LENCO
Refurbish and Restore
Lenco Idler Drive - Back to the Front
We know how important a good service is for a Lenco record player to work properly. After 40-50 years you can imagine these record players suffer severe aging and wear. No matter how good they appear to be and no matter how careful they are taken care of. To bring your Lenco record player back to front, you will have to replace the parts that are subject to aging and wear. We have developed a complete set of parts to restore this great and often underrated record player.
You might say: there are many suppliers of Lenco parts out there. You are absolutely correct and we have tried and used all suppliers and their products. Some are just fine but for some parts there just is not a good replacement available. Especially for the idler wheel. All after-market wheels we have tested do not meet the high standard of the original Lenco wheel. Often they are offered with a replaceable O-ring. Believe me, there is no way you can set an O-ring idler wheel properly. Besides the complete wrong geometry of the contact surface (it should be conical instead of round) there are other issues. There is a lot of force applied on the idler wheel when switching on the Lenco. This causes deformation of the O-ring rubber and therefore rumble and unwanted noises.
Audio Creative StealthDrive Idler Wheel
We have managed to produce an idler wheel based on the original Lenco idler wheel. No O-ring here! But a high quality, natural rubber vulcanized on a precise machined aluminium wheel. Exactly how Lenco produced their idler wheels back in the 1970’s. The outer rim is conical shaped to obtain the best contact with the motor/platter which results in ultra low noise and ultra low rumble.
Why a new idler wheel?
Well, all original wheels have degraded in time. The rubber is hardened (even the best preserved Lenco wheels) and the outer rim has severe wear after 50 years of operation. With that, we are not satisfied with the quality of the after market wheels including the O-ring types, which cause a lot of problems in roundness and stability which results in noise, unstable speed and rumble.
The Audio Creative Stealth Drive Idler has a natural rubber with the same quality and flexibility as the original Lenco idlers. It is vulcanized around a precisely machined aluminium wheel. This ensures a perfect roundness and maximum grip on the motor shaft and platter. The correct flexibility of the new rubber absorbs unwanted resonances from motor shaft and runs very silent and smooth, without any deformation when switching on the record player. This wheel will probably last another 30 years.....
The Audio Creative StealthDrive performs better than any after-market wheel we have tested and is a direct replacement for all original Lenco idlers. In fact: because of the perfect angled contact surface, the fresh rubber with the right flexibility and preciseness of the roundness of the StealthDrive idler wheel, it performs better than any original old and worn Lenco idler wheel. It is not hard to imagine that the Lenco idlers are up for replacement after 50 years of operation. The Audio Creative StealthDrive idler fits all L-type Lenco record players, such as the Lenco L75/76 and L78. To ensure an optimal experience, we will add two PTFE replacement washers for free!
Note: Lenco used two different shaft sizes over the years. One of 2.5 mm. using a a clip to set the wheel (as showed in this pictures) and one of 3 mm. thickness with two nuts for setting and adjusting the wheel. Both sizes are available and can be checked before ordering.
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I was a very impressed with the build quality and likeness to the original wheel. It was easy to install along with Audio Creative’s other parts I bought – idler spring, motor spring and grommet. This fixed rubber tire is very solid and seems to be a better design than having a wheel with tires to install. The contact is very smooth with the platter with great torque. The sound is more open, musical and sharper
Brian, United States
Audio Creative LencoBearing - High Quality Engineering
All Lenco’s record players we have seen, show tear and wear in the bearing house. The sintered bronze bushings are worn out. This is of course to be expected after 50 years of operation…. We have developed a new Titanium plated stainless steel bearing to replace the old standard Lenco bearing. This Lenco bearing comes as a complete set with a ruby bearing ball and a thrust plate machined out of a special quality, high resistant synthetic material, with an ultra low friction coefficient. The thickness of the thrust plate is 5 mm which allows to use heavy platter upgrades such as brass turntable mats. Our Lenco bearing fits all Lenco L-type record players. Using this upgrade set will result in a very smooth running platter.
5 mm. high grade thrustplates with ultra low friction coefficient
Open LencoBearing house
5 mm. high grade thrustplate placed
Paper gasket seal
LencoBearing sealed and ready for operation
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Today the new bearing came in. It looks great. The finish and materials are beautiful. The kit comes with everything you need and is super easy to install.
After fifteen minutes warming up, the first plate is put on. I didn't expect a big difference because my original bearing didn't feel any play. I was therefore surprised when I heard that everything immediately sounded better. Particularly cleaner and more vibrant. But also better bass reproduction and more precise placement, both in width and depth.
A relatively cheap and effective upgrade for the Lenco! Thanks Marco!
Pieter, The Netherlands
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The bearing was delivered on Wednesday. I have been listening since Wednesday and I am very surprised with the impact on the sound. Everything has much better control than ever before. Worth the investment for the price …
I am very happy with purchase
Best regards !!!
Darius, Poland
Audio Creative - Lenco Springs & Grommet - High precision to Musical Perfection
Lenco Motor Springs
Do not underestimate the importance of engine suspension of your record player. For Lenco we can offer you a complete new set of motor springs. These springs are produced out of stainless steel and replacing the existing motor springs.
Lenco Tension Spring
The idler tensioner is crucial for optimal functioning of the idler wheel. Idler wheel tensioner springs in the Lenco L75/76 and 78 are worn out and stretched after so many years. These old and worn springs can cause several problems such as: unstable rotational speed, idler wear, noise and vibration. A too high tension can cause similar problems. Our new springs will apply the correct tension to the idler wheel for best contact pressure of the idler wheel on the platter and motor shaft.
Lenco Grommet
The idler grommet has an important function. It reduces resonances caused by the idler wheel while driving the platter. If you look at the 50 year old grommets, they are all dried out, hardened and showing cracks. There is no way these old grommets can do their job properly. To overcome this issue, we have produced new grommets and a new brass insert.
Lenco V-blocks - Tungsten Steel Quality
Due to high demand we are re-producing our Lenco V-Blocks. These V-blocks are a replacement / drop-in for the V-blocks in the original Lenco tonearm. All original V-blocks are in poor shape and have all degraded in time. We have managed to produce these v-blocks in the best material available: Tungsten steel. Tungsten is very hard and durable steel and is the best material for bearings like the Lenco knife-edge bearing.
