Here is an extremely rare event, a Reference Lenco MKIII, the precursor to the Ultimate Lenco, this one traded towards the Ultimate Lenco. This one was built for air-bearing tonearms on the right, with a 12″ tonearm board on the upper left. The air-bearing tonearm in question is the Cartridge Man Conductor, which is now being marketted under the Decca International name for $12,000 USD. The sound of the Reference Lenco is stunning, while the Conductor adds perfect imaging and separation. The right-hand tonearm board can also accept shorter tonearms like the SME V, and also the 10″ VPI JMWs (due to geometry). The ‘table, commissioned from new, would be $10,500 USD, this one reduced to $8500 USD. The Conductor tonearm can be included for a further $2500 USD. In many ways this is an end game, my much dreamed of “Lenco-Noll”, (in testament to the superb air-bearing Maplenolls which I owned in the ’80s), combining the best of analogue (i.e. a top idler-wheel drive) with an air-bearing tonearm. You can have it all.
