kffern

My Micro seiki MA505 is pretty easy to use, set up and look at. Well built and reliable too. Remember seeing one for sale recently. Ignore the diy auxillary weight! Kffern

In my last post I mentioned that I was having speed stability issues with my Lenco. Well I thought I would regrease the SPH bearing. Instead of using the supplied 2 part grease mix I used straight penrite lithium bearing grease. A bit thicker and the platter slows much quicker after a quick hard spin. Anyways, my speed issues are much much improved. Has anyone tried using different greases in the SPH bearing? I never liked the idea of mixing different grades of grease and will be experimenting. Regards, Kffern

I picked up a pre-owned 834 clone built by Chamila CG who sells on Gumtree. You would be hard pressed to get the components for a lot less. It's pretty good imho though I paid a bit less than new. He uses boards from Jim's Audio which are good quality and all the components are quality. Kffern

I used a Corian armboard on a Corian and granite SP10 plinth. A 6mm aluminium plate was much better. The combination is probably important and worth experimenting. Kffern

Hope this helps anyone considering these builds. I have built the Pyramid SG4 (2 units) and 1st and 3rd link for rpm measurement. I used an aftermarket Arduino hence the built in calibration value may not be accurate. Comparing the 2 I don’t see much difference though. I can say that its worth buying a Meanwell PSU for the amplifier with the SG4. The rest are unreliable or don’t have enough amps. https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/display-turntable-speed-with-an-arduino-nano.393849/ https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/digital-tachometer-for-record-player-lcd-display.301609/ https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/pcbs-to-build-a-turntable-speed-measurement-device.350978/ https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/60-wpc-amplifier-for-diy-turntable-motor-drive.300371/ https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/diy-4-phase-sinewave-generator-for-turntable-motor-drive.298018/ https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/2-phase-synthesised-sinewave-generator-for-synchronous-motor-drive.365849/page-8#post-7262972 I also built the Silicon chip PSU but that won’t drive a Lenco for long. It does work but gets warm. Further heatsinking might help but I haven’t tried. kffern

Looks like Sota has discontinued the Eagle. They have changed to the Condor which is 3 phase for a BLDC motor. I wonder if the motor can be retrofitted to a Lenco motor housing? BTW. I don't have a spare XR2206 chip as I mentioned before. I do have 3 of the recommended trimmers if anyone want to pay for shipping or collect. kffern

Item: PTP top plates for Lenco any model Price Range: $200 negotiable Item Condition: New or Used Extra Info: hoping someone has one lying about. https://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=314.0

I had planned on building one for 2 phase to power the Thorens. Bought an extra amp and a pair of 30va 25v toroids to step it up to 110v. Still in the drawer. The SG4 is fully adjustable. Kffern BTW I don't have a spare xr2206 chip. Must have given it a long with the rest.

It's an Altronics 2u case. The supplied bezels make it easy to mount the displays. The white long shaft is the speed selector. The 3 left pots are speed adjust (33/45/78rpm) plus LEDs and the far right pot is AC voltage out. Motor vibration does increase with voltage and so does torque on the lenco motor. Kffern

Andyr, They were connected in series with the output AC. I had a pot to adjust the voltage as well. It wasn't the neatest job. Can't find many pictures as it was a while ago. I sold just the boards and components to a guy in NZ I think. The second picture is the way I advertised and sold it. It was heavy with the 2 transformers, plus with the AC out I felt might have been risky. It was configured for all 3 speeds. It worked well and was used with a TD160 and 2 Lencos. Specs wise the XR2206 IC is ancient and has been out of production for a while. Many duds and fake chips around as well. The Nigel controller was mainly designed to provide speed switching rather than speed accuracy anyway. I then built the 4 phase unit and I heard a big improvement in sound. I am using 1 phase only so far and it has worked on Lencos, TP160 and Garrard 401. The improvement might have been in my head only though. I had a spare SG4 chip and board and tried to use the NCS amplifier section with it but there was a problem with DC on the output from the 4 phase controller. A cheap ebay 7492 amp works fine. Good thing I made a spare as the ebay 24vDC SMPS stopped working on one and I am waiting on a replacement. The only problem I had with the SG4 was trying to get a variable AC output. The amp didn't like the pot on the input and would oscillate at some frequencies. The PTP Audio supply seems to be the NCS (shouldn't it be NSC?) board and chip. Not sure why he chose to commercialise that when there are so many better alternatives. It is reliable though. I might have a spare XR2206 IC around somewhere if anyone is interested. Regards, kffern

Neat job. I had external pots on the front panel as well as frequency and AC voltage LED displays. Pretty cheap on ebay. I now use the https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/diy-4-phase-sinewave-generator-for-turntable-motor-drive.298018/page-65#post-7291569 with the same displays. I find it better. Kffern

I couldn't accept good enough and spent a sleepless night pondering the problem. It had to be something to do with ground I thought. So I tried a ground lift rectifier with no luck. Browsing DIY audio for help I found "diyaudio link" ; which got me thinking. I had emailed Tortech about the unusual lead colours and he replied that they were "non-standard" accidentally. He told me the right colours and somehow between the computer and the garage I forgot. Anyway, I had the connected it start to start!! Just finished wiring it up correctly and it works as designed. Another lesson I need to remember. I should try Bonsais boards someday. I have downloaded all his help files. Thanks for the help. kffern

I replaced the resistors (4k and 290ohm) for 32V DC and its the same problem. I have used one of these a few years ago on an ebay LJM amp and it worked. I had pulled it apart a while ago as it wasn't much good. I checked that board and I had used the 2 rectifier AC inputs. It was set up for 35vDC. I tried that board as is on this amp and it is still the same problem. The toroid I am using on the Neurochrome amp is a quality unit from Tortech with shield etc. Maybe I can just use it with a link fro V+ to AC and forget about loss of AC shutdown? kffern

I tried that too. I will get the R1 and R2 corrected and try again. Thanks, kffern

Spotted my mistake penciled on the sheet. It should'nt be 10K for R1!!!

Hope it's clear enough.

Hi, I am trying to fit an Altronics K5167 speaker protect to a working chipamp (Neurochrome Mod-86). Where should I get the AC detect from? I took 22VAC from one rectifier input and the centre tap. It reads 22VAC at the AC sense input connectors but the K5167 solenoid won’t power on. Following the testing procedure; I connected DC+ input to one of the AC inputs and the solenoid switches on after 5 sec as expected. The instructions say to take AC from the Altronics power supply at the rectifier inputs. What am I doing wrong? Thanks, Kffern

@Bell Ringer Oh, you have the whole thing. The eagle and the roadrunner? It continuously adjusts the frequency according to the speed. I have the poor DIY cousin, generously designed by the same guy after he sold the business to SOTA. It doesn't adjust for speed and the frequency accuracy not quite as good. A couple of smart guys have modified theirs to take the signal from the tach and adjusts the 4phase unit. I have just moved on to an old SP10.

@marcusD my top plate is very different to yours. Around 5 years ago I think. His first version. The wheel on my old lenco was aftermarket bonded rubber and very well made.

I sold my best idler along with the best running Lenco to Spider. The plinth wasn't pretty but it sounded good and worked well. I see its up for sale. I am now using an original idler wheel which looks OK. I have an idler wheel from the Russian guy on ebay but the clear rubber rings he provided seem to wear and leave rubber on the motor shaft. Speed wasn't good either. I need to find an O ring for it instead. Speed wasn't much better. I find that when I disengage the wheel and then re engage it I get a different speed. The motor is very silent and I assume runs at correct speed. My hunch is that it is the motor mounting. I really should have got Reindeer's top plate. I still could as its not flush with the corian but I have threaded inserts in the second Corian layer. The Corian does give it a clear and tight sound. Stick with plain colours though. @Bell Ringer Are you using mains AC? Do you find the speed changes at different parts of the record? kffern

Hi, I've had a few Lencos over the years and loved them. I enjoyed the fettling and fussing and getting them to sound like no other TT. A few years ago I built a speed sensor and things started to go downhill for me. I now have just one in a diy Corian plinth. It uses an early version of SPH top plate and bearing. The motor mounting uses bolts to hold the motor which I feel is a weak point. It is driven by a Pyramid DIY 4 Phase Sinewave Generator for Turntable Motor Drive. I had a Nigel controller but found it not as good as the Pyramid version. Rebuilt it to a spare 4phase. Anyway, if you have tried continuous speed monitoring on a Lenco I would like to hear about your experiences. The sensor in the picture is from diyaudio using arduino. I have built another https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/pcbs-to-build-a-turntable-speed-measurement-device.350978/page-3#post-7038531 which is calibrated. Both read pretty much the same. Its consistency I'm after not fixated on 33.3333. Kffern

Bitstream. Third picture.

Further Information: I bought it about 8 months ago planning on doing it up but I just don't play CDs. A couple of the LED segments don't work but otherwise works well and is pretty clean and scratch free. Just a bit dusty. Wiped it with a tissue...

Item: Quad Esl63 stands Price Range: negotiable Item Condition: New or Used Extra Info: willing to ship to Perth.

Item: Neurochrome Modulus 86 boards Price Range: negotiable Item Condition: New or Used Extra Info: Would consider any model of Neurochrome boards. Please don't forget to report your post as FOUND when possible. (You can delete this text before pressing Submit).