Historic TT Project

[Alfi]

Not yet Doc, but I will do and I will let you know how it gets on.

I still have a full time day job until end June 2016 and have also been busy on customers projects of late, but at the end of this month I am hoping to put some time aside to do a few of the things I have promised I'll do....

Pics of my Lenco 75 with the lid from the guy you advised me to have one made - it's very good and fits perfectly with a spare set of PL71 hinges I'l also post pics of my modded Techy SL150 and I will try out the lowered C of G mod on an LP12.


Alfi.

[_D_S_J_R_]

ALL idler drives add noise. Whether you can hear it is a moot point I suspect, but do please remember that a direct drive only has one moving part.

Lenco's are great fun and the vertical idler drive keeps noise well out to the edges of the soundstage - mostly very low harmonics in the midrange which you'd have to strain to hear. Garrard 301's and 401's are trickier to get quiet and in the case of the 401 especially, no two were ever quite the same, even when new I remember.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

So is the Thorens 124 as special as some people think. I don't remember ever having heard one.

[_D_S_J_R_]

It's a FANTASTIC piece of fine engineering and an absolute joy to own I think. As to ultimate sound quality, I don't know as heart rules the head too much on this deck. It's forgotten now, but the TD125 which replaced it cost more than the 124 and 150 added together I believe, from the Gramophone review in 1968 or so.

I've serviced one or two TD124's and have loved every second of handling the parts and watching them work together. I should have bought one when they were cheap on the used market (mid 70's), but hey-ho...

[Alfi]

Hmm a Thorens 124.. A belt drive idler b'stard driven by a lumping big Papst outer rotor motor I wonder too?

The Lenco is reputedly quieter than a Garrard as the idler acts on the underside of the platter via a very small contact patch, but it has to be in a better plinth too, rather than in the original el cheapo chipboard jobs which were like guitar sound boxes. The Lenco also puts less radial load on main bearing by virtue of its drive design. I have found that Lenco motor can be noisy if not set up correctly but they are relatively bulletproof and easy to queiten with care. I wager most noise that Lenco's are blamed for is motor bearing noise rather than idler or main bearing rumble.

Alfi

[Sandman]

I think that its relatively easy to maximise the benefits of the Lenco due to the way it's made and also minimise it's faults, and it's this which makes it such a good candidate to be a great deck. Good plinth as Alfi says is essential. I suspect that the Garrard reputation / price / name is a touch overblown, but maybe Lenco's will go the same way eventually.....