Successful completion of Arm Pod for Lenco L 75

[sachu888]

Hi,



Don't overlook the Thorens TD124 or Lenco TT's if you come across them in your search for the Garrards.

Regards
Rajiv

+1 to above.I am also looking for a Lenco.

Regards,
Sachin

 

[reubensm]

Lencos are the most VFM, the TD124s are so steeply priced but they are on the list as well. I will be restarting my travels to the UK by then. I am still recovering from one of my greatest misses while in the UK, a Lenco GL88 for just 110BP. Was not too sure about Lenco then as I always believed Garrard was superior. Nevertheless, an EMT is also on the list but in order to make a big-ticket purchase, I've got to complete my other big-ticket project, my 4000 sq ft family home

 

[kuruvilajacob]

I had noticed a slight rumble noise coming through the speakers for my new modified Lenco L 75 on which I was using the new Arm Pod. In order to find out the source of the noise, I pulled out my Stethoscope ( I made sure that nobody was watching me!) and placed it on the different points. I noticed that the position of the stylus was directly under the Idler wheel. Then I found a position (near the original arm ) where there was absolutely not feedback. So I aligned the Arm Pod and got the stylus to this position. There was a huge difference in sound quality! I thought I must share share it with other Forum members that if they have separate Arm pod, they should try to locate the point of least feed back and try to place the stylus on that spot for better results.

 

[arj]

.. I noticed that the position of the stylus was directly under the Idler wheel.

did you mean over ?
yes the position exactly diametrically opposite o the idler/motors position is what i found best to. thats why mounting 2 arms on a lenco might not be a good idea.
Even I am toying with going back to separate base for my lenco. currently it is on the plinth and that position comes near the motor...so am sure it can eb bettered !

 

[kuruvilajacob]

did you mean over ?
yes the position exactly diametrically opposite o the idler/motors position is what i found best to. thats why mounting 2 arms on a lenco might not be a good idea.
Even I am toying with going back to separate base for my lenco. currently it is on the plinth and that position comes near the motor...so am sure it can eb bettered !

Yes, I meant over the Idler wheel. If you use stethoscope, you can get multiple points where you can get better results. Diametrically opposite position is very good. Also if you position the arm at the back, you can get a good position. My observation is that when Lenco L 75 was first manufactured, many people were using ceramic cartridge which was not very sensitive to rumble and the position of the stylus may not have been very significant.

 

[Gerry_the_Merry]

If rumbling came idler must have been engaged. If idler was engaged platter must have been rotating. If platter was rotating did you still manage to place stethoscope on the rotating platter? That is some feat.

 

[kuruvilajacob]

If rumbling came idler must have been engaged. If idler was engaged platter must have been rotating. If platter was rotating did you still manage to place stethoscope on the rotating platter? That is some feat.

No the steth is kept on the outside of the platter almost touching the platter. As you hear the resonance, it will be least in some areas and you can mark that spot and align the position accordingly.

 

[kuruvilajacob]

I have successfully made my second arm pod from a tonearm of unknown entity which I picked up from Chennai when I went for the recent HiFi meet.I still need to do a little more work on it but it sounds very warm and engaging on a recently purchased Dual 1019 which has one of the strongest phono motor I have seen. I am using a Pickering V 15 cartridge. I have also taken the connection from the tonearm wire directly to the RCA cord bypassing any junction and this I've found reduces any loss due to the junction. I have been doing this with many players of late and this certainly enhances the sound reproduction. The tone arm is a no nonsense tonearm with no anti-skating, arm lift and a counter weight which can be used upto 8 grams! Obviously a very old one. If anyone can identify the tonearm from the picture, i would appreciate

 

[kuruvilajacob]

I have successfully made my second arm pod from a tonearm of unknown entity which I picked up from Chennai when I went for the recent HiFi meet.I still need to do a little more work on it but it sounds very warm and engaging on a recently purchased Dual 1019 which has one of the strongest phono motor I have seen. I am using a Pickering V 15 cartridge. I have also taken the connection from the tonearm wire directly to the RCA cord bypassing any junction and this I've found reduces any loss due to the junction. I have been doing this with many players of late and this certainly enhances the sound reproduction. The tone arm is a no nonsense tonearm with no anti-skating, arm lift and a counter weight which can be used upto 8 grams! Obviously a very old one. If anyone can identify the tonearm from the picture, i would appreciate

BTW, the new tonearm I picked up is a RF 309 Ortofone tonearm which is really very steady and with a vintage pickering V 15 cart, it sounds very bold and powerfull

 

[kuruvilajacob]

I have extended the length of the Ortofon RF 309 tone arm tonearm to experiment whether I can get better tracking and just like the Bumble Bee which did not learn aerodynamics, so it is able to fly, I also took the plunge and I have been able to achieve better tracking on both null points of Stevenson's protractor which is otherwise very difficult. I am waiting for George O to come and give me his impression on the elongated tone arm. To me it sounds much better than it looks but I would value the opinion of some one else as i may be biased to some unconventional experiments I am trying out these days. I am posting a few pics of the extended tonearm. I also experimented the same arm pod with a heavy base and a light base. to my surprise, the lighter base sounded much much better. It may have something to do with harmonics of the two separate types of base I feel. Anyway, i am eagerly awaiting George O's visit to get an expert opinion. The 3 pics show how such an arm can be used on different players. The first pic is Garrard 301,second is Dual 1019 and third is Lenco L 75 and the cartridge is vintage pickering V 15.

 

[Hiten]

Nice work kuruvilajacob,
Tracking would be always better for longer arms. For DIY arm how did you calculated pivot to spindle distance, overhang and cartridge offset angle? From pictures it looks like you have extended the headshell (Ideally tube should be extended) which will have more offset angle and depending on the pod position will not be good for inner null point. I may be wrong as am only guessing. But overall nice experiment. Turntables main attraction is tweaking and tinkering with settings .
Regards.

 

[kuruvilajacob]

Hitten,
What I do is to use the Accutrack Ryd'n the groove protractor and align at the inner null point S60.325 and use the stupid protractor to fine tune. Since I can move either the TT or the arm, I have flexibility to adjust even the SRA by lowering the TT or raising it. You are right Hitten, there is nothing better than a TT for tweaking. Yes, it would have been better use a tube for extension but that would involve extending the tonearm wire. I can actually adjust the angle onthe extended shell to get better offset angle. I never bother with overhang nor effective length when I align on the accutrack protractor. I think it all results in the same result IMO. correct me if I am wrong

 

[jls001]

I never bother with overhang nor effective length when I align on the accutrack protractor. I think it all results in the same result IMO. correct me if I am wrong

I also agree about not bothering too much about the overhang. If we align the null points as best as we can achieve, the overhang gets set automatically and that is usually good enough (at least for my listening). Earlier I used to work up a sweat aligning to the two null points, then trying to further get an overhang of about 15.3 to 15.5 mm. Was tough

PS: can you post some closeups of the extension please? How do you retain the structural rigidity?

 

[kuruvilajacob]

Dear Joshua,

I am posting some close up pics of the extension. It is crude looking but effective. I recently bought a new ADC 2 tonearm and will be making an arm pod. I will post you stage by stage procedure. Regarding stability, I made a very heavy base for my first arm pod but for my second one the base needs further rigidity. I am thinking of sticking a Velcroft on the table after determining the position I want to place the arm pod and at the bottom of arm pod so that I can move it to the next table when i want to. But separate arm pod could be the answer to many inherent resonance problems with arm on the player and not properly isolated from the rest of the machine

 

[candg.wales]

Hi Kuru

Thus is a great thread. I wondered how your separate arm pod turned out ?

I am in the process of doing the same here

Best wishes

Graham