Goldring Lenco GL78 rebuild and plinth

[Cressy Snr]

Nope Lee

Tried all that and every which way else to no avail.

Anyway

It is now almost a week since I got the Lenco up and running, and it's bloody marvelous

It takes a lot to say this after three decades of frustration and mediocre vinyl sound, but I have at last become a fully paid up member of the analogue appreciation society.

The Thorens TD150/Rega/Stanton combination got me part of the way there but the Lenco/Rega/Stanton is in another league entirely.

Now I realise that most of this is old hat to you fellows who were discovering the delights of idler drive turntables way back in 2006 at EggFest 3 but this is revelatory for me.

I have not played the SB3 for a week as I simply can't get enough of the sound of vinyl played right. It is not that I'm hearing anything I have not heard before on my records, it is the sense of total solidity the calm authority that seems to come with a good idler TT that is the deal maker in this case.

Onwards as Mr I would say

Steve

[Will]

http://www.theanalogdept.com/diy'ing_a_time_machine.htm



Only one way Stevie boy....I've not played a CD for months & months.

[Dave the bass]

Cor. Will's got a big one.



DTB

[Cressy Snr]

Well,
Been having some fun today experimenting with coupling the deck to some serious mass.
I placed four 16lb storage heater bricks under the deck giving 64lbs of mass below the feet
and proceeded to have a listen to some Sly 'n Robbie.

Well I got the room shaking with the tightest, cleanest deep bass I've ever heard in my room
Only trouble was, my poor little 1.5W SET wilted as soon as the volume was raised to realistic levels,
audibly clipping at the bottom end. So in order to fully exploit the subterranean bass qualities of a massy Lenco,
I'll need an amp with a bit more power than the little 46 SET can muster.

However I'm not downhearted as I was able to get a bass quality more suited to my small 12ft x 13ft room
by simply removing three of the bricks, leaving one 16lb brick directly below the pickup arm.
This worked a treat and I'm actually quite glad I just used the heavy chipboard worktop in the first instance rather
than jumping straight to a high mass plinth.

For those with rooms big enough to support very deep bass, storage heater bricks are excellent for providing very high
mass in a small package. In the absence of slate, I would definitely recommend them.

It didn't take long to get sick of the sight of a manky heater brick under the back right corner of the TT, so I tried something else with great results.

I broke one of my heater bricks into three pieces and with the aid of a club hammer and bolster chisel,
shaped them so two smaller pieces would fit near the motor and a larger piece would fit on the pan near the pickup arm.

I then epoxied these to the base of the pan, which was rendered quite dead by this hefty bit of mass damping.

Bass is excellent with this mod and the noise floor has dropped significantly. The whole turntable now weighs around 35lbs but looks nice and slim in profile.

Steve

[al newall]

I think all that warrants a photo.

Reading between the lines...does this mean, another slightly more gutsy amp is on the cards?

[Cressy Snr]

OK Al - here's a couple of photos.

The first pic shows the bricks glued, with Araldite, to the underside of the top plate pan.
They are not fouling any part of the mechanism, this angle is to show the depth of the brick pieces. They may not look like much but they completely deaden the top plate.



The second picture shows that the bricks are invisible from the listening seat
and the fact that I've now straightened up the arm as I couldn't stand looking at it at the angle it was at. Just have to be careful when operating the on/off switch.



Steve

[Dave the bass]

Just have to be careful when operating the on/off switch.

Yup, that was how JTS and Jon busted my Nekkid 103

The current 103 mounted on my Decca u/p on my GL75 sits very close the the on off switch but we have a 'house rule' that means the arm lift stays up ALL the time there's not a record playing, saved our poor ol' 103's many times over.

Good thread BTW Steve.

DTB

[andrew Ivimey]

flippin'eck Steve... araldited broken breeze blocks -I should think the deck is deadened somewhat.

goodonyer!

still looks neat though, doesn't it.

[Cressy Snr]

flippin'eck Steve... araldited broken breeze blocks -I should think the deck is deadened somewhat.

goodonyer!

Aye Andrew,

I'm having great fun with this motor unit. It sounds even better than it did yesterday, improving as the glue holding the heater bricks has cured.

Next step with this, will be to use a shaped birch ply piece glued to the bricks, to extend them below the base of the motor. I'll then add a couple of full size heater bricks, one atop the other, below the piece of birch ply. This will form a pedestal, which after having been faced with decorative panels, can be then attached to a nice base.

The idea is that the pan is grounded to the support, leaving the top decorative platform "floating". We'll see how that works out.

Steve

[Richard Higgins]

It is possible to move the on/off switch across and keep it operational by modifying the linkage.

Regards Richard

[Richard Higgins]

And here is what it looks like from the other side

Regards Richard

[Dave the bass]

Slimline GL75

DTB

[pre65]

Several people have done similar. I did one ages ago and it went to Andrew I.

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n146/pre65/gl75.jpg

[Cressy Snr]

Cheers guys

Definitely something to think about.

Steve

[Cressy Snr]

Reading between the lines...does this mean, another slightly more gutsy amp is on the cards?

Not really Al

At the moment I'm more than happy with the 46 Monkey amp.

One thing I'd love to do If I ever have the wherewithal, is to build an SE amp based around a 13E1. High power (for a SE amp ) but without the need for KV power supplies.

Steve