What tt 's have you sold after getting a Lenco?


I'm intrigued to see what happens here. Since Johnnantais's monster thread has been running for 2 years i feel it would be great to see what turntables people have put to one side after having replinthed and re-armed a Lenco. There have been, I know, some very expensive TT's sold to make way for a Lenco.

I personally replinthed a Lenco GL75 and have an OL Silver arm and Denon DL103R cart on it now. I then sold a Thorens TD160 and a Garrard 401 on a nice plinth. One caveat here is that, while my Lenco beat my Garrard in every way, Johnnantais has managed to get a Garrard 301 to sound to him very close to a Lenco.
gilbodavid

Showing 3 responses by johnnantais

Well, I guess as the first to sell a high-end 'table in favour of a Lenco I'll add my own two cents to David's thread. I had a Maplenoll in various iterations, from early oak Athena to latest Ariadne with Corian body and 40-pound lead/graphite platter. The Lenco destroyed the Ariadne for speed and PRaT, the Ariadne considered the equal of the Platine Verdier and VPI TNT, and we already know how the TNT fared against the Lenco ;-). I found the earlier oak Maplenoll with lighter platter to have much better PRaT and life than the Ariadne, and did a lot of horse-trading in order to get my hands on the original fluid-damping trough/tonearm arrangement and light 15-pound lead platter with oak plinth which was the best iteration of the Maplenoll in my experience, a PRaT thing and control thing (that headshell trough idea really works), which I thought I could bring up to Lenco's PRaT standards and Sonic Superbulosity with some judicious tweaking and modifications. After all this, and the fluid damping trough, the Lenco was STILL comfortably ahead of it in ecvery area and the Audiomeca Roma I had, I threw in the towel and started the Home Despot thread. Why? Because, as I have repeatedly written, the High End is the Land of Diminishing Returns, and high end turntables should not be destroyed by other high end turntables, but simply improved on. The Lenco does destroy any belt-drive high end turntables it has been fairly pitted against so far to an embarassing degree, it was time to raise the possibility that the adoption of the belt-drive system was a mistake, that the superior system had always been the idler-wheel drive system, with Lenco acting as Ambassador. In addition to those who posted on this thread, the Home Despot thread, and various other threads, I have personaly heard the Lenco destroy several Maplenolls, not just mine, an Oracle Delphi MKIV, a VPI TNT MKII, a Rega P9 with RB1000 tonearm (while the Lenco had an RB300), a Linn LP12, and many other old classics. I started the thread which would either prove or disprove this conclusion, inviting those who tried to report on their conclusions, and so far no turntable has stood against the Mighty Lenco! Now the Lenco is reaching heights of Mightiness undreamt-of in your philosophies, what with Direct Coupling, motor re-adjustment and rebuilding, and new super-massive (and still reaonsably-priced) CLD plinths. The Lenco is the Alexander the Great of the turntable world, it's conquests just beginning: Next!!
Hi Raul, great to read your open-mindedness (a rarity in high-end audio ruled by reviews of expensive equipment/quality-as-measured-by-price) and sense of adventure!! I'm for it. In fact, with everything I've learned about rebuilding Lencos since I started this thread, having built several for others and for myself in order to spread the Speed Stability Uber Alles gospel, I am currently building the Ultimate Expression of the Lenco, as I know it. It will be HUGE, it will weigh 100 pounds, it will be serious, it will float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, and slam like a wrecking ball, and it will have two tonearm-boards. Once priorities settled - all money goes for a trip appreciating live music in scented gardens in the Mediterrenean - I will be ready for the Great Traveling Lenco Show, where I will challenge the finest on the planet without fear, time and funds permitting of course. And the Lenco is quite superior to the Technics SP10 MKII, due to its purely momentum-generated and thus purely analogue speed stability (smoooooothhhh with no increments), as opposed to the audible quartz-locking (with many little increments) we'll see how the MKIII and others measure up. Belts drives woooOOOOowwwww and strrreeettttchhhhhh and slllliiiiippp and the timing thus suffers, no need to talk about it. Vive la Lenco!!
Hi Alex, unfortunately I am in transition right now, looking for a new location and so there is no news for the moment. There are some Lenco owners in my area I've helped achieve Lenco Happiness who are willing to demonstrate. If you e-mail me I'll e-mail them and we'll see wat we can set up. If and when I have a sound room worthy of the Mighty Lenco, which might be quite soon, I'll spread the news!