Originally Posted by
Greg
I second all Clive has said about voltage and CLD plinths. Full on power and Slate is IMHE the way to go for a Garrard. The dropping of voltage supply as advocated by Martin Bastin is very old hat. It was originally recommended by Martin Boardman back in the 1970's where he advocated introducing a lightbulb in series in the power supply to drop voltage, depending on bulb wattage, to as low as 180 VAC. I experimented this tweak and without doubt, full on mains is the way to go. Dropping the voltage makes setting speed much harder and variable and it knocks off the motor torque which results in a loss of PRAT, dynamics and most certainly speed and attack on notes. It makes sense when you think it through. The speed control system for a Garrard is a braking system, being that the control is holding the system back from run away. Consequently, the motor retains it's torque right at the edge of performance and the control holds it back to the right speed.
The benefits of Slate over CLD wood is well documented elsewhere and easily sourced.
Mats on Garrards continue to be a topic discussed. I suspect this is more about an obsolete TT being exchanged without an original mat than for any other reason. Again, IMHE, the original mat on its own workes best. I experimented with a Funk mat and that just muddied the mid range. I did this at a show so others including Peter Comeau heard the result and agreed.