The matching of cartridge to an analogue rig is primarily a consideration of the tonearm. The Rosewood Signature Platinum is best used with a high effective mass tonearm. The cartridge will sound very good even when the match is not ideal, but, it will sound its best with such an arm. My local dealer sold a lot of those cartridges, mostly with Ortofon arms, and mostly with Garrard 301 and 401 and Thorens 124 tables. I don’t know why, but he did not like AudioSilente idler wheels. Unlike most fans, he also prefers the oil bearing to grease bearing; he said that the grease bearing sounds good, but it takes a very long time to heat up and sound good.
Garrard 301 - Project
I have been contemplating for a while which turntable to pursue given so many choices. Every time I look around, I just can’t help drooling over a fully restored Garrard 301 or 401. Aside from being an idler-drive, I keep reading and hearing about their unique ability to reproduce music with its sense of drive and impact thus making them very desirable to own. And with available meticulous restoration services and gorgeous plinth options, what’s not to like, right!
Would you please share your experience, good and pitfalls (if any) with a restored Garrard 301 to avoid before I go down this path.
And what about the IEC inlet and power cord, would they be of any significance. My two choices would be Furutech FI-09 NCF or FI-06 (G) inlets.
I have already purchased a Reed 3P Cocobolo 10.5” with Finewire C37+Cryo tonearm/interconnect phono cable with KLEI RCA plugs option.
Still exploring Cart Options, so please feel free to share your choice of cart with Garrard 301 or 401.
And lastly, I would like to extend my gratitude to @fsonicsmith, @noromance @mdalton for the inspiration.
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I hear you..those are all legitimate concerns when employing a long single ended interconnects. I am going to experiment with long and short IC’s and report back. Thanks for your recommendation. The tonearm is Reed 3P, let’s see what cartridge I end up preferring the most. I got my wish list of cartridges 😊 |
I’ve heard this from a number of old-school idler fans. However, I’ve two 401s with the Audiosilente idler and both sound better than the originals. The 401s were refurbished and therefore the original idlers were in good condition before substitution. I suspect the increased detail and blacker backgrounds were not what they were looking for.
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@lalitk Cool ;-) Speaking as a guy with just 4 turntables, n +1 arms, cartridges approximate Tribbles….. |
I understand you are getting the Rosewood Signature Platinum (outstanding choice in my opinion). Koetsu cartridges are somewhat unique in terms of having a rich, warm sound without being murky. If you own just one cartridge, that is a great choice. I understand you have multiple arm wands, so you will have other choices. Interestingly, I know a few Garrard and Thorens idler fans who own Rosewood Signature Platinum cartridges who like the Audio Technica ART 1000 cartridge. It is a different sound, not quite as warm, but it is very good. I would add that to your candidate list. It seems like you will be having a lot of fun messing with different setups, accessories, etc. |
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