Finally....I've been Lenco'd

[reubensm]

Finally, the long search is over and the lady has entered the building. Got hold of a limited edition (so called) Black Lenco L75 in more than decent condition today and spent most part of the morning putting the tonearm together. Its quite a sight to look at and quite heavy to handle (thanks to the heavy platter). This is the very first time I've owned one of the legendary TTs of all time. Lets see how the experience goes. It will be a couple of days before I can get it to sing as it has its original 5-pin din cable. I have to change that of course. Here are some of the first pics I've taken of it.

 

[reubensm]

some more pics (better ones)

 

[reubensm]

as you can see from the first set of pics, I got a bit of the tonearm weight system set up wrong, and subsequently corrected it.

 

[AMITNOIDA]

Congrats Reuben.

 

[jls001]

Wow!!!! Congrats.
Looks to be in fine shape. Was it a local purchase or imported from abroad?

 

[anilva]

Congrats. Change the tonearm ASAP and ofcourse add plinth in your case.

Cheers.

 

[olly42]

Looks awesome congratulations... hoping to join the gang of proud TT owners soon as my search for a good Technics TT continues

 

[reubensm]

Wow!!!! Congrats.
Looks to be in fine shape. Was it a local purchase or imported from abroad?

Thanks Joshua, I went the usual route, ebay.de and invested time over nearly 5 months, chasing probable L75s and L78s. Was very keen about the L75 and luckily I found one in very good shape. After carefully studying bidding trends and thresholds, I realized that for some reason (which I could not really comprehend as Lencos are usually picked up for projects), Lencos sold in deck form, without plinth were in less demand and also priced lower. The 2 key challenges on ebay.de which are (1) communicating in German with sellers and (2) trying to coax and convince some sellers to ship outside of Germany or EU, were overcome in the process. Also noticed that most German sellers did not prefer paypal which was another challenge for me. But I adopted a simple mantra which is used in the Indian marriage market, "be patient and the right girl will come along, some day"

 

[reubensm]

Congrats. Change the tonearm ASAP and ofcourse add plinth in your case.

Cheers.

yes, that will be on the cards once I get this to sing and experience it. I was quite intrigued by one of your comments made in another thread about the L75's stock arm being "flimsy". I was shocked to find out that all though it looked quite complex from a design perspective, it was indeed "flimsy"

Being someone who is extremely busy with work commitments, I hope I can find the time to complete this project. In the evening today, I was sitting back and admiring this piece of machinery, and was surprised to note that a different thought flashed across my mind. That thought was - "its a whole lot easier to just buy a SL1200, connect it up, sit back and enjoy the music".

Lets see how this project plays out.

 

[reubensm]

Looks awesome congratulations... hoping to join the gang of proud TT owners soon as my search for a good Technics TT continues

All the very best for your search. For Technics DDs, its better to look up the local market (except when shooting for the SL1200/SL1210). If one is patient, there are some good Technics DDs out there with enthusiasts in India. The best Technics DDs are usually put up by enthusiasts who are upgrading (and don't have plans for a second rig)

 

[anilva]

yes, that will be on the cards once I get this to sing and experience it. I was quite intrigued by one of your comments made in another thread about the L75's stock arm being "flimsy". I was shocked to find out that all though it looked quite complex from a design perspective, it was indeed "flimsy"

Being someone who is extremely busy with work commitments, I hope I can find the time to complete this project. In the evening today, I was sitting back and admiring this piece of machinery, and was surprised to note that a different thought flashed across my mind. That thought was - "its a whole lot easier to just buy a SL1200, connect it up, sit back and enjoy the music".

Lets see how this project plays out.

You brought up this point which has been discussed earlier in other threads - which is Lenco L75 thing is not easy stuff. Too many things to do before you get it up to prime shape. Change the idler, clean the motor, clean the bearing, change the plinth, replace tonearm, change the power and signal cables etc. etc. If one has the time and resources to do this, it will be a enjoyable journey. It is not a plug and play like a SL1200, which has all the good things going including a very decent arm. One needs to just upgrade the cartridge if required and enjoy the music.

Between well setup configs (DD, idler, Belt) , I do not find big differences in the quality of music played across setups. The sound signatures do vary - predominantly depending on the tonearm/cartridge combination.

Cheers.

 

[AmitKumar]

Hey Reuben,

so you finally found the lady lenco.

Congratulations!

 

[Record Player]

Congratulations on this Reuben. Patience and Perseverance has paid off.

The Lady looks beautiful.

Cheers...

 

[omishra]

Congrats Reuben! Enjoy thoroughly.

 

[Dileepboyi]

some more pics (better ones)

Congrats Friend

 

[reubensm]

I've got some queries asking about how much it worked out to in the end. Not sure if sharing such information in the public domain will effect or influence the second hand market and so on but here goes:

Importing a Lenco is an expensive business, as with all electronic items. If you are penny conscious, then its better to stay away from such expeditions. One has to be ready to pay and there are unpredictable variables like customs duty.

I paid 96 euro for the deck (without cartridge) and 92 euro for shipping via DHL, 9 euro as processing fee charged by the seller as I chose to pay by paypal and a further Rs. 3970 as customs duty (due to importing an old electronic/mechanical item) and Rs.100 to India post for carriage fee (wonder what that was). Then if you add the credit card conversion fee, the total spend was just around the 22k mark.

 

[jls001]

Being someone who is extremely busy with work commitments, I hope I can find the time to complete this project. In the evening today, I was sitting back and admiring this piece of machinery, and was surprised to note that a different thought flashed across my mind. That thought was - "its a whole lot easier to just buy a SL1200, connect it up, sit back and enjoy the music".

I've trodden down that path and wholeheartedly agree with ease part. But what is life without some monkeying around? For that alone, I prefer restoring a vintage 'table. But for convenience alone, the SL1200 is hard to beat - almost instantaneous start-stops (this is a great feature for someone whose main deck has been a TD124 where braking is manual), huge pitch adjustability, very good stock tonearm, ability to handle heavy tracking weights, fancy pop-up lights, excellent damping from the footers, and best of all - adjustable VTA. On top of that, what is not to like about the sound of a 1200 with a Denon DL103?

 

[jls001]

Between well setup configs (DD, idler, Belt) , I do not find big differences in the quality of music played across setups. The sound signatures do vary - predominantly depending on the tonearm/cartridge combination.

Cheers.

+1 to the above.

 

[ravi_d]

I paid 96 euro for the deck (without cartridge) and 92 euro for shipping via DHL, 9 euro as processing fee charged by the seller as I chose to pay by paypal and a further Rs. 3970 as customs duty (due to importing an old electronic/mechanical item) and Rs.100 to India post for carriage fee (wonder what that was). Then if you add the credit card conversion fee, the total spend was just around the 22k mark.

Thanks for sharing the information.

Very sad that we pay 22k in place where members from developed countries enjoy the same at 1/3rd of it. And not to forget min 15k -20k for an upgraded tonearm with cartridge and 10k for plinth and other bits to get it in top condition :sad:hyeah:

 

[sachu888]

Congratulations reubensm.22k is reasonable amount for this TT.It looks to be in a nice condition with metal idler wheel.I am very satisfied with my L-75.It is still without plinth and arm from an old Pioneer Pl A25 TT.It is also very easy to work,very few part and no complex mechanism like Dual or Garrard.

Regards,
Sachin