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Help me buy a Garrard

Friends,
I was almost about to pull the trigger on a EMT 948/950 from Mr.Dusch (EMT engineer). However I have never heard them so I was taking some time. In the mean time I heard a couple of other vintage turntables and among them the Garrard 301 sounded terrific to me. The Garrard I heard was installed in decent wooden plinth (probably ply), nothing exotic though. Now that I am thinking of getting one there seems to be various options to get a Garrard TT:

1. Buy a good 301 off ebay and get a decent birch ply plinth built and ready to go!

2. Same as option 1 but also do the kokomo bearing upgrade and the Loricraft PSU upgrade.

3. Get one of the current Garrard flag bearers (Loricraft, Audio grail, OMA etc) to build you a 301 based TT with the same mods as mentioned in option 2.

4. Finally get an exotic fully built, modded 301 from Steve Dobbins or Artisan Fidelity or may be Albert Porter. I see that they change even the platter and mods to the Garrard. Here I am concerned that it may ultimately alter the overall sound more towards the modern side. I am not really after that. Some improvements to the overall noise floor and soundstaging is fine but taking it too far may ultimately get me only half the Garrard sound and other half the modder's sound.

My question is, what is the right way of doing a Garrard for a first timer and non-diyer like me considering that I want my Garrard to sound like a very good Garrard in the first place ?

If I just do good birch ply plinth and get a clean 301 to go with it, how far am I done ? Will a Dobbins plinth be a much higher grade of an upgrade ?

I currently use an Immedia RPM2 turntable which is already very good so with the Garrard I want to start at a certain acceptable level.
pani
dkarmeli
334 posts
 
You should go for the EMT 950 over the Garrard! But if you have your heart set on the 301 get a plinth to accommodate at least one 12" arm if not two? You're right about mods, they'll alter the sound quality which is very balanced and along with spectacular sound staging are hallmarks of the 301. Your Immediate isn't anywhere the quality of the 950 or the 301 in a halfway decent plinth.
david
pani OP
1,219 posts
 
Hi David,
Thanks for your valuable input. Do you think I should go for a highly "done up" 301 from one of the garrard tt dealers or should I keep it simple and get a nicely refurbished 301 and do some minimal upgrades with a decent plinth and settle down ?
pani OP
1,219 posts
 
Secondly, should I go for the grease bearing or oil bearing version (cost not withstanding) ?
pani OP
1,219 posts
 
Last but not the least, which tonearm to go for:

1. Gray Research 208 transcription tonearm
2. SME M2-12r
3. Ortofon RS-309d
4. Moerch DP6

All these are available in my vicinity in the used market for under $1500.
I am looking for a tonearm which natural flow and dynamics of the Garrard without compromising in resolution.
dkarmeli
334 posts
 
Hi Pani,
I see I have a few typos from autocorrect, sorry about that it was late at night when replied and missed them.

I've bought and sold many Garrards in the past. Sonically there isn't much difference between the oil and grease bearings but the grease versions seem to be more collectible and people pay a little more for them, specially the grey hammer tone ones.

Im not a fan of mods on these tables, even simple things like mats I prefer the original ones. Its not that they don't work, they mess with the overall balance of the table and that's a big negative for me. The only upgrade that I heard made sense was a heavier platter but it all depends on who made it. I'd start with a completely stock unit to begin with and go from there when you know what they're supposed to sound like.

I don't know anything about the Gray Research arm but the other 3 are about the same level product with differing qualities, you won't go wrong with any of them.

david
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