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Lenco L-75 for 15 Euro

PaulMB

PaulMB

pfm Member
Just got back from a flea market where I picked up an old Lenco L-75 for 15 Euro (about £11). According to the stamp under the platter it is from 1972. The only "Lenco" marking is on the underside of the platter, and the whole thing is mounted in a plinth marked "Godwin," with "Godwin" also printed on the deck itself where the Lenco name is usually printed, on the bottom right. The plinth is a cheap thing in veneered chipboard and an aluminium plate at the front, falling to bits. There is a Shure M75 with a crocked stylus in the removable headshell.
I put some oil into the bearing and it turns smoothly and silently. The arm is original, with a string-hung anti-skating weight.
There is no suspension, the Lenco is simply screwed to the top of the plinth. Is this normal? I will build a new plinth out of marine ply, is it OK to mount it rigidly? Or would some kind of rubber mounting be better?
 
Correction: there are 4 rubber grommet-like things at the four corners between deck and plinth-top, but less than 1 cm thick and the don't look like they were doing much suspending. But maybe its better without too much movement?
 
Thanks, Rabbit,
I've been poring over Lenco Heaven for a while, and also sawing up pieces of marine ply for a new plinth. Its nice that you can take everything apart, clean, adjust and lubricate to your heart's content.
Now seriously thinking of selling my Thorens 126 without its SME arm and fitting the SME to the Lenco.
 
You are a lucky chap, but I did one better; I got one for free!

Now replinthed and with an upgraded bearing and a Jelco arm it swings a thousand times.

Julian
 
Lenco & Jelco are a good combo. But there again I have had little problem with the arms I have tried (Linn Basik+ and Keith Monks)

Guy
 
My Lenco 75 is in its box and has never been used ;)

I have a 69 fitted into a target wall mount. It has the standard arm and a shure. Sounds amazing. I think the wall mount helps with not having any suspension damping, a lot!
 
Getting one free is not fair!
The thing that worries me is the arm. It looks and feels crude, clunky and cheap. At least compared to the 3009/II on my other turntable. I'm making the plinth with space underneath to mount a SME some time in the future, with only the need to lengthen the hole in the metal top plate of the deck.
While we are about it, is there any chance at all that a 1972 Lenco with its original arm will sound as good as a Thorens 126 with a 3009/II?
I ask because at some piont I'll have to sell one or the other, reasons of space and I only listen to vinyl about 4 times a year.
 
I maybe do vinyl once a week, when there's a quiet hour with a nice coffee :)

Hows about I say my LP12 with Lingo powersupply is in the cupboard. And that's for the Lenco 69 which is lighter weight in the platter than 75 (though i damped it well - it was like a cymbal to start with!) and with its standard arm, see below pic.

You can get new V blocks for the arm if its the same one - which may make yours feel looser?

Bodge up your plinth, you'll soon decide whether its on the right track. My 69 came in a 'classic' fruit box / bread bin type design and it wasn't bad, that led to believe it could be a LOT better with some help. It came for free as well, and the stylus is still fine - two years on. The owner has been for a listen, mildy regrets marriage now :D (he had to downsize hifi and geetars :mad:)

What you will probably hear is boogie needing refined at first, that was my impression.

Some piccies:

The 69:

z1u5r.jpg


The 75, well what you can see of it:
http://imgur.com/a/RgZCE#0

.
 
An L75 sold yesterday for £420, it looked neat and tidy, but still in its original plinth, with no modifications, they're good, but that sort of money will buy a Garrard 401 !!!!!
 
Amazing! Market forces in play, evidently. TD124s and Garrads now well over £1,000, so buyers go after whatever else is achieving cult status but costs a bit less.
One consideration is that the above machines are all mechanical, so they can always be mended or maintained. But a few months ago I took the bottom off my Thorens 126, and I thought I'd opened a radio! Full of printed circuits, scores of wires, electronic components, platic micro-switches, many of which look as if they might be irreplaceable if they should ever go wrong.
A question: what does one do if the electronics of a 126 break down?
 
Trancera:
Lovely 75! It looks like the same vintage as mine. The colour is different, mine is light grey without the aluminium plates, but it has the same arm, counterweights, etc.
 
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