By Michael Miguest
Jean Nantais lives and works in Ontario, Canada. We have been communicating via email for well over a year. I contacted him because I wanted to review his Lenco Reference MKII and as fate would have it, Jean had a client that had just purchased one near Chicago and he proposed the possibility of reviewing his design through him. Unfortunately, circumstances beyond our control have not made that a reality yet. However, our most recent correspondence suggests this will come to fruition very some. Stay tuned for that review.
This Blog serves to introduce the man responsible for the resurrection of the Lenco Idler-Wheel-Drive system which he has proven to be the "Superior" turntable system. He has his own website: http://www.idler-wheel-drive.com/models-pricing/ He also rebuilds Garrards and Thorens, and has similar plans for them as he did with the Lenco Reference. He has also upgraded the Sony 2250 and various other heavy direct-drives.
Jean's Lenco project began in 2004 with an Audiogon post entitled building high-end tables cheap at Home Depot. This served to have the then-unknown Lenco record players taken seriously, and to accumulate the evidence required to prove to the world that the idler-wheel drive system was the best of the three systems: belt-drive (which at that time reigned unchallenged as the only serious system), direct drive, and idler-wheel-drive (and the Lencos are the most evolved idler-wheel-drives ever designed).
This thread – and others around the world in which Jean participated – forced the world to take the Lenco seriously, as it had two things going against it in a world then dominated by belt-drive: #1 it was an idler-wheel-drive and #2 it wasn’t a Garrard 301 or 401.
Jean says "We know things now they didn’t know when they were manufacturing idler-wheel ‘tables. We can now realize their potential. Due to the high rotational speed of these motors, great relative mass and so high torque, no expensive solutions need be made to address the weak motors now used in high-end decks. The platters on the Lencos weigh about 8-10 pounds, with much of the mass concentrated on the periphery: the old boys understood flywheel effect to ensure stable speed".
The Lenco platter is a single cast piece, of a zinc alloy of some sort, very inert for a metal, and then machined and hand-balanced in a lab. No ringing two-piece platter problems to overcome. Even the motor is hand-balanced in a lab, and weighs something like 3-4 pounds, and runs silently on its lubricated bearings. Think of it: a high-torque motor spinning at well over 1000 RPMs (compared to a belt-drive motor’s average 150-300) which pretty well wipes out speed variations by itself. The idler wheel contacts the motor spindle directly, while contacting the platter directly on its other side, thus transmitting most/all of that torque without any belt stretching.
In 2010, Jean was first (and still only) to prove to the world, officially by review, that the Lenco had enormous potential and ranked with the world’s best (and beyond: working on it as per his new models), by submitting the Reference Lenco to Salvatore for review.
As is now common knowledge, the Reference Lenco achieved a complete conversion of Salvatore as to the superiority of the idler-wheel-drive system, with no caveats, with a noise floor the equal of his Forsell, and equaling it or surpassing it in every single sonic parameter. This victory facilitated the emergence of a host of Lenco and classic ‘table businesses, all of whom owe a serious debt to this watershed review.
Per our last communication, I asked Jean the following questions: What makes your design so special? How much does your plinth weigh? Is your plinth all wood? What tonearm and cartridge combinations are your favorites? What have you done to the MKIII reference to improve performance over the MKII?
Jean responded with the following: Hi Michael,
OK, to your questions. Yes, my plinths are all wood (different more exclusive woods as the models go up), being made up of layers of different woods and wood products, staggered as to follow the Constrained Layer Damping principle (i.e. bond different materials, each with its own resonant frequencies, in order that they cancel each other out). I use certain very specific woods arranged in a very specific way in order to achieve my results. However, I am also very specific when it comes to the metals I use in my 'tables (bearing, platter, etc.), and even in the plastics (for example the mat).
The References, all together with 'table, platter, footers, comes to approximately 100 pounds. My designs are special because I am very careful in the selection of my materials, I concentrate on optimizing torque and speed stability, and I achieve extremely low noise floors. Also, I believe in the absolute superiority of idler-wheel-drive, with no caveats and in all areas, and so work at raising the idler bar ever higher in order to prove this, which I have been doing for more than 10 years (starting with the Audiogon thread "Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot" which brought the lenco to the world's attention) , and continuing to do so with continuing development. Which is not to say that other record players all sound bad - I can appreciate a good belt-drive or DD, love analogue - just that a properly-rebuilt (ay, there's the rub) idler-wheel drive sounds better.
Tonearm/cartridge depends on associated equipment, but I've found one of the best combos is the Ikeda 407/Ikeda MC, which has supreme life (i.e. PRaT, coherence, dynamics) AND supreme detail-retrieval and imaging & etc. On the other hand, Graham Phantoms I like because they are relatively unfussy (i.e. they sound good with a wide variety of cartridges, unlike many which only match a few), they are dynamic and rhythmic, and they are excellent in terms of information-retrieval. I also "play" with a variety of cheaper tonearms and cartridges, always looking for that perfect result of timing, dynamics and coherence, the "magic" which makes you sit back and simply spin records into the night, concentrating on the music. For instance, the match of Funk Firm FX-R and Dynavector 17D MKIII is excellent.
The Reference Lenco MKIII is a result of my ongoing development for my "Ultimate Lenco" (which will have a different platter and a different chassis). I evaluate the sounds of materials, including metals, which had to be sized to work in a known context to allow comparison and evaluation, which was a Reference Lenco MKII. The Reference Lenco MKIII has a new chassis and the "Ultimate" main bearing, designed to deal with the coming "Ultimate Lenco" platter. The new chassis, dimensionally identical to the stock Lenco chassis, was a great success sonically, and so too was the Ultimate main bearing: but both together, on a Reference Lenco plinth, proved to be far greater than the sum of their parts. And so I made it official as a new upgrade/model.
In conclusion, as to the apparent simplicity of the design, Jean is a firm believer in the KISS Principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. The Lenco drive system is an example of simplicity and supreme effectiveness. He is not swayed by gimmicks, difficult or rare materials or unnecessary complexities (a gimmick in their own right), but only in results: musically-satisfying results. There is an economic positive to this uncompromising approach to musicality vs performance. He, and so by extension his customers, are spared the cost of machining difficult and/or pricey material by his use of wood and metal, which constitute the materials of instruments (and what materials are better-researched and tested than these?). Furthermore he doesn't use metals which are rare and pricey simply because they could tap into a marketing mentality, but simply those which sound best. As a result, he is relieved of pricing his work according to flavour-of-the-month metals which are popular precisely because they are rare and pricey and pass this savings on to the audio consumer.
This Blog serves to introduce the man responsible for the resurrection of the Lenco Idler-Wheel-Drive system which he has proven to be the "Superior" turntable system. He has his own website: http://www.idler-wheel-drive.com/models-pricing/ He also rebuilds Garrards and Thorens, and has similar plans for them as he did with the Lenco Reference. He has also upgraded the Sony 2250 and various other heavy direct-drives.
Jean's Lenco project began in 2004 with an Audiogon post entitled building high-end tables cheap at Home Depot. This served to have the then-unknown Lenco record players taken seriously, and to accumulate the evidence required to prove to the world that the idler-wheel drive system was the best of the three systems: belt-drive (which at that time reigned unchallenged as the only serious system), direct drive, and idler-wheel-drive (and the Lencos are the most evolved idler-wheel-drives ever designed).
This thread – and others around the world in which Jean participated – forced the world to take the Lenco seriously, as it had two things going against it in a world then dominated by belt-drive: #1 it was an idler-wheel-drive and #2 it wasn’t a Garrard 301 or 401.
Jean says "We know things now they didn’t know when they were manufacturing idler-wheel ‘tables. We can now realize their potential. Due to the high rotational speed of these motors, great relative mass and so high torque, no expensive solutions need be made to address the weak motors now used in high-end decks. The platters on the Lencos weigh about 8-10 pounds, with much of the mass concentrated on the periphery: the old boys understood flywheel effect to ensure stable speed".
The Lenco platter is a single cast piece, of a zinc alloy of some sort, very inert for a metal, and then machined and hand-balanced in a lab. No ringing two-piece platter problems to overcome. Even the motor is hand-balanced in a lab, and weighs something like 3-4 pounds, and runs silently on its lubricated bearings. Think of it: a high-torque motor spinning at well over 1000 RPMs (compared to a belt-drive motor’s average 150-300) which pretty well wipes out speed variations by itself. The idler wheel contacts the motor spindle directly, while contacting the platter directly on its other side, thus transmitting most/all of that torque without any belt stretching.
In 2010, Jean was first (and still only) to prove to the world, officially by review, that the Lenco had enormous potential and ranked with the world’s best (and beyond: working on it as per his new models), by submitting the Reference Lenco to Salvatore for review.
As is now common knowledge, the Reference Lenco achieved a complete conversion of Salvatore as to the superiority of the idler-wheel-drive system, with no caveats, with a noise floor the equal of his Forsell, and equaling it or surpassing it in every single sonic parameter. This victory facilitated the emergence of a host of Lenco and classic ‘table businesses, all of whom owe a serious debt to this watershed review.
Per our last communication, I asked Jean the following questions: What makes your design so special? How much does your plinth weigh? Is your plinth all wood? What tonearm and cartridge combinations are your favorites? What have you done to the MKIII reference to improve performance over the MKII?
Jean responded with the following: Hi Michael,
OK, to your questions. Yes, my plinths are all wood (different more exclusive woods as the models go up), being made up of layers of different woods and wood products, staggered as to follow the Constrained Layer Damping principle (i.e. bond different materials, each with its own resonant frequencies, in order that they cancel each other out). I use certain very specific woods arranged in a very specific way in order to achieve my results. However, I am also very specific when it comes to the metals I use in my 'tables (bearing, platter, etc.), and even in the plastics (for example the mat).
The References, all together with 'table, platter, footers, comes to approximately 100 pounds. My designs are special because I am very careful in the selection of my materials, I concentrate on optimizing torque and speed stability, and I achieve extremely low noise floors. Also, I believe in the absolute superiority of idler-wheel-drive, with no caveats and in all areas, and so work at raising the idler bar ever higher in order to prove this, which I have been doing for more than 10 years (starting with the Audiogon thread "Building high-end 'tables cheap at Home Despot" which brought the lenco to the world's attention) , and continuing to do so with continuing development. Which is not to say that other record players all sound bad - I can appreciate a good belt-drive or DD, love analogue - just that a properly-rebuilt (ay, there's the rub) idler-wheel drive sounds better.
Tonearm/cartridge depends on associated equipment, but I've found one of the best combos is the Ikeda 407/Ikeda MC, which has supreme life (i.e. PRaT, coherence, dynamics) AND supreme detail-retrieval and imaging & etc. On the other hand, Graham Phantoms I like because they are relatively unfussy (i.e. they sound good with a wide variety of cartridges, unlike many which only match a few), they are dynamic and rhythmic, and they are excellent in terms of information-retrieval. I also "play" with a variety of cheaper tonearms and cartridges, always looking for that perfect result of timing, dynamics and coherence, the "magic" which makes you sit back and simply spin records into the night, concentrating on the music. For instance, the match of Funk Firm FX-R and Dynavector 17D MKIII is excellent.
The Reference Lenco MKIII is a result of my ongoing development for my "Ultimate Lenco" (which will have a different platter and a different chassis). I evaluate the sounds of materials, including metals, which had to be sized to work in a known context to allow comparison and evaluation, which was a Reference Lenco MKII. The Reference Lenco MKIII has a new chassis and the "Ultimate" main bearing, designed to deal with the coming "Ultimate Lenco" platter. The new chassis, dimensionally identical to the stock Lenco chassis, was a great success sonically, and so too was the Ultimate main bearing: but both together, on a Reference Lenco plinth, proved to be far greater than the sum of their parts. And so I made it official as a new upgrade/model.
In conclusion, as to the apparent simplicity of the design, Jean is a firm believer in the KISS Principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. The Lenco drive system is an example of simplicity and supreme effectiveness. He is not swayed by gimmicks, difficult or rare materials or unnecessary complexities (a gimmick in their own right), but only in results: musically-satisfying results. There is an economic positive to this uncompromising approach to musicality vs performance. He, and so by extension his customers, are spared the cost of machining difficult and/or pricey material by his use of wood and metal, which constitute the materials of instruments (and what materials are better-researched and tested than these?). Furthermore he doesn't use metals which are rare and pricey simply because they could tap into a marketing mentality, but simply those which sound best. As a result, he is relieved of pricing his work according to flavour-of-the-month metals which are popular precisely because they are rare and pricey and pass this savings on to the audio consumer.
RSS Feed
