Platter Upgrade for Garrard 301

Hello everybody,

did you know there is a pictured report on the setup Hifidaddy describes?

http://www.theaudioeagle.com/columns/schall_rauch_2_oct_2008.html

The approach to use a simple layer of wood is definetly a good approach to support the Garrad's strengths like slam and dynamics.
See the article "DIYing a time machine" on Analog dept.

That was pretty much what I used before I used the OMA slate plinth, which added much more refinement and spatial exactness to my setup, but luckily the slam and dynamics were preserved. Come and visit me.

The setup Hifidaddy used was at least half of my slate plinth to allow a proper setup of his 301 in a multiplex board. To prevent motor and mechanical components from touching ground. The CLD was some wine gum animals from the catering table ;-) Actually worked, I love audio meetings.

To me the differences were very little, the speakers at the festival were not very revealing. I could not draw any conclusion of any setup sounding clearly better than another.

The Kokomo bearing gets a lot of good comments, so it might be worth a try. There is also a cheap imitation around which I had for a test. Can't remember the name or maker. It is a fixed ceramic ball on a stainless? steel platform. I mounted it and the sound was totally destroyed. The difference of the bearing is much bigger than I thought. Though in my case the version I had here into the negative side.
Nice subject for a next audio fest; main bearing mods. Just change one parameter at a time to find out about the differences.

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Jloveys is asking about differences in the idler wheel decks.
I have these three, 301, 124, L75 as well, here are my 2 cents:
301: best sound overall. Dynamic by nature and astonishingly exact and precise, yet not clinical if set up properly.

L75: the main bearing and platter, idler and motor combo are definetly underrated.
You need to buy a couple bfore you finde one unrestored with intact main bearing AND good condtion idler wheel.
then a complete rebuild is necessary to achive a top result, getting rid of anything but platter motor, main bearing idler wheel.
Mounted on a new top plate with non rattling main bearing and good idler wheel it gives a quietest idler wheel I am aware of. (Stetoscope listeng on the plinth)
check lencolovers.com for more info.

124: The most complex and sophisicted of the three designs, yet the noisiest.

All comments are 100% subjective and certainly depend on the condition after restoration. My 124 is fully restored and the bearings are all fine, but it has for example still the old belt. We are talking of moving mechanical bits and pieces that are doing their job for 40 to 60 years. Just look at cars that old.

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Platter 301:
the mat is again a thing which changes a lot in the sound.
Check a Vileda synthetic cloth, cleaning tissue which replaced the real leather pieces to clean windows.
Amazing record deck mat material and cheap enough to try.

Best
Thomas

thomas.

thanks for the link to schall and rauch. It made me remember the passion.

thanks!

dave

Thomas: thanks for your input. Most valuable as you have the 3 decks.
I agree Lenco L75 is the quietest of the 3 due to the very smart idler design, Thorens is effectively a complex design and needs very careful and expert tuning to give it's best needs at least slate plinth to absorb rumble, but sounds very very good if all this is done. Garrard is build like a tank and gives explosive dynamics , a must for rock'n roll !!! Needs also heavy plinth and best with 12" tonearm. TD 124 is working well with 9" tonearm as is Garrard 401.
My own experience here.

Excuse me for being late to chime in on this thread, but I have traveled down the Garrard 301 path and thought you might enjoy my experience.

I acquired a grease bearing Hammer-tone version straight from England; Loricraft fully serviced the unit and it was ready to play. I felt truly fortunate to find such a vintage unit that it had been properly restored by the "experts."

The next step was to have a base built utilizing baltic birch layers, which was a design popularly supported by a number of Garrard threads. It turned out to be around 30 lb. and this motivated me to purchase 2 tone arms for it, a Schroder DPS and an SME 3012 II. I also found a NOS Ortofon SPU GT/E.

I could hardly wait to assemble the pieces and experience the bliss of a legendary idler wheel turntable and the classic 12" SME tone arm. The Schroder showed up on Audiogon and I thought it would show me how this classic sounds with a highly respected modern tone arm.

After months of planning the weekend finally arrived and with the help of a friend we spent 2 days assembling and tuning the system.

First: The 301/SME/Ortofon-performance was polite, soft but non resolving and to say the least-dissapointing. It was musical, but at the expense of giving up resolution, speed, leading edge attack and bass to a modern system. I was shocked! What went wrong?

Second: 301/DPS/Allaerts Finnish-sounded modern, sweet strings nice mid range, but limited dynamics and little if any drive, something you wouldn't expect from an idler wheel turntable. Better that the first setup but not even close to my main rig, which at that time was a Walker/Koetsu Jade.

I am thinking, I over estimated my knowledge and don't know what I am doing, or this whole process is being over hyped. How could things have gone so terribly wrong?

After trying different tone arm cables and stands, the performance improved somewhat, but still way below my expectation and certainly not enough to justify all this expensive equipment.

I proceeded to sell off the cartridges and tone arms and stored the Garrard in it's shipping box for 6 months with plans to sell it as well.

Coincidently, a fellow audiophile, Albert Porter, was building his "Manhattan Project," a top secret base for his Technics SP10 Mk II. At the time, 2 years ago, no one was sure how this would sound, and with my experience I didn't expect much. Albert engaged a master craftsman and the base was simply amazing, marching the Technics up to the front of the class. It weighted in at around 100 lbs! with staggering performance. Albert now builds these bases for the audiophile community.

I asked them to build a base for the Garrard, but this one incorporated panzerholst wood an industrial wood from Germany and other layers with different materials. I would estimate around 75 lbs!

Around the same time I talked to Steve Dobbins, also mentioned in this thread, and he shared with me some of his experiences in building a 301 system. Steve was kind enough to recommend the Loricraft Power supply and a ceramic bearing noted in this link. He also shared with me his love for the Triplanar which he personally tweeks and Dynavector with the Garrard. Steve also builds a state of the art base for the Garrard and Technics.

Once again the moment of truth, putting it all together, but this time I felt equipped with the knowledge of Porter and Dobbins, sounds like a Law firm, to take me through the process, the results would be different.

They were different as this time everything fell into it's proper place. Incredible dynamics, leading edge speed and transparency, bass and bloom in the mid range, etc.
And to think, I was within a wisker of selling the Garrard.

But the moral of the story, there is no substitute for experience and professionalism and people who know how to do it right!

Porter and Dobbins, sounds like a Law firm

actually, sounds like a Whisky. anyway; i agree and have also learned much from those two Gentleman.