Garrard 301 - Project

@pindac @noromance @fsonicsmith 

all interesting.  My only experience is of Woodsong plinths.  Didn’t realize, but apparently they combine birch ply, panzerholz, and slate, all in one design.  (search for an Art Dudley piece from June 2016 describing a Woodsong 301 plinth.) Does that mean I win?  (lol!  quite sure we’d all love each other’s decks!)

I use slate combined with cherrywood in two layers, for my Technics SP10 mk3. I listened to it befor and after adding the cherrywood base. It seemed a touch better after cherrywood was added.

Pindac, hoe did you assign a numerical value to damping factor for a plinth? And can you define “bounce back”? Thanks.

@mdalton, @fsonicsmith, @noromance 

Thank you for the great insight on your journey and for sharing your collective experiences with Garrard 301 / 401. This is exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping to read! I did initiate the purchase of a Garrard 301 with full restoration, finished in Sable (black). The ETA is 4-6 weeks. 

As far plinth goes, I had the same vendor in mind on eBay as @elliottbnewcombjr linked above. Based on what I’ve learned here, I am going to query the plinth maker about the manufacturing process, materials and footers. I plan to experiment with the footers and eventually decouple TT with a SRA Isolation base atop my excellent core audio design rack. 

As far cart options, I am taking notes on all the recommendations so far. Three extra head shells are already in-house with Reed 3P tonearm :-) 

Hopefully, Garrard 301 ends being my end game TT!

Just as Damper and Body Materials used in Cartridges has evolved in the selection for a materials.

Materials used for structure in audio equipment has evolved as well, and it is easy to see where the industry is adopting it and not. Linn won't inform on their most recent TT being constructed with P'holz, it is an inhouse name for the material. As does Kaiser Speakers referring to the Bespoke Materials as Tank Wood.

There are most likely other Brands with a usage of it and a disguised name to protect their IP.

'Bounce Back' is a simplistic term, used when describing extremely Poor Dissipation and Damping, the Energies are not Damped or Dissipated, hence they are contained and in motion as further transferal, hence 'Bounce Back'.

In relation to the TT, being in contact with such a material, the likelihood/guarantee is that the Styli is to be receive energies from Bounce Back, resulting in a contaminated energy being sent to create the initial signal to be transferred for further stages of amplification, where the contamination is included in all stages until sound is produced.

Whether the end listener is able to detect the contamination in the produced sound will be open to debate, I have and do, when certain types of structure are being used.    

@lalitk 

+1 for Woodsong renovation work (I have a TD124).

VG results (for TD124) with "Governor" PSU made by Deco Audio in UK for rational cost: lower noise floor, greater impact.

I have VG results after milling -- using pillar drill-- a solid plinth of German "Permali" wood: twice density of baltic birch (similar if not same manufacturing principle of "Panzerholz"). Plinth stands on decoupling tripods.  Image of this posted on my system page. Material of modest cost - around 100GBP.

This set up sounds fast, detailed and richly musical. As others noted, slate may be less optimal. I have found wood somewhere in plinth or under, as support, gives more natural sound with less edge. YMMV.