From one legend (linn) to another (l75)

[jenson]

Yesterday, I received my new table from eBay/Germany, a Lenco L75. Every enthusiast has a wish list: Garrard, Thorens, Dual, EMT, and so on. While I hope to experience each of those, I finally got my hands on one of the legends.

I received the item in pristine condition. Although customs opened the package and had a view of the product, they couldn’t get beyond that as it was meticulously packed to the last detail—hats off to the Germans. Quality matters.

Overall, I’m pretty impressed with the table and its plinth. I didn’t know it was smartly suspended. The platter weighs an impressive 3.7 kg and runs super silent

A couple of kinks to solve: the output is DIN, not RCA, and the V-blocks seem like they could use replacement. The next step is to cut off the DIN and install RCA connectors, and then enjoy some tracks. Other upgrades can be addressed later.

I now realize I sold my LP12 for no good reason. It would have been lovely to have these two side by side.

 

[arj]

Congratulations !

First thing please take it out from the plinth (and burn it ie the plinth !) , you can place it on anything, even 4 bricks, 4 coke cans ( filled with sand) etc on the 4 corners. It actually pulls the TT down as even without any plinth it plays better. with a Lenco the heavier the plinth, the better it scales up so do try and get one made. lenco-heaven is full of ideas.

Second replace the tonearm, as that the 2nd worst thing in the lenco. ideally get a rega RB300, Any unipivot tonearm also goes very well with it, But this can wait compared to that horrendous thing they call a plinth.

 

[jenson]

Congratulations !

First thing please take it out from the plinth (and burn it ie the plinth !) , you can place it on anything, even 4 bricks, 4 coke cans ( filled with sand) etc on the 4 corners. It actually pulls the TT down as even without any plinth it plays better. with a Lenco the heavier the plinth, the better it scales up so do try and get one made. lenco-heaven is full of ideas.

Second replace the tonearm, as that the 2nd worst thing in the lenco. ideally get a rega RB300, Any unipivot tonearm also goes very well with it, But this can wait compared to that horrendous thing they call a plinth.

Lol no, I'll cling on to the plinth like a monkey to a tree

 

[reubensm]

Linn LP12 vs L75, can't wait for your listening experience. Congrats on your acquisition.

 

[analogadikt]

Hallo Jenson,

Congratulations on the acquisition of the L75. You shall enjoy it.

Before proceeding further I tender my apologies to forum members who have already contributed to this topic, as some of my suggestions shall go contrary to their opinion.

Plinth :
The original plinth is not a bad design and has a good potential for improvement. Yours appears to be in a nice cosmetic condition. Remove the four suspension springs from the base and refit the cover. Mark the position of each spring ( the tension is not identical, there are two types) and store them carefully. A springless plinth is much better. Another improvement is solidification. In this you stuff the plinth with "cut to shape" pieces of wood. IMO this is better than making a complete new plinth out of ordinary plywood or birchply. Solidification does not give away anything in performance to new plywood plinths . If a new solid plinth is desired, it should be made of either Permali (British) or Panzerholz (German) . These are engineered woods of very high density. Permali has a density of 1.3gm/cm³ . I have attached pics of cnc cut Permali plinth that I had made.

Tonearm :
This is a medium to high mass tonearm and a good match for majority of cartridges available in the market today as these carts are medium to low compliance. You only need to check the V blocks , black ones may be in good condition but white ones must be replaced. Order new ones from reputed sellers , avoid Chinese ones. If the stub that carries the counterweight has too much sag then there is a 10 minute repair procedure with dental floss and superglue that is well documented on Lencoheaven. The stub being slightly loose is a design feature to decouple the counterweight.
The Rega RB300 has been suggested as a replacement. It is a very good arm but does not have height adjustment, this combined with the sunken platter design of Lenco creates hurdles in achieving correct cartridge height. It becomes necessary to cut the rear left corner of the top plate and plinth to get the arm level.

General:
When you take off the platter, ensure that you do not loose the felt washer on the platter bearing. Go through the guides section on Lencoheaven and overhaul the bearing and motor following the instructions there. Also, turn the grommet at the end of the idler arm 90° or 180° to aid proper engagement of the idler wheel.

HTH

Regards to all .

 

[jenson]

@analogadikt thanks much for your acknowledgments and guidance! I'm already enjoying the lenco journey, while I have not been able to play an LPs yet, I have done a basic check-up and find that the motor especially is pretty silent, no rumble, it is bordeline shiny near the rotor, looks like it's either NOS or recently serviced.

There is some grease on the idler wheel spindle! Lot of small parts in there so didn't try removing it and just give it a clean, that's on my radar and so is cleaning/rehauling the spindle bearing at some point.

The tone arm, like you mentioned doesn't seem like its sagging, as you mention just enough to decouple.

In the plinth, it's pretty unanimous that the springs need to go, I might as well once I experience it as is .. the baseplate is quite heavy, makes sense to first try build a plinth within plinth. Before I take a plunge with plinth such as yours

My table is screwed to the current plinth towards center, one each near spindle and motor, no screw ons in the four corners, there are rubber grommets affixed to brass pins in plinth at corners.

Your plinth btw, looks solid like a rock, must be pretty heavy

P.s. I have not being able to play this table as the connection to phono stage is a din output. Ordered a pair of RCA, will chop the din off. Also, btw, currently ground wire is connected to shield of left channel. Thought is to remove this and create a dedicated ground, thoughts?

 

[arj]

Lol no, I'll cling on to the plinth like a monkey to a tree

if you were a first time user i would not have recommended the change in plinth but having moved from a LP12 its a different deal.

If you are hesitant to burn it depite thats what it deserves, as suggested above please take out the springs. you can put 4 pieces of wood there to support the corners. the problem with the standard plinth ( again it varied country to country) at least in the UK version was it was soft wood hence would resonante with the motor noise.

if you read Jean Nantais's experience , and Lencos bacame popular again Only because of his famous thread on Audiogon, the lenco becomes the TT it is, only after a very heavy plinth ideally as a constrained layer followed by a tonearm change. Without the above it is a very average TT and you can do equally good with a Dual as well definitely not as good as the LP12 which also incidentally scales up admirably with its changes but at a very high $$ price.

Anyway Lencoheaven is the best for this..and read the first tip to do here. The rest of your journey is yours to experience and enjoy . I started with my lenco in 2009..till 2020 had modded so many things in it and since there is nothing more left upgraded to a Garrard.

 

[jenson]

@arj pics to your earlier build thread doesn't work?

Absolutely, Arj! What you said about retaining my Linn and upgrading it over time really resonated with me—I only wish I had that direction earlier. perhaps livign with it for over 12 years and then no upgrade path really except for replacing the parts, which were really expensive were some of the deterrents...but, the table, LP12, was solid, especially the tonearm.

As for the Lenco, I’ve got so many ideas brewing, especially when it comes to the plinth. I’ve never been this engaged in researching a turntable before. Lenco Heaven is truly an incredible resource for that.

Regarding the plinth, I’m not quite comfortable doing it on my own just yet, so I’m hoping Sadik might be able to lend a hand. In the meantime, I’m planning to start with some of the suggestions shared here—removing the springs seems like a simple first step. I’m thinking of taking analogadikts' advice to fit some cut-to-shape wooden blocks and possibly couple them like a brace between the top plate and the base plate. There’s just so much you can do with this—I’m absolutely excited!

 

[TD150]

@jenson, I would recommend analogadikt's plinth which is of permali material. I have personally heard one and feel it is in a different league altogether from regular wood materials.