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Carl Ellis told me he had a direct contact for Kridon. He does have a very few items still on eBay (per @cageyH link above) and you could ask him via one of those products if he still has any "Type 4" feet available.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lawrence001
Mine is the same, from CTC, original motor rebuilt, levers reconditioned, new bearing, platter, etc. It's still a 301. It's a Classic Turntables 301 and whilst it works identically, it's better made and will probably last longer. I had a very good deck before, ultra-modern, I prefer the 301. I could have bought a Brinkman Bardo for the same money, but I prefer the look of the 301. The plinth has the same veneer as most of the furniture in my music room, where aesthetics matter - a lot.Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry
Ray Clark was very concerned that the Hammerlite finish is as close to the original finish as possible. He had to change supplier to one in Northern Ireland and actually sent it down to me for prior approval before putting it together.
This was not the actual one supplied, this has the fixing holes on top. The CTC version has bolt fixings from underneath the plinth into the base of the deck. I put some sorbothane strip between the plate and the plinth and under the heads of the bolts, so the bolts and base are not in direct contact with the plinth.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...68672a9b_b.jpg
Personally I think it looks better without the 4 fixing holes, but you have the option.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...ca2a07b8_w.jpg
Incidentally, these two photos show the same veneer. The first one is a cupboard that has been sanded and sprayed with two coats of satin, once sanded ready the next day. The 301 plinth has 16 coats of lacquer, each fine polished, took 5 weeks. I'm not sure there is anyone in the UK who does that on a regular basis for plinths, you need a good spray booth, a special license as the stuff is toxic and a lot of experience.
The Garrard 301 Restoration Project PT LXVII - More skint ramblings and MONOLOG - A sub blog! Pt VI - DOH!
It's Sunday evening and I'm chilling with some single malt (a wee drop) and some Mingus playing in the background. Things have taken a meandering path over the last few days. So, the Stack Audio footers are still in place and doing a good job. My Paradise has been sent away for repair and I've got a replacement borrowed unit from Si (Paradise Guru and general all round DIY good guy and boffin). This new Paradise has a few tweaks compared to my old faithful and knowing Si things will generally be better when he's tweaked things so he's been given 100% Cart-Blanche with respects to upgrades to my Paradise, so I'm hoping for a nice little uplift in sonic presentation. The loaner unit is quiter than mine and appears to give a smidge more detail and the RIAA has been tweaked to be flat, VERY flat! I've put out a request for a dead Garrard 301 motor to begin designs on my decoupled motor cradle for my plinth, very, very long shot but you never ever know!
Now, a few words about the MONO setup. So, the quandry over the Quad ESL and Tannoy Monitor gold 15" speakers was solved this weekend, I'm using both! Both speakers have good and bad points. The Quad having and amazing mid band and great with vocal and classical, the MG 15" being good with Jazz. So, the best of both worlds, I alternate the speakers and have two great setups! Yep, a real DOH moment! I'm still awaiting delivery of the IPE from Europe, it's been posted, talk about a slow boat from Europe :)! Anyway, the 3009 should have a nice new tonearm mount before the end of the year :lol:. Now, the 3009 will be undergoing a RCA conversion to get rid of the old SME tonearm cable. This conversion is actually very simple. I just need to make a new mount to fit into the base of the tonearm and dig out my Furutech RCA's that I have kicking around in my spares box in the garage, this should make for a nice upgrade in presentation.
Well, that's about it, as ever stay tuned.......
The Garrard 301 Restoration Project PT LXVIII - Stack Audio or Townshend? + MONOLOG - A sub blog! Pt VII - SME 3009 upgrades
MONOBLOG
I usually do my updates on Sunday night, it's become a ritual that I enjoy. So, tonight, it's raining in my neck of the woods and I smell a garage project. I've been going to mod the 3009 for quite some time. I've had stuff to do and the 3009 is hardly top of my list of stuff to do. So, I hunted down what I needed in the garage and found some flexible plastic and some old WBT silver RCA's that I'd used on a previous project.
https://i.ibb.co/nCxs8Bv/IMG-E1507.jpg
And here we are after a bit of butchery. A proof of concept if you like to see if this will work.
https://i.ibb.co/RC7qxSG/IMG-1510.jpg
The WBT's are a bit big and will require some re-spacing. I need to re-cut and re-do the plastic mount but it's a slow-blow project so I'm happy with the way things are going. There is no turning back now as I de-soldered all the tonearm wiring from the old SME tonearm cable mount. I'm also going to get the 3009 rewired in silver. I have a few other tricks up my sleeve for the MONO setup, as always these things cost money but that's ok, it's a hobby and I get immense enjoyment from silly projects like this.
Now the 301 infrastructure has had the benefit of Stack Audio footers for a few weeks, I've managed to secure a little more time with these. I will at some point have to re-install all my Townshend stuff and then do a comparison to see if my original thoughts on the benefits of Stack footers actually stack up (sorry for that)! The Paradise is stilll having a holiday in Sheffield being repaired and upgraded. I must say that the Paradise that I borrowed is indeed better than the one I own and I've asked for the upgrades to go ahead. Well I think that's it, so STAY TUNED....
I have been tempted to get my croft RCA sockets changed to WBT's sometime in the near future.
It's a 5 minute job with a soldering iron. I'd do this for you if you were close. :( Perhaps you could speak to Firebottle :eyebrows:Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimbo
I should just order 10 WBT RCAs and get the job done. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Wakefield Turntables
Do you have a tape out on your Croft? You can gain big improvements having this taken out of your circuit. I'd only put the WBT's in the inputs you use, you'll save some dosh that way ;)
I will take a look!:thumbsup:Quote:
Originally Posted by Wakefield Turntables
The Garrard 301 Restoration Project PT LXIX- Dave Clarke 5.
Lazy update tonight. Things are in bits and pieces. My SME 3009 jorney continues at a very slow pace. I have now made my new IPE tonearm mount for my SME 3009 which means that the tracking angle can be better set, no more using several platter mats to get the correct VTA. My only issue with my SME is that it's a non-improved variant as this would have been better for SPU and vintage MM cartridge usage. I decided that it would be cheaper to do sympathetic modifications to the 3009 that I own. Presently I have problems with the tonearm cable and have to use a large blob of bluetac on the counter weight to balance the SPU which makes the 3009 look ugly but fully functional. So, the 3009 is having a few early Xmas presents, firstly a new silver rewire and secondly a new counter weight made of sufficient mass to replace the bluetac. Finally a nice new pair of Mark Grant Oyaide FTVA-510 cables. I will of course keep the original counter weight close at hand so that I can use vintage MM's. The 301 is forming into being a bit of a swiss army knife. I have one SME 3012 which is exclusive for SPU's. The 3009 will be MONO and vintage MM duties. I have decided to use my EAR 834P as MY MM reference. Yes, I understand there are many phonostages out there which are far better than the EAR834P clone that I own but it's the best sounding thing I have in my system. So far the 834P has outshone a Croft extrinsic special design, the intrinsic Croft MM stage on my Charisma Croft Pre-AMP and a ATC SCA2 MM module. My EAR834P clone is very flexible, it has two tonearm inputs, MONO, Earthlift and cartridge loading, all very good for using mulitple MM's.
I have also managed to purchase a very lightly used Grace F9e cartridge, the one with the ruby cantilever, again much cheaper than buying anything from JICO. This little beauty is coming from the land of Oz. I'm hoping for good things with this cart. I should then be set up for Xmas and hopefully have a very nice couple of weeks away from work relaxing to Jazz, classical, and any other lovely 12" vinyl purchases over the winter nights. My quest for a dead/alive Garrard 301 motor continues for the decoupling project that I have planned for the plinth. I think that just about it for tonight, so as ever, stay tuned.....