soundfan Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 I received this bearing in the mail this morning, just before I had to come to work. It is a bearing made for my modded Lenco by a member of the Lenco Heaven site. I took a couple of pics with my phone and placed a spare Lenco bearing I have next to it to give an indication of the differences. My modded Lenco utilizes a PTP 3 top plate and the maker of the bearing (Jolyon) designs his bearings around customers needs. He has sold a few now over the last couple of years and people seem to rate his work highly, so I look forward to installing mine to see how it goes. The piece of M8 stud and nuts enable the bearing base to be clamped to a brace in the plinth to prevent the top plate from flexing, but as I don't yet have a brace in place, will remove the stud and nuts. Here are a few pictures: 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovetube Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 look great . let us know what you find after install it. Duc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tal Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 (edited) Got one. Nice bearing, mine had no play thanks to the new Ohlins bushes. Put a bottom plate on my PTP4 to bolt the stud to, so now the bearing exerts force on the very bottom of my heavy plinth as well as the top. Does it sound any different? Not to me. But then my idler wheel noise might drown out anything this might add. Which is only in lower registers of course. New idler wheel is on its way. Edited April 27, 2015 by tal 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundfan Posted April 27, 2015 Author Share Posted April 27, 2015 Got one. Nice bearing, mine had no play thanks to the new Ohlins bushes. Put a bottom plate on my PTP4 to bolt the stud to, so now the bearing exerts force on the very bottom of my heavy plinth as well as the top. Does it sound any different? Not to me. But then my idler wheel noise might drown out anything this might add. Which is only in lower registers of course. Good to hear another member here has one. The bearing I have in the Lenco at the moment has the ceramic ball installed, and it performs very well. Am hoping the new bearing is better yet again. Time will tell, and I will report back once it's bedded in. Have you considered a new Idler Wheel? I purchased a new idler wheel from another Lenco Heaven member who makes them only recently. But to be honest I couldn't tell the difference between the older 2 hole metal wheel that I had, and the one I recently purchased. I have no noise issues though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterpan Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 I have one on my Lenco and have found it quite an improvement, hopefully you will see similar results. Although I didn't opt for the bottom stud as I believe the PTP4 top plate to be quite rigid anyway. The combination of ptp plate and this bearing although not really cheap, really lifted the performance of my Lenco at least! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tal Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 (edited) @@peterpan - How so Peter? My idler wheel (trick replacement arrived today, fitting it shortly) makes a rumbling, heartbeat noise low in the bass. Possibly I have a flat spot, or more. I assume any bearing noise would also be low down. Is it purely better low bass, or did you notice anything else? Oops - editing the quote to cut to the precise phrase doesn't seem to have had the desired effect. Not to worry. you get the gist. Edited April 28, 2015 by tal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterpan Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 @@tal The sound has improved in the area of detail and an overall clearer sound, I use an idler wheel from a guy in Italy who makes them with a large " o " ring round the perimeter, sells them on ebay and I found it pretty good. another sna, member who also owns a Lenco has followed my build and also agrees with the sound improvement in case I was experiencing a placebo effect and wanting it to sound better after spending money and time! cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tal Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Excellent. The new idler I just had delivered is the same eBay Italian version.... time to fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tal Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 @@peterpan Thanks VERY much mate. Building your own stuff can be tricky. Sometimes experiments don't pay off. I would have thought that a good bearing would have made some difference. But to me, no. Odd. So before fitting my new idler wheel, I replaced my tonearm mount. I'd experimented with balsa wood, thinking it would damp resonances, but would be stiff enough laterally. And it seemed to be pretty good, so forgot about it, it's been in there for a year or two. Junking the balsa wood block and going for an aluminium mount has brought in some missing detail I've simply never heard before, ever. I wonder if some of this was due to the bearing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterpan Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 @@tal, I am using a 6mm aluminium plate mounted on rubber grommets for the arm plate! tried a few other options but this seems best to me so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tal Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 @@peterpan Did you try it without the grommets Peter? How was that compared to this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tal Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 So this came out - a little battered, but the idea was, ally tonearm to MDF to balsa, so to make it progressively less dense... And this went in - My initial opinion of the detail might have been premature... yes, it seems more detailed, but it may be that lower bass is increased and upper bass is less... lacking... not ,,, good. More time needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterpan Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 @ Tal, good to see you get improvement with arm board! @ Soundfan hopefully we haven't taken over your post and would love to hear your impressions when you install bearing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundfan Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 @ Tal, good to see you get improvement with arm board! @ Soundfan hopefully we haven't taken over your post and would love to hear your impressions when you install bearing! Bearing was installed yesterday morning, and am actually listening to vinyl at the minute. But I will hold off longer before giving any impressions. But all great so far. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tal Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 (edited) Some listening later - The new tonearm mounting didn't suit the Troika. Suited the Dyna though. Spinning all arvo, this is absolutely the best front I have ever heard. I am simply stunned.... detail, space, harmonics, bass texture... all more than ever had... What contributed what, cannot be said. Make a mistake in a vital area, and you stick yourself in a closet of confusion for a while...or ever, even. No one ever said vinyl was easy. Thanks for the idea bounce. Sorry if anyone feels I hijacked a thread... I feel it was related... Still got to fit the wheel even. lol. So this post may well be all about the bearing after all, and what you need to do if it doesn't work. Edited May 3, 2015 by tal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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