Garrard 301 - Project

@noromance

Sorry I missed your post. Spring base isolation and Stillpoints are next on my list. And I am gathering information on all the available bearings and then going to decide which one gets my $$$. As far Audio Grail plinth, I just don’t care for ‘boxy’ looking plinths..lol!

My biggest concern heading into this project was,

1) am I going to like the sound of 301, and

2) rebuit quality, ease of use.

Both of these are answered to a great degree. I kinda knew 301 won’t be perfect from get go…I chalk this up to my inexperience and couple of poor choices. Despite of its challenges, I’m enjoying spinning records on 301. So 301 is not going anywhere, I honestly see myself keeping 301 around for a long time and tweak it further with parts like bearing, platter and even change out plinth to further elevate its performance.

Also do not overlook the 'fact' the Platter is receiving side force that will add a force to the Platter Spindle.

Think of the Bearing Housing fastened into a quite thin metal as an anchor point. The Force on the Platter that is also being loaded into the Spindle will be encouraging the Bearing Housing to route force into the interface between Bearing Housing / Chassis.

Flexion is to occur and will be most amplified at the Base of the Beating Housing.

Eccentric Rotation can be occurring at the Bearing Base, that is then in a lesser degree being produced at the Spindle.

 The overhang of the Platter Rim from the Spindle and Platter Mass will assist with amplifying rotations that are eccentric. 

A Styli in a Groove in such an environment is going to be functioning in a way that is not allowing for it to be a optimised interface in the groove.

Bracing the Bearings Base, or Rigidly Coupling the Bearing Housing Base is a long time seen fix on TT's that have the potential to produce a flexion in the Chassis, that is at its worst when impacting detrimentally on the Bearing Housings Base. 

A lot can be achieved if keeping the original Bearing Housing and producing mod's for it, most replacement bearings seen today as a commercial offering, are only a end design that utilises plagiarized DIY Designs. 

As a point of reference : Has anyone here ever heard a Garrard 301 in its original plinth ?  You know ---- the one that the designers of this marvelous TT chose as its companion plinth ?

Original Plinths for Idler Drives of which I owned a 401 original Plinth were built with basic cabinetry assembly practices and were creating a larger air Void.

The non rigidity of the Cabinet ( think Syli requirements) and the large Volume of air caused audible resonance when transferred to the Styli.

Plinths today are usually seen with tight tolerance rebates for the TT to bed into and the Plinth Structure is substantially rigid.

The magic really occurs when the materials for the structure are able to Damp/Dissipate energies produced very effectively, hence the Styli is working in a much improved environment.

It is all about the Styli sensitivities to received energies, keeping the energy passed from the Styli to become the electrical signal to undergo various stages of gain as unadulterated as can be achieved at the Source, which is the Styli.        

@pindac @mdalton @noromance

My Garrard 301 is finally free from the gremlins of air and floor born energy. The solution…20 years old Final Laboratory Daruma 3-II’s from my closet. They have managed to effectively float the turntable thus freeing the TT from any mechanical vibrations. They are very similar to Symposium Rollerblock Jr. I just need to be careful to not knock off my TT off the rack with my knees…LOL!

Atleast now I can focus on finding a more stable ‘isolation’ solution and not think about replacing the plinth.