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Goldring lenco help??

L

Lookaftering

New Member
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3108/2583343815_bb97e92914.jpg

Hello there.
I'm just wondering if anyone here is able to help me?
I'm getting quite interested in goldring lenco record players and have found a picture of one online that I like. To me, it doesn't look standard, like someone has converted the plinth, simplified the whole it cosmetically. I have added a link to the picture of it, above, and just wondered if anyone here knew where it was from? The picture is either from this website or Flickr, I can't tell.
Any help in either finding one like it, or even who converted it would be really helpful.
Any ideas?
My email address is [email protected], and I'm slightly more contactable through that, though I'll obviously check back here.
Thanks in advance for any help offered.
Kind regards, Samuel.
 
I'm not an expert but it doesn't look like a Lenco, or at least like the Lencos I've seen. The classic Lenco (L75, L78) have a lever on the bottom left-hand side to change the speeds. Unless someone has elminated the seed-changer and set it for only 33.3333333. But even then, by so doing they would have elminated the possibility of regulating the speed.
 
As Dominic and Paul say, that's a Thorens TD150. It looks to be in a Linn-type plinth with a custom armboard. I suspect the plinth to be a Henk model for a Linn LP12. One of our memebers here had one, it was a lovely thing (looked very (very) similar to that pic) and he sold it for not a lot of money at all.
 
As others have said it's not a Lenco , but Lenco's can be simplified and replinthed ,
here's one I did .

Picture002-9.jpg
 
Wow. Thanks people, that's a lot of info for a novice. I'll go away and research it.
Steve, any chance of finding a picture of that converted one so I can see it. I assume I'll be able to re plinth it myself if I buy a thorens td 150? I am a joiner, so the woodwork side of it won't be hard.
Does this sound do able?
Do the thorens td 150s have a good sound?
Thanks again to all of your for your help. Much appreciated.
Samuel.
 
A basic TD150 Mk2 with the golf-ball arm is yours for £80-100. I think they are an absolute steal at that money (have a look in the audio thread abiout the £300 turntable system). The plinth is nothing pretty though, they were designed to be compact rather than beautiful, and the dust cover only works because it has a cutout in the corner so the counterweight clears it as it swings round.

A decent plinth, bought, is £200. The guy on here wanted to get his money back having bought a lovely plinth and a nice TD150. That was never going to happen, sadly. He eventually Fleabayed it and it went for a song. I bet he was gutted. I almost bought it myself, it was gorgeous but I have TTs to cobble dogs here, a Garrard 401 rubs shoulders with a Lenco. I'd love an upspec TD150.

If you can build your own plinth then they are a great way to a lovely looking and sounding deck. I'll look up the pics and see if I can find them, it was a burr hardwood as I recall, a beautiful piece of furniture.
 
The deck in the picture is a Thorens TD150 that has been re-plinthed and made to look very much like a Linn Sondek LP12, complete with a Linn Basik LVX arm. It should sound excellent as I serviced one recently and tested it against more modern designs, like a Michell Gyrodec, it did not disgrace itself.
 
Samuel,

the Thorens is a suspended, belt drive deck, like Linn's they are often called fruit boxes because of their construction.

If you've got the skills you may be able to put them to better use with a Lenco, they really come on song with a more substantial plinth, and are genuinely within fingertips of a 401 at a quarter of the cost.

There's a wealth of ideas and help over at Lenco Heaven.
 
Just re-plinthed a 150 myself. It isn't hard, although you'll need a router.
 
I'm just finishing up re plinthing a Lenco L75 and the plinth is what makes the difference in silencing the background.

Next up is a TD150 and if anyone can suggest where to find help with a plinth design I would be very grateful. Is there a Thorens equivalent to Lenco Heaven?
 
How's your French? There's one here http://thorens.xooit.fr/portal.php.

Bearing in mind the Thorens is a suspended deck, my feeling was using the original design but with heavier material as the plinth was unlikely to make that much difference. I also reinforced the joints and replaced the bottom panel.

Far more important is changing the arm, as the Thorens one on the original TD 150 isn't that great and does not feature anti-skating. The Mk II may be better, not heard one. Bear in mind if you change the arm you will probably need to make the arm board, and that if you choose a Rega arm you'll need the spacer.

You may also want to change the belt plus clean and lubricate. http://fredhifi.com/ is run by and ex-Thorens guru, and I would buy both oil and belt from him. Reasonable prices, great service, thought to be as close to the original parts as you can get.
 
Thanks, , my French is good enough to let me know that Fredhifi looks interesting. I have a couple of the mk 2 arms but I also have a LADD / Jelco 370 which I thought might be worth trying. My biggest reservation is trying to get the suspension to work at it's best. My main turntable is an Oracle Alexandria and I always have the nagging doubt that the suspension could be set up better.

With the Lenco there is none of that worry.
 
If you want to replinth a TD150 an old Linn plinth might be a good choice. Early pre-corner brace ones go for loose change (£20 up!) and a 150 is a dropin fit. You then make an armboard , apply whatever mods you see fit, and you have an LP12 alike for very little money or effort. Of course this presuppoises that you like the looks of the LP12 plinth.

The TD150 plinth is a rather cheap and cheerful affair that does the rest of it no favours.
 
Internal dimensions of the TD150 are 376mm x 306mm, which I thought was smaller than the LP12, but could be wrong. Also, if you did buy a braced LP12 plinth you'd have to cut down two of the braces because they'll foul the motor and the on/off/speed switch.

You'll have to make your own armboard, bearing in mind the Thorens arm sits quite high so something like the Rega RB300 needs a 4-5mm platform to be at the right height.
 
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