Hi,

I've enjoyed browsing the forum over the last couple of months and thought I should finally get around to joining up. I am a relatively recent convert to hi fi, although playing and listening to music has always been a substantial part of my life. Due to young kids and the like I am very much a second hand audiophile, but it's all good fun. It's great to keep one hobby going when all the rest of the money seems to be spent on them!

Most of my gear has been picked up on Trademe or similar. I'm enjoying a VTL IT-85 amplifier and am relishing one of James Grant's turntables (Lenco L75 with 14" Siggwan tonearm) that he recently sold on TM. In fact there's a picture of it on these forums with a different tonearm mounted.

Thanks for having me! 

Welcome - I've long enjoyed the cost performance benefit buying second hand has to offer. If you buy right it gives the opportunity for extended demo and you can move it on if doesn't suit.

Welcome wackford

Nice gear you have! No kids here and I'm still a second hand audiophile

Hope you enjoy the place

welcome aboard wackford.

like used cars, buy carefully in the used market and you can get a great system for not much cash.

Greetings wackford, I trust that you will find this a friendly place.

The L75 + Siggwan should be a splendid combo, crisp & broad tone I imagine - what cartridge?
And what loudspeakers do you use?

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

Thanks for the welcome everyone.

Owen Y, your characterisation of the tone as crisp and broad is spot on. I am currently running it just as James had it set up, with a Denon DL-103R. I hadn't heard any of the component parts before (L75, Siggwan, 103R), so I'm not quite sure precisely what each is contributing to the overall picture. The tonearm seems to me to be seriously well-crafted. I imagine that it was a one-off as I don't know of any others being sold.

The speakers are Yamaha Soavo NS-B951. Part of my calculations in buying these was the ability to hide them away from little fingers, which is another way of saying their in room placement is terrible! However, I've been very taken by their presentation of the music. I find that I narrow in on the decay of notes played by acoustic instruments and these are better than anything I've had before.

wackford How did I miss that one on Trade Me?

L75, a one off 14" Siggwan and 103R (one of my favourite carts) - a match made in heaven!

You've got a fantastic combo there.

PS. It doesn't look like it has any antiskate mechanism

It was a buy now that I pounced on pretty smartly, and very pleased that I did. I didn't realise at the time that the seller was also the creator.

It actually took me a few weeks before I noticed that lack of an antiskate mechanism (I'm still relatively new to vinyl). It doesn't seem to have the fittings for antiskate that are on the 12 inch version of the Siggwan. I had been meaning to email James to ask about it but haven't got around to it as it sounds wonderful throughout the grooves as it stands.

It's so much better than anything else I've had that my critical faculties are still in suspension ... Quite a nice state to be in

like the vpi unipivot, the arm leadout wires will provide a fixed degree of anti-skate.

I'll add  my welcome too. Nice gear..especially the Lenco... and like the others, very much a second hand audiophile here too, lol...

Never play Leapfrog with a Unicorn.

Welcome wackford.In case you're interested we have an Audio club in Hastings/Napier.

You should join the HB audio club. Send me a pm and Ill put you in touch with the people concerned.

Welcome.

Feb 7, 2018 19:59:03 GMT 12 michaelw said:

like the vpi unipivot, the arm leadout wires will provide a fixed degree of anti-skate.

Agree. 

When I had the VPI Scout a few twists of the arm wire seemed to be OK re: antskate.

With a longer arm, I'm guessing antiskate is less of an issue, as it approaches linearity?

wackford - I'm imagining that the idler TT has a crisp 'propulsive' sound & the Siggwan I know would have even, tonal bandwidth & sweet, dynamic openness.

Anti-skating - I'm not aware that James consciously intended that A-S would be inherently applied via the tonearm wire - but I could be wrong.
Yes, with 12" or 14" tonearms, Offset Angle is reduced by 1/4 or 1/3, but Skating side-force still exists with any pivoted tonearm with an angled cartridge/h'shell - some manuf's of longer tonearms (eg Schick) ignore Anti-skating because (i) of the reduced side-forces (ii) Skating side-force constantly varies anyway (Iii) the theoretical benefits may be outweighed by the addit complication & tracking instability arguably introduced.

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

Feb 7, 2018 20:39:38 GMT 12 neilsan said:

Welcome wackford.In case you're interested we have an Audio club in Hastings/Napier.

Perhaps the 'HB Audio Club' might like to introduce itself and/or set up a discussion thread on our 'Clubs, Get-togethers' page?

I know 2 or 3 enthusiasts down there myself, so I expect that things are active down that part of the country.

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

Thanks for the comments. It's interesting to hear about some of the theory behind the longer tonearms, and the specific details. I suspect the SUT is the weakest link in the chain at the moment but that's a problem for another day.

Neilsan and andrewp HB audio club sounds interesting. I'll pm when I work out how to do it.

I'm very taken with the idler drive characteristics. Prior to this I had a 401 (not well set up) that wasn't being used properly, needed a better tonearm, plinth etc. Fortunately I'd just sold it when this Lenco appeared and the proceeds were already burning through my pocket.

Welcome Wackford, great to have you here and very happy a vintage table is appreciated so much

Deano

Manager & Product specialist at Rapallo AV & HI-FI

Hello Wackford - another Napier resident here. I also do the TT thing, actually I have just installed a system in my office: A Technics SL1210, Perreaux Phono and ATC Amplification.