HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

Did some more work on the lenco. I pulled the motor and rebuilt it, as I dug out my build notes for it and something was missing. Yes i am a sad twat who keeps notes on these things, comes in handy down the line though.

Turns out that the recon motor I put in it to replace the completely seized original never got any attention, i just dropped it in for some reason.
Notes said 'feels ok, no drag, rebuild? ' then nothing.

Noise floor has dropped nicely, and the annoying tick it had developed has been sorted too.

I demoed it for a chap in January who subsequently ordered the one with the roksan tabriz arm on, and it was obviously performing under par at the time. I really should stop neglecting things..... Much betterer now

While I was at it i degreased the motor spindle, platter underside and idler wheel tyre with a product called elbow grease (no really). I use it because its a solvent free degreaser so it doesnt attack the rubber idler tyre or the machined surfaces. Makes a huge difference to pitch stability to do this as it stops the idler losing traction.
Used it on the truspeed deck too on the subplatter and the motor spindle and it worked on that too.
Its amazing how much crap comes off.

I also took some time to play with the setup for the at1100 arm. Dropped the arm height slightly to bring the vta to the right angle, and set the tracking weight to the 1.4g that audio technica specify for the at150. Had it set at 1.6 as that seemed best in the mayware, its better at the suggested 1.4 in this arm.

Then played records all day

Finally got around to doing some more resto work on my collection of spinny things.
Got onto the 301.
I built a plinth for it going on 6 months ago when I was doing a customer restoration on a goldring g88, the plinth was identical in construction to that one just the cutout was different for obvious reasons.
It did not get veneered, or get any feet, or a power inlet.
I did prototype an arm board for a different arm (the mayware that is now on the jbe that my dad has).

So it's been sat doing nothing.
Got some veneer on it, and mocked it up with my audiomods arm and some ancient cone feet that are far too tall.

Pics to follow

first pic

Garrard 301 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

arm is an audiomods classic

pic 2

2019-02-23_05-30-01 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

here can see the prototype arm board, this sits on an internal tower so that motor unit vibration has to go through much more of the plinth than usual to get into the arm base.

pic 3

Audiomods classic by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

can see here that it needs making again so that the flange sits flush with the top

pic 4.

Garrard 301 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

as you can see its a big bugger, has to be though as the motor depth is large. feet will not be the ones on it when its done

pic 5.

Garrard 301 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

i think the plinth looks reasonably elegant for something that is inherently ugly....

I was thinking about making plinths like these part of my range, any feedback appreciated, even if it is to say its pig ugly, at least id have an idea what folks wanted

I prefer it to the lozenge shape, more traditional - for me a plinth is a plinth, it has a job to do, and look well made in the process. Some try to make the plinth look more important than the TT - wrong IMO.

Very nice.

Yep, very nice

I like that plinth. It says I am solid and wont be mucking up the sound to me. Nice rich colour.

Dr Bunsen Honeydew wrote: ↑Sat Feb 23, 2019 9:11 pm Some try to make the plinth look more important than the TT - wrong IMO.

I agree with that, aesthetically the 301 (401, g88, 99, whatever is in it) is interesting and the plinth is not, that's why in this case it's dark to contrast with the 301. It makes the 301 the bit the eye is drawn to and means the plinth recedes somewhat.
I'd rather see a deck in a plinth than a plinth with a deck in it.

Lovely work, like the Doc i'm not a fan of regular sided plinths for big motor decks.

some more work done on it this evening.
I got some new legs and a new arm mounting turned for it yesterday, I went with a taller leg than i would normally so theres plenty of airflow underneath to get to that ooooge motor

Garrard 301 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

the finish has become a lot richer with the polish applied. feet are turned from some very old oak and the darker dolour is natural

Garrard 301 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

the arm mounting is solid walnut and now sits flush with the top

Garrard 301 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

the richer finish seems to give more contrast, making the motor unit (and arm) stand out more

Garrard 301 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

and just because i can, a gratuitous shot of the lenco, 301, jvc ql-y5f and a ridiculous 15" fane speaker. and a mess. yes i am allowed a speaker that ugly.......... they will get finished eventually............

301, QL-Y5F, type 2 lenco and enormous speaker by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

its only had one coat of briwax so far, i'll let it cure overnight then so another one tomorrow.
nearly there