I have always had this Decca FFSS tonearm that I wanted to use but unfortunately carts are hard to come by (and hugely expensive). After three years of hoping that one would come up locally at a good price I gave up.
Time to re-purpose the Decca tonearm for the Lenco. I want the mods to be reversible just in case I do come across a Decca cartridge.
Off to the parts bin
This is the original tonearm as it was stored in my cupboard...
Decca FFSS Tonearm
From this table I had a broken tonearm. I had already raided the tonearm for it's cable and socket (the cable went into that SME tonearm)... For this project I used the rear counterweight holder and the counter-weight.
The TEAC PX-300 test table
I had an old Pioneer pl25 with a seized motor. I used the headshell and headshell connector from the Pioneer. From the offset angle of the headshell I worked out the geometry for a tonearm mounted at 211mm and cut a new armtube (remember I want the Decca tonearm that can be returned to it's original function)...
This is the geometry I used:
Drilling the armtube was tricky :headbanger: In the end I used a little wooden block that I mounted the tube in and then I marked the wood and cut and drilled through that...
Decca FFSS - re-purposed
Decca FFSS - re-purposed
Now to mount the arm... I drew up a template on the computer and then taped it to the Lenco. The LED mini-torch is to help align everything...
Lenco B52 plinth revamp - Fitting the new arm - template
Lenco B52 plinth revamp - Fitting the new arm - template
Lenco B52 plinth revamp - Fitting the new arm - template
And there we have it... New tonearm fitted. I tried a few carts in my cartridge armoury and so far the best sounding is with a NOS Excel ES70s
Lenco B52 plinth revamp - Decca FFSS tonearm in play
Lenco B52 plinth revamp - Re-worked Decca FFSS tonearm
The biggest surprise for me is that the VTF scale is all of 0.1g out :shocked: That was definitely not planned
Time to re-purpose the Decca tonearm for the Lenco. I want the mods to be reversible just in case I do come across a Decca cartridge.
Off to the parts bin
This is the original tonearm as it was stored in my cupboard...
Decca FFSS Tonearm
From this table I had a broken tonearm. I had already raided the tonearm for it's cable and socket (the cable went into that SME tonearm)... For this project I used the rear counterweight holder and the counter-weight.
The TEAC PX-300 test table
I had an old Pioneer pl25 with a seized motor. I used the headshell and headshell connector from the Pioneer. From the offset angle of the headshell I worked out the geometry for a tonearm mounted at 211mm and cut a new armtube (remember I want the Decca tonearm that can be returned to it's original function)...
This is the geometry I used:
- Mounting distance: 211mm
- Offset Angle: 24 degrees
- Effective length: 229mm
- Overhang: 18mm
- Correct alignment scheme: Baerwald
Drilling the armtube was tricky :headbanger: In the end I used a little wooden block that I mounted the tube in and then I marked the wood and cut and drilled through that...
Decca FFSS - re-purposed
Decca FFSS - re-purposed
Now to mount the arm... I drew up a template on the computer and then taped it to the Lenco. The LED mini-torch is to help align everything...
Lenco B52 plinth revamp - Fitting the new arm - template
Lenco B52 plinth revamp - Fitting the new arm - template
Lenco B52 plinth revamp - Fitting the new arm - template
And there we have it... New tonearm fitted. I tried a few carts in my cartridge armoury and so far the best sounding is with a NOS Excel ES70s
Lenco B52 plinth revamp - Decca FFSS tonearm in play
Lenco B52 plinth revamp - Re-worked Decca FFSS tonearm
The biggest surprise for me is that the VTF scale is all of 0.1g out :shocked: That was definitely not planned
