NOTE: I had brought a Classic Lenco to Greece to Kostas, and deciding to make it simple and inexpensive as possible, I built it to pass luggage requirements for a flight, and to be transportable as I would have carry it along with my luggage by foot across airports and so forth. So the Lenco came in at a total of roughly 50 pounds only. So bear in mind that Mass is Class, and that a regular 75-pound Classic would be significantly better. This is my current version of the Classic nevertheless, with new materials inside the plinth and improvements in construction techniques for a better end result. When Kostas informed me that his first demonstration would be against an EMT 927 I was aghast and heartily wished I had time to build and ship a Reference over, as I knew from experience that regardless it was a “lesser” Lenco, it would nevertheless be judged as representative of all Lencos. For those who are not familiar with vintage machines and assume new is better, the EMT 927 is the King of all vintage machines, good examples go as high as 50,000 euros, and the music lovers who buy them and can easily afford similarly-priced current belt-drives consider them well and truly, in sonic terms, among the best machines in the world, if not the best. The gap between the EMT 927 and Art Dudley’s beloved Thorens TD-124 (I have rebuilt several) is enormous (though I haven’t heard the EMT 927, I did hear the EMT 930, one of life’s great audio experiences, a true world-class machine whose level of realism has to be heard to be believed). Those collectors who can afford collections of such machines in most cases prefer the idler-wheel drive 927 to the also-famed 950, which could be considered the King of Direct Drives, both being seriously overbuilt industrial-level studio machines. Those who are familiar with these machines will likley not believe the outcome, but this is not the first time a Lenco of mine has outperformed various EMTs (two EMT 948s and an EMT 930), and it is a matter of public record (Audiogon “Building high-end ‘tables cheap at Home Despot” thread) that one of the fortunate individuals who do own a fleet of EMTs (and also preferred the 927 to the DD versions) joined in the DIY fun, built himself a Giant Direct Coupled Lenco according to my instructions, and declared the Lenco superior. So to those, I say, believe it.
But, while I couldn’t get a Reference Lenco to him in time, I did air-ship a new Reference main bearing to him to even the odds, as well as a Benz Glider. So the contest was between a 50-pound Classic Lenco with bearpaw footers and metacrylate mat on travertine stone platform. It was armed with a humble Sumiko MMT and Benz Glider. I would love to ship a Reference Lenco to Greece some day – which sounds more natural and superior in every respect to the Lenco Kostas currently has – for a further and deeper demonstration (those who know me know that Greece is my favourite travel destination), but this is what we had to work with for the demonstration. This is Kostas’ unvarnished report:
On May 2009 I bought a Lenco L-75 from Germany. My original intention was to modify it myself, having read in various forums how relatively easy it was to get superior results from those old idler wheel Turntables. I asked then the advice of the most famous (or should I say notorious?) Lenco-devotees, Jean Nantais. Jean encouraged me and gave me many a good advice at the beginning, but soon after he found out that I had no clue about woodwork and had done no DIY work before he suggested another way: Making a plinth himself and bringing it to Greece. That was a kind of a Godfather-Sitiuation (you know, “the I-will-make-you-an-offer-you-can-not-deny-situation). And I could not deny.
So, in September 2009 Jean Nantais visited me in my home in Greece and brought with him a fully modified albeit lightweight Lenco turntable (just flimsy 40 pounds sans motor) . The TT sat on a heavy plinth with hardwood sides of Canadian birds eye maple. It looked stunning, my wife was delighted, and she is a hard judge when it comes to interior decoration. The tonearm I could afford was a budget one, a used Sumiko MMT with an ill matching Grado Red cartridge (from my former TT, a Thorens TD 320), and still the Lenco sounded even better than it looked. It was soon clear to me that I had something unique at home, and wanted to share it with other audiophiles. I posted a thread at the Greek avclub.gr forum, which raised a great deal of interest. Many users in that forum asked me about details on the TT, its contruction, its sound etc. The obvious step was organizing a demonstration of the Lenco, as nobody in Greece had ever seen or heard anything like it.
I contacted another member of the avclub.gr, geovar, who has a stunning system, consisting mainly of audiophile classics, not the least of which is a fleet of EMT TT’s, one 950, one 928 and one 927, the most legendary of all idler wheel turntables. He readily agreed to offer his home for a demonstration –I would not call it a shootout as the odds against the Lenco were really uneven. The competition was stiff, since the EMT came armed with matching Tonearms and Cartridges, the famous EMT Tondosen, representing a money value many times that of my poor, humble MMT and Grado. So Jean helped me at this point by sending me his proprietary Turntable bearing and a Benz Glider cartridge to better somewhat my odds in the demonstration.
The great day arrived, I packed the Lenco in a suitcase, travertine base and all, stored it in the car trunk and drove to Athens, to geovar’s cozy home. Around 8 o’clock the jury arrived, consisting of the then president of the Audiophile Club of Athens, a speaker manufacturer, a musician, a DIYer who brought along his own phono preamp for auditioning…it was a hard jury! And the Lenco passed the test! Everyone was extremely positive, most attendants were impressed, and most of them really liked the Lenco better than the EMT!
In comparison the Lenco sounded more extended on top and bottom, overall more balanced with a better “punch” down below, and more rhythm. The EMT sounded sweeter, more relaxed and “beautiful sounding”, if you know what I mean. Everything sounded good when spinning on it, but not necessarily real. But voices really sounded great when played through it… We made quite a few direct comparisons of music, but on one occasion the record sounded thinner and less full-bodied on the Lenco-it was a Capitol violin concerto recording, Nathan Milstein playing the Brahms concerto on a mono LP. I suspect the recording is really thin and not very full-bodied and the Lenco just revealed its weaknesses. Stereo imaging and sense of deapth were equally good on both turntables. In a nutshell: the Lenco sounded cleaner, more real, the EMT sounded warmer, more “beautiful”. The speaker manufacturer member of the jury, while he admitted he preferred the EMT, commended very positive on the woodwork and its value for money. He made a quick calculation and declared he could not possibly have it built for less money. The president of the ACA told me in confidence (he did not want to insult the host),that the lenco was far better than the EMT, actually the best turntable he had heard in a long time and probably worth about 4 or 5 times its price. He should know what he is talking about, his TT is a Pierre Lourne Audiomeca with a JS-1 tonearm of the same brand and a Miyabi cart.
So I believe the Lenco’s first appearence in Greece was a great success, the talk in the forum went on for weeks and many people were interested in listening to the Lenco under more favourable conditions. I sure hope they will, i would love to see a Reference Lenco feeding one of those great systems that are apparently abundant in Greece.
Kostas