Garrard 301 restoration project

[Wakefield Turntables]

The Garrard 301 Restoration Project PT LXIV - Tom tweakery part, err, not sure!


Greetings all vinyl spinners. Another update in the ever evolving story of a vintage Garrard 301. This time I have stripped away a lot of stuff from the Garrard 301 and have installed some Stack Audio Auva EQ isolators to the underside of the Bamboo plinth. Here is what they look like.



Probably better to show you what they look like when they arrive. Here's a quick pictire of the Stack Audio Project and some of the Townshend gear that they have temporarily replaced.



And finally heres a picture of a load of stuff sitting on my window sill including my CNC machined footers that I removed from the 301, these live on a large ball bearing it's interesting to hear the differences in presentation. I will produce a write up at some point.



I'm now on the third type of footer for the bamboo plinth. So far I've had bamboo footers which were quite good, I had the CNC aluminium ball bearing footers which I'm quite so sure about compared to the bamboo and now we have Stack Audio. TBH the reviews of the Stack Audio products have been very positive so I'm hoping to hear good things. I've been a little sneaky in that I still have my Townshend platform under the 301, well I thought I'd have a little experiment and see if an additional layer of isolation for the 301 would work better than just the Stack Audio footers sitting on the Bamboo shelf of my hifi rack. So, presently we have the damping of a bamboo shelf, a Townshend seismic podium and then the Stack Audio footers. It makes for an interesting experiment. As ever, stay tuned...

[Chas B]

I look forward to reading your impressions regarding the footers Andrew. On another forum a chap is using the AT 612 air bladder type footers under his DD table which he thinks are very good. I've been tempted to try air suspension/isolation myself but maintaining pressure could become a chore.

[Chas B]

Here's a link to the most OTT implementation of the 301 I have seen!
https://audioexotics.vanillacommunit...II3Jt9nWRU6k5A
I'm not sure how much science was involved but there is a lot of pretty CNC machining!

[Barry]

Here's a link to the most OTT implementation of the 301 I have seen!
https://audioexotics.vanillacommunit...II3Jt9nWRU6k5A
I'm not sure how much science was involved but there is a lot of pretty CNC machining!

Since only the motor and the control switches/levers remain of the original deck, it can hardly be called a 301. And despite the admirable dedication and perseverance shown, I'm sure he could have achieved an equal, if not better, performance from a more recent turntable design.

[Wakefield Turntables]

The Garrard 301 Restoration Project PT LXV - Twoddle! & MONOLOG - A sub blog! Pt IV - Options and decisions.
I'm always really happy to see how other people do things and tonight I find a little action on my blog regarding an old Garrard rescued from a garage in Barnsley! Now this post got me interested. I must admit to not reading all of it, I'm still trying to get my head around some of the unproven technobabble in the article. This bit made me laugh :-

"When the sonic signature of materials is removed, a whole new world of music opens up. Tonal colour delivery has become exponentially more polychromatic. Depth of musical note elongates within a frameless holographical stage filled with energy and organic silence. Juxtaposition of musical themes amongst instrumental groups of any high quality symphonic recording is distinctly comprehensible. Superimposition of harmonics from violin over another layer of harmonics from viola/cello or wind/brass is immensely kaleidoscopic fathoming my auditory sense to uncharted area. Spatial resolution of the Z axis is interminable continuous. Radiation of pianissimo/fortissimo energy naturally elicits musicality poetically/thunderously to my senses. Replay of any symphonic score surrounds me with a whole range of tones that harmonise with a unique synchronicity I’ve never experienced before. "

Can you interpret that ? The whole article can be found here, incidently, thanks Chas B for taking time in sending me a link.

Here's a link to the most OTT implementation of the 301 I have seen!
https://audioexotics.vanillacommunit...II3Jt9nWRU6k5A
I'm not sure how much science was involved but there is a lot of pretty CNC machining!

The chap in the article has gone way beyond my humble musing in this thread, but then money dosen't seem to be a problem when your wearing a watch valued in the £30K price bracket, I have no idea how much the amplifiers cost in the article but I bet the whole system is well into the £100K's. I do see a lot of common themes in the article like decoupling the motor, changing the power supply, stiffening the chassis, etc etc. The only difference is that this guy has gone completely wild with his choice of materials, and fair play to him. I wish him the very best of luck with his project. As always I like to take away something from another individuals journey and in this instance I like his ideas regarding decoupling motor.

Since only the motor and the control switches/lev ers remain of the original deck, it can hardly be called a 301. And despite the admirable dedication and perseverance shown, I'm sure he could have achieved an equal, if not better, performance from a more recent turntable design.

+1 I agree with you in so many areas!


Now, back to my journey. So, I was asked how the new Stack Audio footers sound.

I look forward to reading your impressions regarding the footers Andrew. On another forum a chap is using the AT 612 air bladder type footers under his DD table which he thinks are very good. I've been tempted to try air suspension/isolation myself but maintaining pressure could become a chore.

Well I;m pleased to say that my findings seems to mirror many other audiophiles that have used them. I won't waffle but in general the new footers dig deeper in the bass area and add an uplifted vibrancy to the soundstage, yes clarity does seem to improve with these footers. I do however detect is slight hint of blunting to the presentation of the leading edge to some of the notes and I guess that's the trade-off and whether it's worthwhile accepting this tradeoff as the new sonic presentation in my listening room. The 301 is now pretty isolated with respects to stuff entering it from the outside world. The 301 sits on a Townshend Seismic plateform which is tuned and specifically selected for the weight of the TT, the Townshend also has a CLD component. Stack Audio footers now sit under the 301, the 301 plinth is made from Bamboo and I have Panzerholz tonearm mounts. Yes, things could probably be improved but I'm very happy so far with the sonic presentation.

Now for some musings on my MONO setup. I decided to do some MONO stuff today. The first was to decide if I liked valve or SS presentation. Presently I have been using the Croft Music Maker phonostage, well, today, I have come to the conclusion that I'm ditching this in favour of the Paradise phonostage. I have the ability to run my MONO setup through a single boxed, single PSU paradise phonostage, it's a little time consuming setting this up but the effort is well wortwhile and carries quite a few positive benefits compared to running the Croft. Firstly, RIAA setup on the PAradise is extremely accurate. The Paradise is extremely quiet, which, when used with a freshly ultrasonically cleaned MONO pressing can result in near silent backgrounds. This is not so on the Croft. The Croft also means a shed load of additional cabling sitting around the back of my hifi wrack which can only mean mess and the potential for nasties getting into the system. I could further seperate Paradise PSU's and this may give further benefits . So, the next big decision is the speaker, is it going to be A single Quad ESL 57, or is it going to be a single Tannoy 15" MG? This is probably next weeks dilema. I have a couple of interesting upgrades for the SME 3009 as well. I have potentially source some IPE to make a new tonearm mount which has all the properties of Panzerholz but might fetch something sonically to the table. I will also make this tonearm mouint the correct height so I no longer have to mess around with platter mat for correct VTA. I might also do a RCA conversion to the SME 3009 and do away with the SME cabling, this might sound radical but it opens up a whole range of possibilities and also removes a whole load of connections in the sonic chain.

As ever, stay tuned......

[SLS]

I used a Townshend podium for years, but have the Kridon Image feet under my 301. I find them very effective, but what really does it for me is a very solid structure underneath, made of welded tubular steel and a solid slate shelf on top. Sadly the Kridon Image feet are no longer available on eBay.

https://flic.kr/p/2pVnAdN

[Lawrence001]

I used a Townshend podium for years, but have the Kridon Image feet under my 301. I find them very effective, but what really does it for me is a very solid structure underneath, made of welded tubular steel and a solid slate shelf on top. Sadly the Kridon Image feet are no longer available on eBay.

https://flic.kr/p/2pVnAdN

Do you know Kridon? I could ask him if he has any more feet available.

Sent from my HEY2-W09 using Tapatalk

[CageyH]

I assume it is not these?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145980295...mis&media=COPY

[Wakefield Turntables]

I used a Townshend podium for years, but have the Kridon Image feet under my 301. I find them very effective, but what really does it for me is a very solid structure underneath, made of welded tubular steel and a solid slate shelf on top. Sadly the Kridon Image feet are no longer available on eBay.

https://flic.kr/p/2pVnAdN

Have you tried the feet sitting on top of the Seismic platform? If not then give them a whirl, it's the configuration I've been using for a couple of years and works very well. The Stack Audio work better than the Kridon feet. I've used the Stack Audio and Townshend products together and have noticed a nice improvement.

I assume it is not these?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145980295...mis&media=COPY

These looks very very similar to the feet I use. The only difference is that my feet are height adjustable.

[Wakefield Turntables]

The Garrard 301 Restoration Project PT LXVI - MONOLOG - A sub blog! Pt V - Arm twisted....NO, not the Tonearm!!!!!

Weird how things turn out. One minutes I have a fully working Paradise phonostage and then I don't. I still have no idea what happened but one channel is down so this means the Paradise is being sent away for repair. My paradise is a 4 box monster, so I still have one channel to play around with.

This incident actually twsited my arm into doing an experiment that's been on the cards for a few weeks and this is the Tannoy v Quad ESL 57 single speaker bake off. Which is best? Which will sound better? Perhaps I could have one speaker for one type of music and the other for different genre's, no there's an idea! It can be a bit of a faff setting up a specific MONO only speaker in my listening room but then that's what this hobby is about, messing around and
having fun.

The MONO section of the 301 is proving to be quite fun. I've now been in contact with a fellow Lenco Heaven forum member and organised for several pieces of IPE to be delivered. I have no idea when this will arrive but it should solve the need to use an additional platter mat to give correct VTA for my MONO SPU on my SME 3009. I'm also considering designing my own RCA conversion kit. Have you seen the price of a RCA concersion kit on Ebay? Well, call me cheapskate but £30-40 for a single piece of material and a couple of RCA's is taking the PI$$. I have some RCA's kicking around in the spares box and I have some plastic that I can make into a more than acceptable mounting plate, so, this will be FREE! The RCA conversion opens up a whole new range of IC's which can be used instead of a tonearm cable. The capacitance can be dialled in to more exacting standards, this is useful for not only different MONO cartridges but also MM's should I decide I want to start playing around with some exotica from a far flung land (Grace??).

I do have a few more ideas for the MONO section but then that's for another update.

Stay tune....