Garrard 301 restoration project

[Jimbo]

I will be taking my VPI turntable to bits over the Christmas Period and cleaning and oiling main bearing.

[Wakefield Turntables]

I might do the 301 and just do a bit of lubing!

[Jimbo]

I might do the 301 and just do a bit of lubing!

I have some experimental lube for the turntable.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Tell me more!

[Jimbo]

Tell me more!

Think Bike...

[Wakefield Turntables]

Think Bike...

Sounds like a government safety advert from the 70's!

[Jimbo]

Sounds like a government safety advert from the 70's!

[Wakefield Turntables]

The Garrard Restoration Project Pt XXXVIII - Two arms better than one...


Welcome back my friends to the restoration that never ends (can anyone guess the prog album?). I'm sitting in the listening room with a big smile on my face. I now have two fully working SME tonearm sitting on the 301. It's just a matter of flicking a switch to listen bewteen mono and stereo, the MONO is a valve MM Croft phonostage whilst Stereo is a customised four box Paradise phonostage. MONO is sounding amazing through my Ortofon MONO SPU, ok the Ortofon may not be the last word in MONO reproduction but it's still pretty decent, ok not a Miyajima ZERO but still pretty damm good. I will of course be messing around with setup and trying to get the best from the cart and that's some of the fun over the long Xmas holiday.

Here's a picture of the 301 playing a 10" that I bought for very little money.



MONO is an excellent way to listen to vinyl. There are literally thousands of recordings which can be purchased for pennies which sound excellent through the right speaker. I've been listening today through a single Tannoy MG 15" but my preferred speaker which I'll setup over Xmas is my single Quad ESL 57 speaker, this speaker fetches a realism to classical and vocals that the Tannoy can't quite deliver. Setting up the 3009 has been a pain and still continues to provide problems. I had to modify the Panzerholz tonearm mount by sanding 3mm off the height which was actually quite easy with the correct sanding belt! The 3009 still plays it's games in that I'm thwarting playing around with old Shure MM carts. I have two that I would like to try my old Shure M55e and a newly donated Shure M44-7. I have stylii for both (very cheap after market) but have been stumped again with VTA problems. It's all my own fault by not fully researching the limitations of the 3009 S2 Improved which is what I own. Several people said you can't use a 32g cartridge on these tonearms, well we proved them wrong and I have one working and singing like a canary. This has been achieved by having some custom ant-skating and balance weights made. I will need another for some of the custom bodies that I like to have installed on my Shure carts, but then that's the fun of the hobby. I'm sure some audio snobs will be crying on their UHQR 45RPM pressings, screaming I should get a non-improved 3009, I agree but I don't want the expense.

Here's a picture of future experiments with the 3009 and 301 combo.



Custom anti-skate and tonearm balance weights, several vintage MM's and several different stylii, it might be 2024 before we start messing with these but I have time! The ultimate conclusion to this experient is to have a vintage reference MM which I can play with through either my Croft or EAR 834 clone MM phonostage. I'll be doing experiments with loading plugs etc etc. It'll all be documented at some point in the future. Suffice to say that I'm extremely happy to get the MONO side of things setup. I'll be going through my entire record collection (2500 lps) and setting up a dedicated MONO section. Well that's a rap folks.

As ever stay tuned..

[Jimbo]

Mono I feel is an underrated way of listening to music. I have heard some recordings in mono and they have been compulsive listening especially the tonal quality and body they give sometimes to instruments and performers. They sometimes sound almost more substantial and full blooded than stereo recording which can sound a bit lightweight.

Good to see you pressing on with the project mate and look forward to your impressions of the 44-7 sometime in the New Year.


I am listening to quite a dramatic improvement in my system tonight Andy, just because I bought a Christmas tree!

[Wakefield Turntables]

Good to see you pressing on with the project mate and look forward to your impressions of the 44-7 sometime in the New Year.

Jim, I promise I'm going to do an indepth M44-M55e bake off at some point, it's long over due! I intend messing around with lots of variables, silly things like pitting vintage Mullard ECC83's against RCA 5691's, trying Duelund speaker cable against SAEC, differing anti-bias weights, loading capacitance plugs, and even special wooden cartridge bodies. It should all be fun!