tonearm options for my lenco

Ok, more basic questions from an as yet uneducated youngster.
Im going to need an arm for my lenco, mounting is not a problem, so any dimensions will fit.
I have a rega rb250 already.
I can spend around £150 without feeling guilty.
i will need to be able to use my ortophon 510mk2 for the foreseeable future till i can afford something better.

Ive been scouring ebay, and hadcocks are few and far between at the moment, and ive not seen any maywares for sale yet.
there is an excel arm that basically looks like a mayware copy to me.

Are ther any others i should look for?

Are any of the SME arms worth looking at?

Should i spend the money on orogin live mods to my rega?

Also spotted a trascriptors fluid arm, but i dont think these are very highly regarded are they?

Can anyone sugest different arms that will suit so i can keep an eye out for all options till something turns up in my price range?

Thanks

[spikeyfaz]

If mounting and dimensions are not a problem, I would suggest sticking with your RB250. Get your deck up and running, have a listen and then decide if you want to spend more dosh. Who knows, you might hit that 'sweet spot' straight away.

[I love my records]

The Origin Live counterweight mod is WELL worth the cash. Be prepared though, to adjust the arm height to get the most out of it.

Only now, after 11 years does my 250 shine, because thanks to this board, I became prepared to experiment with things like VTA.

Good luck with your project.

yeah, i think ill stick with the 250 for now.
The money might be put to better use going towards new speakers!
Im going to try a few things out with the lenco, so when it turns up ill start a thread tracking my progress and findings.
Im going to do each mod one by one so i can judge each mod on its individual merits, more effort than just building it straight out how i think it will end, but at least ill know the truth about what makes the most improvement.

[Greg.]

Hi Graeme,

Although there are others here who don't like the Rega and prefer a unipivot, as you are experimenting (commendable approach), stick with it for now. It is capable of very good performance. Certainly the OL mods are worthwhile and that comes from me as a bit of an OL sceptic these days. Mark Baker does good things to this arm. These days I tend to reserve judgement on some of his other products, oh, and I've visited the factory which is a eye opener

Personally I use an alternative derivative, 'Michell TecnoArm a' which I like and prefer over my original fully modded OL1 (RB250) but differences are subtle. I've not yet experimented with my GL75 as I've concentrated on my Garrard 401. Assuming you are planning a high density plinth ideally of CLD construction, what I would certainly advocate from my own experiments is to mount the arm on a seperate armboard which you mount decoupled from the main plinth body. I believe this is the secret to getting the arm and cartridge to give you a full frequency reproduction. Direct coupling IMHO results in veiled and rolled of treble and a lack of definition and accuteness on speed and attack in the bass which should be so fully extended you'll find yourself surprised, I promise you.

Read the Garrard 401 Plinth Project thread for more enlightenment. I look forward to hearing how you get on.

Best wishes,

Greg

[Dave the bass]

Originally Posted by Greg.

.... Assuming you are planning a high density plinth ideally of CLD construction, what I would certainly advocate from my own experiments is to mount the arm on a seperate armboard which you mount decoupled from the main plinth body.

Best wishes,

Greg

Hi Gregg,

What does the term 'CLD' mean? I'm following this thread closely as I'm in exactly the same position as Graeme now, 'cept I now have 3 GL75's I'd forgotten I'd bid last week on evil-bay expecting to get outbid as I always had done in the past but I didn't!

Anyone want to swap an Arm for 2 GL75's!?

DTB

[James D]

CLD is Constrained Layer Damping. A means of building a resonance free structure (relatively) by laminating different materials together via a lossy glue to build, say, a plinth

Originally Posted by Dave the bass

Hi Gregg,

What does the term 'CLD' mean? I'm following this thread closely as I'm in exactly the same position as Graeme now, 'cept I now have 3 GL75's I'd forgotten I'd bid last week on evil-bay expecting to get outbid as I always had done in the past but I didn't!

Anyone want to swap an Arm for 2 GL75's!?

DTB

Ive got an old l75 arm, ill swap that for 2 gl75's

If diferent layers are good, would different layers in different directions be better?
I think im going to use birch ply, but ive been thinking of having normal horizontal layers and maybe some vertical, or even diagonal layers.
Would the change in direction help break up any resonance, or would it be alot more work with nothing gained?

[Dave the bass]

Originally Posted by James D

CLD is Constrained Layer Damping. A means of building a resonance free structure (relatively) by laminating different materials together via a lossy glue to build, say, a plinth

Aha! Cheers James (as ever, 10 mins that time )

Like I said before, as I've got access to a few bits of thick off-cuts of Trespa and ply I'll have a go at making up a 'liqourice-alsorts' construction Plinth using maybe PVA or Evostick contact adhesive, whats the lossy-est?

Is that to decouple each layer from the other James?

Sorry about the hi-jack Graeme, but we're both learning so hopefully this sort of info will help us both.

Dave.

[James D]

PVA better than Evostik.

It would be good to include some different materials as layers such as lead layer and a rubber layer. The more diverse the materials mechanical properties the better.

Since wood had different mechanical properties along different directions changing the orientation should help.

ciao

James