garrard vs clearaudio innovation

I’m not a fan of belt driven turntables.  I have a 301 in a walnut plinth, and the 301 sits on springs in the plinth.  Similar to my modified Dual 1229.  I also had a EMT 927 which is the best table I’ve ever heard period.   Never any feed back or woofer dance with any of these tables.

Properly set up, I would run with the 401.  It’s actually a better table then the 301, and because it is idler driven, it will have more pace and power musically speaking.  

Bur with any of us, it’s really up to what YOU like, what YOU enjoy.
You may prefer the Clearaudio, and if so that is what you should buy.

You will always turn a profit on the 401.  They are in high demand.  In five years time your Clearaudio will be worth a fraction of what you paid. Something to factor in.

I am going to stick with my 401 as it is by far the best sounding tt that has been in my system so far.
Very musical and dynamic.
No need for anybody to be telling me what i must be hearing  thank you.
Everybody to there own and just enjoy your music, I certainly am!

Moving one of my 401s to a concrete block "rack" on a concrete floor wrought a substantial improvement over a metal one.

Isn't that something noromance. I am not here to upset anyone or tell them what they should buy. By all means buy what you like. However, turntables are very simple mechanical devices. The simpler the better. No turntable can beat the laws of physics.
Norman, if you like dinosaur turntables knock yourself out. I can't use them because I have very powerful corrected subwoofers and a turntable like that would ruin everything. Garrards are cheap. I can buy over 5 of them for what my Cosmos cost and the Cosmos is a very fairly priced table given the competition. So maybe they will be worth a little more in the future. Still Cheap. None of the ultra high end turntables use an idler wheel drive. Do you think Tech Das would not be capable of making an idler wheel drive if they wanted to?? What about Walker or Clearaudio, or Basis, or SME. Watch what happens to VPI's half baked attempt! It will be gone in a few years. The idler wheel is a dinosaur. I'm all for collecting dinosaurs but I don't care to use one. If using one suits your purpose, wonderful.

Having said all that. The fact that there are so many still around speaks for the build quality of the Garrard and there is certainly a retro cool about them. Given the right Plinth, arm and cartridge I'm sure they can sound great. But, even brand new they rumble more than a belt drive.  I have a few 180gm pressings that most likely have more rumble than the old Garrards. Some hot shot gets his hands on an old lathe and thinks he is going to make high quality pressings on it never mind the thing has been in storage for 20 years an bounced all around town with it's 100 lb platter on. I have 6 "Audiophile" pressings like that and three of them are Ryko Discs.