as I was told it, is that these turntables were used by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) from the 50s to the 80s and then were disposed of. Someone took this one home and built a base for it. It is a heavy base although not a layered one. The platter is aluminum and not as heavy as the one on my Lenco. The idler wheel is still supple and the motor is large, heavy and quiet. I cleaned the bearing apparatus and found that the platter spins very smoothly. I removed the old Shure arm which was not in great shape and replaced it with a Sony arm which I believe came from an old Sony PS 2250 turntable. As you can see by the pictures, it took some adjusting to get the geometry correct. I tried a Denon DL103 cartridge but could not get rid of the hum so I installed a Shure M97HE and added a ground wire. It is now quiet and so far, (one evening's listening) it sounds great.

I am going to give it a couple of weeks as is and then consider all the "Lenco Tweaks" for it. When I get into again, I'll take pictures of the motor and the underside of the metal plinth which by the way is a 1/4" thick piece of steel (I think). If anyone has any more information on this turntable, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Harry

I would have to agree about the greatness of the Ortofon cartridges in that VMS series as it really is clearly the best I have heard on the Lenco.The Denon 103 I feel has been slightly(significantly) bettered by the VMS 20E Mk11.A measure of this was the anti-skate for illustration.I don't know how many would have noticed this but I always found the 103 a bit finnickey as to where it wanted it's anti-skate and gave what could be described as different colourations of sound in different positions.The Ortofon is not like this in that you can hear the sound come in and right where it should be(30% about).I was also using pure silver interconnects for the Denon which seemed to demand the swift transients but the Ortofon handles even the Van Den Hul cables,which I thought were too fuzzy in the past.Now I hear what they can do.The balance of the Ortofon is superior.I still like the Denon but why didn't I notice this earlier.MC's are a plot!

Hi Harry,

That McCurdy sure looks nice and at first blush, it seems to have a few things going for it that might lend itself to be a good candidate for “polishing the rock” to see if it has the potential as another dynamic idler in the rough. In fact, I was ogling one of these last year, but let it slip away.

What attracted me was that expansive flat top plate and how well it would afford vast real estate for attachment and direct coupling to a mass constrained plinth in one swoop. Now that I’ve seen your photos, I also like what I see in that highly polished steel motor spindle. This is almost certainly a leg up on the Rek-O-Kuts and Prestos rim-drives with their bakelite spindles which seem to be prone to a slightly fibrous surface upon wearing.

Nevertheless, you’ll need to be open to other potential difficulties like motor isolation, noisy bearing, etc.. In my search yesterday on this turntable I could not turn up anything definitive on it – other than some “idler” chatter from former studio DJs who referred to the McCurdy as “The Master Rumbler”. But we also know that similar digs were said about the Lenco, and those proved of little consequence to where we are today.

So Harry, you may have to pioneer this one on your own for the betterment of the idler community.

But since you have it up on stilts, you might consider testing with a quiet LP (string quartet?) and reaching under and manually disengaging the idler from the platter rim and listen for the difference in unwanted signal coming out of your speakers. A stethoscope may also be in order for this new patient.

- Mario