This is a model which hearkens back to the original thread in which the Lenco stormed the world and became a phenomenon. There’s a reason the Lenco, in those days, became such a phenomenon: this Classic Lenco recipe, which was implemented before various “improvements” damaged the sound, the natural flow, the freedom, and the excitement, achieved near-100% conversions, rarely if ever seen in audio.

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since those days, I have come out with new parts, new plinths, new techniques in extracting more from the Lenco while preserving its magic, a greater knowledge of the sound of materials, and a greater knowledge of how to extract and perfect yet more speed stability, which has ALWAYS been the Central Issue. In other words, these will be greatly superior to the ‘tables which created my reputation: I have developed special jigs to ensure even pressure for the gluing so as to avoid any trapped stresses/resonances, use of the correct glues, and other techniques to make the birch-ply/mdf plinth far superior sonically to earlier ones (which continue to sell quickly and at quite high prices when they surface on the used market).  The use of Direct Coupling to eliminate noise and further increase the plinth’s special contribution to the sonic result has also greatly evolved and improved over time.

Design Features:

First of all of course the classic birch-ply/mdf recipe, which I created and championed because, once tested, it was clear this combination not only provided mass, but also excelled in the all-important SLAM, PRaT and Dynamics, while also excelling at flat frequency response and BASS. Then of course this design takes full advantage of Direct Coupling to achieve state-of-the-art levels of silence (yes, more background silence than the great majority of belt-drives).

The motor and all mechanisms are adjusted and improved, and in addition the TJN Mod both eliminates any spring problems, and greatly improves on the original spring sonically by greatly increasing speed- and torque- stability. The main bearing is restored and a new and better thrust plate inserted, the thrust plate being fundamental sonically, as the entire “turn-table”/platter revolves on it.

Finally, removable tonearm boards which allow for any tonearm, made of the finest tonearm board material.  A tripod arrangement for the footers, which eliminates rocking. Glass mod, being the pouring of glass epoxy into the voids in order to eliminate resonances, the best technique for doing so there is. Repainting of the chassis. Choices are of a variety of paperback veneers; or hand-made veneers, add $300 for the work, total price dependent on wood, see photos for details.

Here is an audio review from a DIYer who built his Lenco under the direction of Lenco Heaven, as compared with the Classic Lenco (Plain & Simple); Joshua Jacobson, Oxford MA, USA, June 16, 2018:

Hey Jean,

You have truly made a remarkable product. It is an honor to have one of your tables. Please use my review with my name in any fashion you wish.

I have now lived with the Nantais Lenco for half a year and finally feel capable to describe my experience. It has been a challenge because it is like describing the most jaw dropping color you have ever seen but it is like nothing you have seen before. That is the Nantais Lenco for me. I have had a respectable Scheu Premier II (I am the Bob from Estonia on the 6moons review of the turntable – the reviewer published my full review because it matched up so well with his experience). I loved that table as it got me so close to tables costing several times the price of the Scheu.

That was until I lucked upon a Lenco L75 in a used hi-fi shop while living in Estonia. I had been following the Home Despot thread on Audiogon and thought it was too good to be true, so was doubtful as I began the project.

Reading through the Audiogon thread and following it up on LencoHeaven I began my Lenco build. I used birch ply, cleaned and oiled the bearing and built a thread and lead weight to replace the spring. This simple little table embarrassed the Scheu. The interesting thing was that tweaks that worked wonders on the Schue (Living Voice carbon fibre mat) made things worse on the Lenco. The Lenco was just doing things right. I immediately sold the Scheu and all the tweaks that went along with it. I was happy with this table for years.

But then last year I found myself moving back to the US. I sold my Lenco and air bearing arm to a friend and Hi-fi seller in Estonia. He noted on Facebook it was the best sound he had ever heard. He has heard a lot, he goes to many a Hi Fi show and has some amazing gear go through his showroom. This is now his home table.

I am in the US missing my Lenco. Lencos are hard to come by and my record collection is growing thanks to Craigslist and my need to play is great. I begin communicating with Jean Nantais. I would love to go for theUltimate but my budget is limited. We go back and forth and bang for the buck and we come up with the level of the Lenco that fits my budget. I believe this is now called the “Steampunk” level. Kind of the sweetspot of what he pulls out of the Lenco.

So now to the comparison of the Nantais Lenco with my build. I would say my build nailed percussion and timing, you could hear and feel this with the Nantais and know they were of the same blood. What I was not prepared for was the places this table went that I have never experienced in audio. Again it is hard to convey because there is nothing to compare it to. On thinking of it and how to convey it, the best I can come up with is the wholeness and rightness of instrument bodies/vocals in space.

I am not a musician, unless you count middle school marching band, so I do not have a deep understanding of music and how instruments work beyond common sense. When listening you hear and get details that almost seem like they cannot be coming from the groove of a record. It is auditory hallucinogenic. Now I have heard amazing systems where you get the goosebumps because the singer is in the room, or startled by the sound of dishes and cash registers clearly heard in the background of the small jazz club where the recording took place. What the Lenco brings is not these “tricks” but a realness a fullness, completeness. I find this most clearly on instruments I am not familiar with as my own judgements and prejudices are not able to cloud what I am perceiving. For example tambourines and harmonicas.

As I sit and listen there is a a tambourine that is fully formed in front of me. It is rotating in space I can understand the construction of it, the material, or maracas where I can count how many beads are falling or shaking, and how full is the maraca. So much of this information comes through. I never realized on a tambourine that some have two rows of cymbals, I can hear it on the Lenco as the sound is clearly coming from two rows of cymbals. The harmonica is perhaps the best at helping you be aware at what the Lenco does. The Lenco does not just present the sound coming out of the harmonica but also the sound going int the harmonica, it presents the whole instrument in space not just a point where the sound comes from.

I have no idea what is going on or how this information is there. I just know I have never come across it before this table and I consistently hear it on this table. I would say what is most impressive is that what I have described is done even handedly across the board. If it were not balanced then you would probably be distracted by specific detail, but this is not the case. I highlighted a few simple instruments because it is much harder to describe the information you get from say a cymbal; being able to “hear” again its is closer to hallucinatory, that the stick is hitting on the edge face, half way to the center etc. or that when listening to a violin you can “hear” that the strings are not flat across like a guitar but actually has a bridge, again not a musician here, never thought of this but I could “hear” it and then recalled yeah I think that is how it is built as violinists bend the bow around the strings. This curve was right there in front of me. So wrap your head around that I could “hear” and see strings that are millimeters apart in height. Now take that truthfulness and spread it throughout the entire recording and what you have is magic.

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Steampunk Lenco version also available at $300 extra cost, see Gallery for details.