Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot II

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

Since helping Jean connect with Srajan, I've been spending so much time listening to records on the Lenco that I'm not keeping up with Da Thread! But I want to put in my 2-bits on a week-old topic - how low-output moving coil cartridges work on the Lenco. In a word: Marvelously. When Jean mounted a Dennon DL-103 on my SME-V arm, he discovered the "Kundalini Effect" - a great name for the psychological response to a sound that is so extraordinarily dynamic that it's thrilling. Mounting my Koetsu Rosewood Signature on the Lenco/SME-V produces the "Ecstacy Effect" - the subtlety and romantic bloom nortmally associated with Koetsus but also a sense of power and pace that's not what people people associate with Koetsu. I figure if the Lenco works this well at these two extremes - big bold Dennon and sweet suble Koetsu - it must work well with any lower output MC.

Hi Harry

That turntable has a wonderful utilitarian look to it.

I also have a Sony 2250 tone arm (that will end up on one of my Lencos) and have absolutely no information on it. Can I ask what pivot to spindle distance you mounted it at?

Paul

Hi Harry, I too once had a chance to get my hands on a McCurdy Idler, very nicely-built (under contract I believe to another company), but passed on it as it was going for too high a price, and I was still sitting on my nice Rek-o-Kut Rondine I haven't had time to get around to yet. Btw, my Rondine has a small idler-wheel and a metal motor pulley, so I expect to get it to sing rather well and silently (I hope: rubber grommets instead of springs). I did hear a big Rek-o-Kut with the giant puck and plastic pulley, and in mono it was glorious and silent (in mono there is no rumble). So there is a use for these, provided you use them for 78s and other true mono pressings, don't lose hope for these amazing machines, as in mono they have all the slam, bass, detail and perfection of speed one hears with a Lenco! Good news for those who spend big bucks on state of the art mono MCs, they should consider these as well as, of course, the Mighty Lencos.

Thanks for putting your two cents in Bob: I'd like to add that several of those who have abandoned their Uber-Pricey belt-drives in favour of Mighty Lencos are using absolutely top-of-the-line MCs and tonearms most of us can only dream about, and these in full-range systems: there is no limit yet found to the Lenco's abilities, which is utterly silent when properly restored and rebuilt.

The Mighty Lenco continues to conquer, continues to prove that the Idler is - in spite of those politically correct pundits (and Yahoos ;-)) who want to pretend/assume all systems are equal in the absence of actual testing so as to "please" everybody and assume a fraudulent "wisdom" - quite simply the superior system! Once again it is about speed stability, and once again, at speed stability the belt-drive is the worst of the three solutions, which is precisely why - apart from materialism gone mad - they have reached the $100K level. The idler, on the other hand, which was designed and created FROM ITS INCEPTION to combat stylus force drag (at its inception cartridges tracked at 10 grams), is the BEST of the three systems.

To recap the logic: if it takes $100K to market a small motor driving a rubber band driving a platter to realize vinyl's potential (a VERY iffy proposition: we haven't compared these to Giant Direct Coupled Lencos...yet :-)), then the system is inferior. A good idler-wheel drive, on the other hand, can reach and exceed this performance level (as will become clear with time, Yahoos notwithstanding) for much smaller outlay: concentrate on the motor, on the idler-wheel, on a simple balanced platter and decent main bearing, and let a simple recipe of a non-resonant mass do the rest (i.e. NAIL IT to the ground so ALL the motor's energies drive the platter, and absorb noise). This is a MUCH more effective way of counteracting the much-more-serious-than-formerly-thought phenomenon of stylus force drag (which is why belt-drives in the $50K-$100K league are now common). Bringing back an old example: it's as if a group were proclaiming the superiority of steam-driven cars over combustion engine cars, but in order to make a steam-driven car which will match a combustion engine car for speed, it would have to be 100 feet long, weigh 100 tons, and cost $100 million dollars.

Anyway, there are more glorious conquests coming on the horizon, and the [possible] review, and likely more reviews and more conquests after that (each leading to the other). The Idler Phenomenon is growing, precisely BECAUSE it is superior, more and more are being swayed by the logic, and word is spreading in the audio underground and behind the scenes (as well as the articles which are growing in number), via those who have Mighty Lencos . This is a matter of science, logic, engineering and CHALLENGE: an exciting enterprise, don't let the Yahoos poison this endeavour, as Yahoos do (their reason for being)!! More conquests of very serious 'tables by Lencos on the horizon in addition to the review, and you bet I'll post them soon as they come in :-)!! Have fun with your idlers all!

A Rek-O-Kut Rondine with a metal motor pulley/spindle? Jean, you certainly live a charmed life! The audio Gods atop Mount Idler certainly seem to take a shine to you. I won't be suprised if some day you crack open a newly arrived Lenco and discover a golden idler wheel.

I thought we had the same Rondines. Mine has no model designation - but has the huge chrome selector knob, faux faceted ruby run indicator and red script lettering. Is yours the B-12?