Tonearm mount to the plinth vs arm board vs rotating arm board vs isolated tower


Hello,

I am rebuilding a Garrard 301 and looking for a plinth. I am planning to buy 3-4 tonearms to try. I would like to know which is the best way moving forward.

Is there a difference between mounting a tonearm directly on a solid plinth vs arm board (same vs different materials) vs rotating arm board vs isolated tower. 

Thanks
Nanda
kanchi647
Of course there is a difference. For what you are doing though the most important considerations are flexibility and ease comparing several different arms. The best way to do this is with an arm board you can rotate to easily accommodate any length arm. Also if you need different hole sizes this is the easiest way as you can make several boards identical in every way except for the hole. 

This can all be done fast and cheap because its really only for comparing. It will be more than good enough to compare. Then when you know which arm you want it can be mounted in the plinth, or on a better more finished looking arm board. 

Another thing you can do along the way is make some arm boards out of different materials. Set up right, like with a notch in the boards, you could change them out so fast and easy it will be no problem to compare several. MDF, acrylic, different wood species, you can try easily and see. They each have their own characteristic signature sound and this will enable you to tune for the best result with your final arm choice. This is a far better approach than what most guys do trusting someone else and then paying them a lot for something they have no idea what it is.

This will also teach you enough to know whether you want the arm on a board like this or in the plinth, or inlay mounted in the plinth. In other words router out an area of plinth and inlay your arm in that. Either this or the rotating arm board are great ways to have a good looking table that can easily accommodate a range of arms going forward.
The best for me is armboard on the rails to change Pivot to Spindle distance quickly for various tonearms when needed. This design invented by Micro Seiki for Luxman PD-444, PD-555, PD-441 series back in the 70’s.

If you will look here such metal armboards mounted on the rails and can be moved left or right, they are fixed with lock. Clever design! The "plinth" of those turntables are metal (damped inside).

In modern design i see something similar on Dr.Feickert's turntables.  
Yes there is a difference that said is your plinth with these options 
going to be your final build/purchase or a test bed.

I built a plinth that accepts various arm lengths with multiple 
armboards. I decided the pivoting option was not for me and went with boards mounted directly to the plinth. Also various materials 
of construction for comparison.

One difference is the boards do not touch the exterior surface
and are attached to next layer below via threaded fasteners.

All sorts of opinions out there and some are easier to execute 
than others.

https://forum.audiogon.com/users/totem395





For practical reason this type of Steve Dobbins plinth for Garrard 301 is universal for different tonearms if you're going to use many. 
Same construction in Stereophile article 

Aesthetically Artisan Fidelity 301 is the best (imo), but you need many armboard to swap tonearms.