The Lenco Heaven Eikona DCR

Lenco is a venerated name amongst turntable enthusiasts. The company was founded in Switzerland in 1946 and is still producing turntables today (the company is now Dutch-owned). UK audiophiles may know the Goldring Lenco GL series of idler-driven turntables from the late 1960s and 70s.

Today the brand has a lively online forum at Lenco Heaven. It not only covers the Lenco brand but quality audio generally and has an active loudspeaker section, with a thread currently devoted to Jordan speakers.

Ian, one of the forum members, has built a number of speakers based on Ted Jordan’s designs. He has already built an Eikona VTL cabinet and has now moved on to the Jordan Eikona DCR, which is featured on our website. The DCR features twin Eikona 2 full-range units for extra headroom and improved imaging. Ian has slightly modified the design by including an extra extension to raise the height of the cabinet to 90 cm. The result is very elegant – so much so that we may revise the DCR plans to include the idea! The photos below show Ian’s enclosure under construction.

Here are Ian’s comments on the performance of the DCR:

“Sound wise, everything I’d hoped for and more.  Biggest change … is the micro-detail that has appeared.  Soundstage feels wider and deeper and it was pretty good before. Notes decay way into the distance, maybe it’s the extra separation that allows you to hear the finer detail, don’t know but the fine texture really is impressive.

As to music, I’m not into heavy rock but do like a bit of Massive Attack now and then. Tracks such as Angel sound superb, it is quite a complex track but the twin Eikonas separate out the components very well so no muddle at all. Other electronic stuff like The XX also sound superb, in fact any well recorded music sounds excellent. The drum on Hotel California from the Eagles “Hell Freezes Over” has a real thwack but also lots of reverb and texture so other than the deepest of bass notes I don’t think much is missing here.

Given the sound quality, I think these may well be in the system for a long time to come so worth getting right.  That extra Eikona unit does seem to add extra energy all round.  … I can’t see any commercially made speaker performing anyway near as good for the money.”

You can visit the Lenco Forum here and the Eikona DCR plans are here.

(We would like to point out that the Eikona DCR is not an official Lenco Heaven construction project, the title refers to where it first appeared.)