Garrard 301 - Project

I have 3 TT s in PA slate and am very pleased with performance but I did not sample a wide variety of materials so would not claim slate is absolutely the best. So what do you prefer, fsonic?

@lewm There’s good info on @fsonicsmith Virtual System. 

I have 3 TT s in PA slate and am very pleased with performance but I did not sample a wide variety of materials so would not claim slate is absolutely the best. So what do you prefer, fsonic?

Hi Lewm. I would love to claim that I have tried a slate plinth with either my TD124 or 301 but that would not be true. So when I responded above that it is not true that slate is optimum, I did so brashly and from trusted wisdom. That said, I went through a series of turntables starting in the early 2000's and then started focusing on idlers in the last fifteen. I have talked at length with many experts. I have experimented with several different wood plinths and with multiple platters on both of my idlers. Unfortunately our niche (idler drive turntables) within a niche hobby does not result in very much scientific analysis of matters such as vibration damping properties of alternating layers of birch vs. slate. If you do some research you will find some good threads on the Lenco Heaven site. Slate is not known for absorbing or damping motor vibration or any other vibration. Our lizard brains just assume that slate being heavy and massive it must be good for something like a plinth. 

I have no doubt that a Garrard 301/401 can sound very good mounted on a slate plinth. My unsupported belief is that the sound you will get is not consistent with the best characteristics of idlers. To draw an analogy, why would anyone take a Harbeth loudspeaker and convert the enclosure from wood to Magico-style alloy keeping everything else equal?

@fsonicsmith

I know we’ve posted on this before in previous threads. The more things change, the more they stay the same, huh? I’ll reiterate for this thread. As far as comparing the two plinth technologies, I have a 5 x 13 layer solid Baltic birch ply 12" arm plinth topped with 1/3 solid walnut and "veneered" with 1/2" maple. I also have a 50mm PA slate plinth. 2 Audiograil 401s. Modified with 3rd party idlers, bearings and platters. 2 Jelco TK 850L arms. Same Decca London cartridges. They both sound great. I’ve compared them side by side. The slate one is more transparent, airy and neutral, gets less confused, blacker backgrounds, faster etc. I would temper this with the clause that if one likes a warmer, tubier sound, the slate may be the proverbial cup of tea. As far as damping, soft PA slate (amongst other) is made up of layers which defract and absorb noise.

Slate is not known for absorbing or damping motor vibration or any other vibration.

Fsonic, My own Lenco is mounted in a 50mm slab of PA slate. However, it also benefits from a PTP top plate, a hefty after market bearing, a platter that has been painted with vibration reducing black paint, speed that is regulated by the Phoenix Engineering gear, and two high end tonearms.  So I am hardly in a position to say that the slate slab alone is responsible for its excellent performance.  But it doesn't seem to hurt, either.  I can say I replaced a John Nantais re-plinthed Lenco with the one I have now. the JN unit did not benefit from the PE power supply and Roadrunner, and the slate unit is better for whatever reason.