Garrard 401 | SME 309

[MCRU]

Marco,
You could always take the 309 off my hands yourself...

[Barry]

You're right dude - not a good match by any means. When I recommended you the Nagaoka (at the time you were using a Rega), I didn't know you were gonna get a 309...

The Jelco, however, should love the Naga!

The 401 is a lovely deck, but the problem is you've poured more love into your Techy (maxed it out more), so that's having a significant influence on proceedings.

The Garrard has enormous potential, but will need a not inconsiderable amount of dosh spending on it before the quality of its music making will better what you're getting currently from the Techy.

If you want my advice, dude, I'd sell the 309, keep the Garrard (it's too good to sell), put it into a bigger, better plinth (like those from Loricraft) and fit a 12" arm like an SME M2-12R (it's far better than a 309 will ever be):



...pop the Oyaide headshell on it, with a DL103, and you'll be laughin' - now *that* would defo worry the Techy!

Marco.

P.S Have you tried the Oyaide mat and weight on the Garrard?

Mmmm! Now that's my next arm or maybe the SME V, or maybe one of the Ortofon's 309?

[Marco]

Marco,
You could always take the 309 off my hands yourself...

AYE (not)!

It's a perfectly good arm, really - it's just not a good match for the cartridge you've got (and I suspect not really for your taste in music), or perhaps more importantly, how you like it presented

Marco.

[Marco]

Hi Barry,

Mmmm! Now that's my next arm or maybe the SME V, or maybe one of the Ortofon's 309?

You can join the Ortofon club with me! Personally, I'd avoid the SME V - stick to the M2-12R, dude. It'll be a much better match for the type of cartridges you like

Marco.

[Beobloke]

Just need to find out how to oil the bearing as it's rather noisy at the moment.

Oh dear - noisy bearing and not enough torque to turn an Oytherematey mat - me thinks your 401 is unwell, sir!

By the way, I'm glad I'm not the only one who bought one of Mike Greenwood's 401 plinths in lilac. I'm thinking of commissioning a matching lilac Audio Origami PU7 one day...

[DSJR]

I'd just like to know what happened to "my" 401 - it was a mint one as well

[Ammonite Audio]

At the Bracknell Audio Jumble today, John Caswell had a nice looking 401 in a large, solid and tidy looking plinth, unsold at £580, which I thought was a good price for something already fettled. If I didn't already have too many record players, I would have had it myself. Very helpful chap, too - he gave me some useful tips on restoring my TD124.

David (Brook, that is) - for the price of that SME M2, there are loads of lovely arms that will work with a good range of cartridges and which sound lovely (an Audio Note Arm1 like mine, for instance, or the 10" Audio Origami PU7 also up on PFM). Also, looking at your 401/309 picture, are you sure that you are able to move the arm out far enough to accommodate and correctly align a 12" arm? It does not look like you have, to me.

[Marco]

Hi Hugo,

Also, looking at your 401/309 picture, are you sure that you are able to move the arm out far enough to accommodate and correctly align a 12" arm? It does not look like you have, to me.

Yep - I totally agree; hence why I mentioned to David about a bigger (better) plinth, such as the Loricraft (or Slate Audio), at the same time I was recommending him the M2-12

Good call on the PU7 and AudioNote Arm1 - both are superb and should also be considered. Once a suitable plinth is fitted, however, the M2-12 should come into its own, portraying the sonic advantages a good 12" arm brings to the party.

Let's face it though, all of them are leagues ahead of an SME 309!

Marco.

[johnains]

Oh dear - noisy bearing and not enough torque to turn an Oytherematey mat - me thinks your 401 is unwell, sir!

By the way, I'm glad I'm not the only one who bought one of Mike Greenwood's 401 plinths in lilac. I'm thinking of commissioning a matching lilac Audio Origami PU7 one day...

This thread reminds me of a 301 I owned many years ago. Not sure if the 401 has the same motor but in order to reduce the torque, which was designed to cope with heavy cartridge/arm combinations, at that time, owners, myself included, connected a 40 watt bulb in series with the motor and this significantly reduced motor noise. John

[shane]

It may reduce noise, but you're introducing a fault to cover up another one. A Garrard 401 in a solid plinth shouldn't be noisy. If it is, there's something wrong with it.

The light-bulb trick got rid of the noise made by 401s in boom-box plinths like the SME 2000 or Howland-West, but it also got rid of the power and drive that make the 401 sound so addictive, because the torque of the motor is drastically reduced.