advertisement


Lenco L70 project

Oooh, that's interesting. I know somebody in Tokyo too....
You do indeed...
Try to find some way of contacting the great Wizard of the South East because he runs one and what he has to say on the matter could useful for you (yeah, I know).
 
Thanks Joel. I'm also very curious about the 70s Denon 12" arms such as the DA-302 (remarkably 60s Ortofon like), DA-304 (more complex and 'Japanese' looking) or DA-308 (more complex looking again). The 302 really appeals, it certainly looks the part, example here.

Tony.
 
I'll ask around about which arms are good and which are not. The Denons do look interesting, but I have no idea how well they work. There's an Ortofon 12" on Yahoo auctions right now, but of course there's no way of knowing what the condition really is or even if it works OK... HifiDo or Audio Union are much safer bets IME, even if the wait is a little longer.
 
J7 told me a while back he got a bunch of 60s or 70s Japanese 12 inch arms came in for refurb from a customer recently (20 or so of them), came out of the South African Broadcasting Corp. Dunno what make, quality or condition, but might be worth a sniff.
 
To be honest the more I think about this the more tempted I am to go with my original plan of the L70's own arm in it’s original place plus my Hadcock 242 on the back. I’ve sized it up with the mounting template and the detached top arm of the Hadcock and it doesn’t look like it would be anything like as awkward to use as I initially suspected, one can easily see the cart / stylus so accurate cuing should not be an issue.

The problem I'm having is that the Hadcock is not just a good arm, it’s a bloody superb one. The 12” arms within my financial range are either entirely unknown quantities (e.g. Denon), or 70s throwbacks like the SME 3012, which lets be honest is only a 3009 suffering from gigantism. If one forgets the ‘collectability’ it’s a sub-RB300 quality arm, just a bit longer. Ok, it's apparently good for an SPU, but they cost way more than I like spending on carts so look unlikely as a proposition. The vintage Orts are probably nice arms, but they probably need rebuilding, plus they lack anti-skate and I’m way too much of a geeky record collector to want to play the records that I really care about in that scenario (one groove wall definitely wears faster). The Denon 302 seems to lack anti-skate too. If I could afford a FR66, Ikeda or something it might be a goer, but again it’s a big assumption that even these would be better than the 242.

I’m just thinking out loud here. I’m deliberately not going to make any decision until well into next year, but where I am right now is use the L70 arm for 78s (I actually have a few, none of which I’ve even heard!) with a Pickering MM and then stick a DL-304 in the Hadcock. That way I can use both ‘sides’ of the Dynavector P100, i.e. I wouldn’t need to fiddle with any leads. Plus a L70 arm is a nice way of filling the holes in the top plate and keeping it all looking authentic / retro. I really want the end result to look like it could have been built at any time over the past 30 or 40 years. I did a swap recently on the Lenco forum with a few L70 bits ‘n’ bobs I had knocking about for an apparently mint L70 arm that’s been to AudioOrigami for a Cardas rewire & bearing setup so I should have a decent one to play with.

Tony.
 
How about the lenco arm at the back for the odd 78 and the Hadcock at the side for everything else?
That's what I'd do. The rear arm can be a bit of a pain to line up and I'm not sure I'd want my nice unipiv with my very nice Denon there...
12" is nice, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort with most 60s/70s arms other than as nostalgia...
 
How about the lenco arm at the back for the odd 78 and the Hadcock at the side for everything else?
That's what I'd do. The rear arm can be a bit of a pain to line up and I'm not sure I'd want my nice unipiv with my very nice Denon there...
12" is nice, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort with most 60s/70s arms other than as nostalgia...

The logistics won't quite allow it - the Hadcock is too tall to sit on the L70 baseplate (ironically the L70 arm is the same effective length, the hole is in exactly the right place), yet the arm is too short to sit at the side off the top plate. The only way to achieve what you suggest is either to somehow raise the platter and centre spindle (e.g. buy it a NA heavy kit!), or to rotate the whole deck so the L70 arm is at the back and the Hadcock sits at the 'side' in front of the deck controls. Aesthetically this wold look naff IMO, plus it would mean the Hadcock would be getting quite close to the motor at end of side which might present hum issues (the motor looks like something out of a washing machine). I've though about this a bit ;)

Tony.
 
...OK... Sounds like your plan is best. I'm sure it will be a stunningly good deck.
FWIW, I've spotted a brand new SME M12 on sale for 175,000 yen. Does anyone have any experience with these?
 
FWIW, I've spotted a brand new SME M12 on sale for 175,000 yen. Does anyone have any experience with these?

The M2-9 and M2-12 are both spectacular examples of a company missing the point IMHO. Both are beautifully finished & engineered arms and aesthetically similar to the classic 3009 / 3012, but missing the all too crucial standard 'SME' headshell mount. The reason the old arms have such a cult following is this headshell mount, giving the new arms a different one was commercial suicide IMHO. It could have been a killer product if it would take an SPU etc. It's apparently still a nice arm, but nothing really special - I understand it doesn't worry unis like the Morch or Hadcock and I've certainly read some people preferring cheaper modified Regas such as Michell's Technoarm.

Tony.
 
tony id just like to say how beautiful your 70 is , the 70 is the deck that really made me fall in love with the lenco , im gonna have to get one of the original plinths for my 59 thanks woodge;)
 
J7 told me a while back he got a bunch of 60s or 70s Japanese 12 inch arms came in for refurb from a customer recently (20 or so of them), came out of the South African Broadcasting Corp. Dunno what make, quality or condition, but might be worth a sniff.
__________________
just a quick reply to that their audio technica at1503 with a 10" effective length made for the radio stations etc no bias or any other thrills, im gonna check one out on johns on monday i hope
 
Tony - Have you thought about a Thomas Schick arm? Supposedly much better than a 3012 and much more like the Ortofon design that you seem to like. Also comes with your choice of SME/SPU-B or SPU-A headshell compat. And they use nice new bearings :)
 
The fine looking Lenco L59 posted earlier in the thread is for sale on EBAY for £350 or best offer.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LENCO-GL59-AN...ryZ48648QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Looks nice, but the additional cash shelled out for a 3012 makes it an expensive propostition. I daresay any Xerxes/Artemis/Shiraz combination available for that sort of money would rather make an embarrasment of the competition.

James.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
I know, I had a chance of landing it prior to eBay as I know Woody from the Lenco forum (he's here too) - I thought long and hard about it but I think I want to keep my Hadcock. It is a lovely thing though. The Schick is beautiful and looks like excellent value, the guy who runs Lenco Lovers has just bought one and seems to love it, but again it doesn't quite make sense for me as keeping it in SPUs is out of my price range and whilst I really like the DL-103 (the only other realistic option given it's mass) it's inner groove tracking (or lack thereof) would irritate me long term. I'm also a little scared by things without anti-skate from a record preservation perspective - uneven groove wear is proven, not theory. The Hadcock is way more versatile and opens up so many more cart options. I'm still thinking along the two arm route, i.e, L70 + Hadcock.

Tony.
 
Those Schick's are presumably hand made to order. Wouldn't surprise me if he could build a simple string and weight bias onto it if you asked. How much are they btw?
 


advertisement


Back
Top