Plinth for Ruben's L 75 and 401

All, thanks for your feedback. I must say I have similar thoughts.

Mr. Kuruvila, honestly I am not sure about the angles of the photographs but I am now beginning to worry on 2 fronts: (1) the lengthwise approach and (2) the cost. Regarding point (2), being a number-driven finance guy myself, I usually go with quotes, this was my first ever blind build without estimate. Lets hope the numbers stay realistic. I will be watching that keenly from hereon. With regard to point (1), honestly I was expecting to see something like this (the tonearm is similar) from a positioning perspective:

SSC_0070_zpsd7c89e9d.jpg


If one draws a tangent behind the back end of the 401 platter spanning the width of the chassis, the overall dimensions of the 401 would work out almost as same as the L75. Hence my wife's design idea of almost equal size plinths. I was hoping for 2 symmetrical plinths that can be placed side by side and blow the visitor's imagination away.

Perhaps a better image will do justice. Also do not see the spikes from Mr. Murthy, assume they will be attached later.

Cutting the chassis is ruled out. Again the finance guy in me is speaking but any modifications to the chassis will drop the re-sale value in the Indian market, just in case I want to move on to something else in the future. Wify is also dead against this approach.
 
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Mr. Rueben,
The plinth for the 401 is already cut and for you information, the Lenco' is almost a square except length is half an inch shorter. In he picture , the arm shown is a 12 inch and hence the distance from the machine. I am busy now, I will elaborate when I am free.
 
reubensm said:
All, thanks for your feedback. I must say I have similar thoughts.

Mr. Kuruvila, honestly I am not sure about the angles of the photographs but I am now beginning to worry on 2 fronts: (1) the lengthwise approach and (2) the cost. Regarding point (2), being a number-driven finance guy myself, I usually go with quotes, this was my first ever blind build without estimate. Lets hope the numbers stay realistic. I will be watching that keenly from hereon. With regard to point (1), honestly I was expecting to see something like this (the tonearm is similar) from a positioning perspective:

SSC_0070_zpsd7c89e9d.jpg


If one draws a tangent behind the back end of the 401 platter spanning the width of the chassis, the overall dimensions of the 401 would work out almost as same as the L75. Hence my wife's design idea of almost equal size plinths. I was hoping for 2 symmetrical plinths that can be placed side by side and blow the visitor's imagination away.

Perhaps a better image will do justice. Also do not see the spikes from Mr. Murthy, assume they will be attached later.

Cutting the chassis is ruled out. Again the finance guy in me is speaking but any modifications to the chassis will drop the re-sale value in the Indian market, just in case I want to move on to something else in the future. Wify is also dead against this approach.
Click to expand...

Mr. Reuben,
I think your concerns though genuine are not as bad as you think. Please do not worry about the cost. It will be much less than you will expect and I would request you o come on Monday morning by when, the TTs will be ready and if any mods are required , they will be done at my expense.

Regards
 
Thanks Mr. Kuruvila, kindly post some pics are your convenience. I will not be able to make it this Monday due to some work commitments. Unfortunately, Onam vacation has gone straight out of the window. Will be out of station starting this evening and will be back only on Tuesday evening.
 
I had a sleepless night last night as to how I can rectify the arm position of the L 75 and when I got some sleep early morning and got up late, I just thought I must measure the pivot to spindle distance of original arm position and it was same as for the Jelco arm and went straight to the carpenter this morning and fixed the arm base in the stock arm position. The entire structure became different and most importantly, it looks almost as similar to the 401 plinth. I must say the carpenter has done a fantastic job with the plinths. They now look more stunning than any I have made. Now some pics of the stunning beauties! i will post some pics after I fix arms for both TTs.
 
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Thanks Mr. Kuruvila, the Lenco plinth is looking stunning in its new Avataar. Although I set out to achieve something else, now this has given me a new idea. I can probably have 2 tonearms on the Lenco. One where you originally fitted the tonearm and the other in its new position. Maybe one with a ceramic cart and one a MM cart. I must say the plinths are looking stunning. I prefer the darker veneer to the wood finish one so that's perfect. The lady of the house is also happy with the looks. One question though. The tonearm position for the 401 appears to be quite forward on the plinth, in appearance. Will the tonearm have a side profile or forward profile, just curious. Also the 401 appears to be slightly tilted on the plinth, guess this must be the angle of the plinth in the photo. Can't wait to get my hands on these :)
 
Reuben,
Sometime pictures can be very deceptive. I will post some more pictures for you to get an idea that the 401 is in perfect level. Regarding the position of the tone arm, this Jelco being a 9 inch arm, that's the best position to get the proper alignment. Had it been a 12" arm, the arm would have been further away and towards the back. I am happy you and your wife are happy with the final outcome. I have not ordered for the dust cover of the 401. Will do so after Onam vacation.
 
analogadikt said:
Mr Jacob, could you please explain how the Lenco topplate shall be coupled to the plinth?

Regards,

analogadikt
Click to expand...

Under the top plate, there are four points where bolts can be threaded in and the bolts need to be long enough to be bolted firmly to the plinth to direct couple . I am also thinking of some more innovations to reduce resonance. Pete's top plate makes a huge improvement in reducing motor noise coming to surface. My modified Lenco with Thomas Shick arm and Pete's Top Plate make the Table's reproduction outstanding . No wonder L 75 is now acclaimed as a TT that can be as good as the best reference tables according to articles on 6moon audio and other Forums like Lencoheaven and a DIYs favorite.
 
For L75 the pan of the top plate (sunken area under the platter) must directly couple/mate with the plinth below it. This needs careful choice of thickness of topmost layer of plinth ( assuming one uses a multi layered approach). I tried 12 mm and it didn't work. 10 mm worked perfectly. YMMV, as it seems there is variation in the thickness required even among the same model of Lenco.

Also there are few screws put from top of the pan that protrudes below the pan. You can file them shorter so that they don't obstruct the flush coupling between pan and plinth. After ensuring flush coupling, screw down the pan to the plinth below. Use as many screws as required. Drill screw holes in pan as needed. It's OK if it looks a bit ugly as the platter will cover it.

The four long screws which must be inserted from the bottom of the plinth will secure the top plate to plinth, but isn't sufficient to ensure direct coupling.
 
I agree with the above suggestions made by jls001. Further to that, it is also helpful to cut a groove matching the outer edge of the top plate in the plinth. This enables the turned down edge of the top plate to sink in the plinth, allowing the area of the top plate that surrounds the pan to couple with the plinth.

Putting together a heavy platter Lenco and a plinth is more difficult than doing the same job for a 301/401. The Garrards were designed as motor units suitable for mounting on flat surfaces. One solution around this issue with the Lencos is to buy a light platter model along with the heavy version and transfer the bearing and platter of the heavy model to the light chassis. The light chassis has a flat top and a smaller footprint, hence it is easier to work on.

Regards,

analogadikt
 
Continuing the work on Rueben's L 75 and 401 plinths, both machines were given a trial run today. I was also making a new plinth for another FM to whom I had sold a Lenco l 75 with a SME 3009 tone arm. The work of this Lenco was completed today and put to audition today. Wonderful warm sound from the Jim Reeves 'Up through the years" RCA US pressing. The cartridge was a Shure 97XE played through NAD 701 amp and Pioneer CS 99 A speakers. Wonderful feeling when you complete a project like this. Now for some pictures
 
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Update, spoke with Mr. Kuruvila this morning, we're nearing the end of the builds. Looking at collecting very soon. Have to work on the Tonearm wiring.

Any thoughts about using balanced cabling for the cart-to-phonostage route, with XLRs?

Also, another quick one - does anyone know that value of the Lenco L75 switch capacitor? I may need to replace the same but I need to run a quick check on the switch itself before doing so. The switch capacitor is key as it helps control sparking interference.
 
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@reuben: please have a look at this page: http://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=1927.0

Regarding cable from TT to phono stage, double shielded coax of low capacitance is ideal. I'm also researching just such a cable. Balanced cable probably will have twist and be better at noise rejection, but for that to work the terminating device also needs to be of balanced design.
 
Hi Joshua
I have recently changed my Lenco rca cable to GAC2 cable which you sent me. It was a major improvement over stock cable. There is very low surface notice, huge soundstage, good bass. Raghu also felt same improvement.

Regards
Sachin
 
I have experimented with several cables. I have found heavily shielded mike cables to be a good option for regular Turntables.
 
I was using amazon basics video component cable which was heavily shielded, low capacitance but stiff. Gac2 is very flexible and thinner than my previous cable and also low capacitance. I liked it over any other cable I have used it on my TT till now.

Regards
Sachin
 
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