Reference Lenco MKIII,
Robert, Ottawa 2014
I’m a latecomer to the world of audiophilia. After retiring in 2008, surviving cancer in 2009 and listening to outstanding music at my buddy Jim Gilroy’s studio, I decided to take on the very audacious project of building my own studio, from scratch. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I got a tremendous amount of help, especially from Jimmy.
The first decision I made, probably the easiest but one of the most critical ones I had to make, was to go analogue rather than digital… which immediately led to the second decision I had to make, finding a suitable turntable. Fortunately for me, Jim had a Reference Lenco Mk II, and the music it was producing, along with Wyetech’s exquisite electronics, was what sold me to the project in the first place. So that decision was a very easy one.
Jean made the exterior of my table out of blood wood, and used wenge wood for the trim. It’s absolutely stunning. There’s a picture of it in Jean’s gallery. I added a Graham Phantom Supreme tonearn and a Clearaudio Statement cartridge, and got a full complement of electronics from Wyetech, including a Ruby phonostage, a Ruby pre-amp, and Sapphire amps. When everything was ready, Jean came over to help me set the turntable up. After a few hours of tweaking, I felt the profound satisfaction of realizing that everything was coming together, even better than what I had hoped for. The sound coming from the Lenco and through the Wyetech equipment was rich, detailed, coherent, and came through with a beautiful wide, deep and stable soundstage.
In the months that followed, I was told that I had one of the better studios in the region, and I couldn’t be happier. But last summer, Jean offered to upgrade my table to the Reference Lenco MK III standards. This upgrade included a completely redesigned chassis, a brand new main bearing and new motor mounts. I wasn’t exactly sure what the upgrade would give me, but Jean assured me it would be worth it. He was so right. When I got the table back, I realized how much richer the lower frequencies had become. I was hearing timber, detail and coherency in the bass that I had never heard before. But the mods also allowed my Clearaudio cartridge to produce the level of detail and purity that it’s capable of, throughout the whole spectrum. The soundstage became even deeper, wider and more centered than before, and I’m getting even more definition and separation than before. The MK III is definitively a major step-up over the MK II.
And very recently, Roger Hebert, owner of Wyetech, came out with his newest amps, the 300B Rubys. These amps are simply outstanding. When I heard them in my studio, I knew I couldn’t resist. The combination of the new amps with the upgraded Reference Lenco MK III is simply breathtaking. Because of the genius of people like Jean and Roger, my studio is better than what I had hoped for when I started the project. And many thanks to my buddy Jimmy who really helped me pull it all together.
Bobby C.