When I designed the Ultimate Lenco, I had to test it against a known reference, which was then the Reference Lenco MKIII. First, I had to test the sonics of my extremely rare air-dried tonewoods, one of which was at least 50 years old (and could go back to the beginning of the 20th century), by using it to build a plinth for my usual Reference Lenco MKIII (which has its own tonewoods), and then assembling this with the usual Reference Lenco MKIII Chassis and Ultimate Bearing to make comparisons. The sound was clearer, faster, and more dynamic as compared with a usual Reference Lenco plinth, so this element of the Ultimate Lenco was tested and found successful. There is a very limited amount of these very aged tonewoods, which I reserve only for my Ultimate Lencos (the air-dried tonewoods I use in my Reference plinths is roughly two decades old, and of course continues to age). The second element was the chassis, which I could test in limited form (since the actual Ultimate Lenco chassis is much larger with consequently more Direct Coupling), which is beefier and machined special for Ultimate Lenco parts. This too surpassed the Reference Lenco MKIII standard, with a lower noise floor and greater contrast and refinement, so proving another element of the Ultimate Lenco. There I stopped, as the final element, the Ultimate Platter, had to be tested on an actual full-sized Ultimate chassis (due to its 14 1/4″ diameter). So, this Ultimate Lenco Jr. Prototype looks on the outside like a Reference Lenco MKIII with white subtly patterned maple body, with rare figured walnut side panels, with a black chassis and platter. Currently, with stock Lenco platter, it is priced at $11,500, only $1,250 more than an equivalent Reference Lenco MKIII. Price for the production run of Ultimate Lenco Jr. (intended to realize the potential of the very many shorter high end tonearms out there, including air-bearings) will be $15,000 with Ultimate Lenco Jr. Platter. Buyer of the Ultimate Lenco Jr. will be able to order an Ultimate Lenco Jr. Platter for only $1,500, for a total of $13,000 USD. You haven’t heard your SME IVs and Vs, your Dynavector DV-507 MKIIs, your various older and vintage tonearms built upon sound engineering principles: shorter tonearm resonate less, are stiffer, and have less mass. Photos available upon request.
