Question about Lenco

[andreidaniel]

Hello everybody! I have been reading about Lenco turntables and being a Swiss trademark I heard that was very good. The problems that I found were:

1) why they used those V-blocks instead of pin pivots
2) why most of their tonearms were broken near counter weight? why they used an arm formed by two pieces of metal instead of a single piece of arm?
3) why was used a second counter weight?

 

[guiller]

The design of the stock tonearm of the Lenco L75 has been critized by many people. You may have a look into discussions at the Lenco Heaven. What I remember from reading what other people say is that that tonearm was innovative and somehow aimed at performance within a budget. That goes for the V blocks. The idea of having the tonearm broken into two pieces is to decouple them with the idea of damping mechanical resonances that may have an impact on the cartridge. Both solutions were clever but the aging of the materials 30 years later challenges this approach. Certainly, people change the V blocks by new ones and the results are very good, but for the sagging rear part of the tonearm there are no successful cures that I am aware of besides the "dental floss trick".
What people praise on some of the best Lenco idler drives is the motor. Having said that , I´ve got two L75s, one with stcock tonearm that I use to play 78 rpm records, and another one with a vintage Audio Technica tonearm. Both perform really well.

 

[Nat]

Lenco arms were pretty stoutly built, with heavy tubes and cast metal headshells with sleds inside. So to minimize the effects of that mass, they decoupled the counterweight (as did essentially every one in the 60s to 70s). Most manufacturers just used a rubber plug with screw or bolt in the middle to compress the rubber, but Lenco used a metal wire. It tends to fatigue, and then bonk, the counterweight drops.
If the arm were the greatest thing since sliced bread, it might make sense to figure out a way to repair it (even a simple rubber tube with a screw with washers at both ends and nut down at the inner end would work, and probably fine), but the tendency is to simply replace the arm. Which is not to say an arm which is in good shape should be replaced - I don't know the answer to that question. If the counterweight stub is in good shape, replacing the V blocks might be a good idea.

 

[andreidaniel]

What about antiskate system? The antiskate system was formed by a wire and a typical weight, not an internal common cord or arch like in most turntables. If we replace the tonearm, we loose the antiskate system.

 

[Nat]

Most arms have their own antiskating mechanism. Those that don't tend to be from before the era when antiskating became common, very long (which minimizes skating because the offset angle is less, or are designed by someone who feels the compromises inherent in applying antiskating are not worth the advantages. If you bought one of those arms, it would follow that you are okay with not having antiskating.