Garrard 301 restoration project

[Wakefield Turntables]

Tonight's Update - The Garrard Project Pt XXIV - New idler wheel.

11 years on and we are still going strong with messing around with the 301! I managed to find this article over on the Korf Blog http://korfaudio.com/blog94 it got me thinking. My idler on my 301 is silent and works very well, but is the rubber component of the idler in good condition? I'll never really be able to find out. Most restored 301/401's now have Audiosilente idler wheels fitted by the likes of Audiograil and CTC, these must be well regarded if these guys are fitting them. So (without the aid of alcohol), I parted with £97 and ordered one to experiment with on my 301 and 401 TT's. Should be fun! It's now a waiting game from Italy, probably a very slow boat from Europe! Here's a picture of said idler wheel http://www.audiosilente.com/garrard-...rrard-301.html

As ever stay tuned

[Barry]

At one time I was thinking of using an Audiosilente idler wheel on one of my Thorens TD124/II turntables.

But before I ordered one, I did a bit of research to see what others thought of them, compared to an original replacement from Shopper. The word came back - the Audiosilente was sonically inferior.

Now, this was the version with the circular cross-section, whereas yours has a 'square' cross-section, so could be an improvement.

Good luck anyway - let us know how you get on.

[Jimbo]

Yes heard mixed reports on Audisilente wheel, probably an individual thing where implementation will be the only sure way of knowing?

[Wakefield Turntables]

Chaps, TBH I did speak to Matt @ Audiograil and he said not to bother if the original idler wheel was silent. The 301 is silent, deathly silent, the 401 is a little noisy around the idler housing so I'll probably experiment with the 401 before the 301, anyway, it's all fun. I may also be experimenting with a new platter if I can borrow one.

[A.Grail]

One of the aspects the idler wheel is it's requirement to dampen the vibration experienced by it's contact with the pulley / motor. The original idlers have a considerably higher rubber content than the solid hub types. The A.S idler can sound very nice and IMHO better than 80% of the originals out there. The rubber is slow ground (Important) and is of the right composition / softness. However, when you pull an original idler apart you see they are quite involved (And for good reason), for example the hardened polished pins, the hub construction etc etc. I genuinely have not seen or personally tried an idler that ticks all of the boxes in terms of the ideal (Including the original) I have encountered some people having issues with the idler housing bushes supplied by A.S and if you've ever tried to fit them it is simple to see why. The sintered bushes (Think brittle honeycomb) when pressed can deform and pinch the idler wheel pins causing noise / tightness etc. Then there is is issue of alignment which between bottom bush and top bush (In the removable plate) can become a real wig stretcher. Of course there are ways round these issues but for people doing this at home without correctly sized pin gauges / presses / tools this may be more of an undertaking.

The idler wheel is one of the most critical parts of any wheel drive system. It's effects on Wow / flutter and rumble are well documented.

An Ideal idler wheel would be constructed in such a way and with such materials for it to be: Exceptionally well damped / with highly polished, perfectly round / hardened pins / in perfect alignment / perfectly molded / Dynamically balanced / Running perfectly true. There are many other factors: weight / wear resistance etc etc. None of these aspects are inexpensive to explore commercially (Molding costs alone can be very costly)

...Maybe one day

[Wakefield Turntables]

Tonight's Update - The Garrard Project Pt XXV - Bamboozled!


I've been paying close attention to vibration getting into the 301. The 301 sits on top of Townshend Seismic Plinth which does a very good job of improving the sound quality of the 301 and now I wouldn't be without it. I have for quite some time had a Quadraspire rack which worked quite well but could easily be improved. So, after finally pulling my finger out of my backside I ordered a few bits and made this :-




A new bamboo based rack! It's very simply made. Each shelf is 19mm thick and can now be levelled which is something the old Quadraspire could not do. Damping factor has improved markedly too with Bamboo being 0.20 and MDF 0.017. Things have sharpened up markedly with the soundstage showing more cohesion, MONO pressings appear to be more vivid and well placed in the soundstage. I'm not going to write an indepth analysis of how things sound right now but let's just say that it has been a very worthwhile investment in time and effort. I think the 301 has been pushed a little further sonically.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Tonight's Update - The Garrard Project Pt XXVI - Silente Night.


Finally I find time to swap in the new idler wheel on the 301, it had been living in my 401.



I stripped the wheel out and installed it into the 301. A simple 5 minute job.



I also swapped tonearm cables. I have a Yannis Tome 420.5 silver litz tonearm cable installed, it's a design that's not listed on his webpage and is a special order only. I also had all my Croft preamp rewired with the same cable!! The jury is still out. Watch this space for a write up at some point.

Stay tuned.....

[Wakefield Turntables]

Tonight's Update - The Garrard Project Pt XXVII - Back to stock.

This project is still rolling on! I've tried the Audio Silente (AS) idler wheel and it's ok but it is noisy compared to my old Garrard wheel. The new AS wheel is probably the best of the new wheels which are produced as new parts but it just gel in my 301 system. The AS wheel whilst very quiet was actually quite noisy whilst sitting in the 301, my 301 is silent, probably the quietest idler I've ever owned or heard, I'm blessed. I was hoping to have a silent idler wheel and then appraise my finding with a large selection of music, it just didn't happen. I've owned this deck now for over 10 years and I can very very quickly discern changes in it's performance and something just didn't sound right despite having the new AS wheel in for several weeks and continued usage. The soundstage and detail through my Tannoys was not as expected. I'm not knocking the AS idler wheel, it's fantastic fit and finish, a really nice well put together piece of kit, just sadly not for me. So, the old idler wheel has gone back in and piece/sanity has been restored. The AS wheel has been put back in my 401, it will be interesting to assess old the 401 idler wheel with the AS wheel and see if things can work out second time around.

It's not all bad news. The new bamboo rack is working really well and allows for improvements when using the 301. Firstly the 301 now sits level! Well, to be honest it's always sat level but now the 301 sits level in all planes when checked with a bubble spirit level, yes not the most accurate way of doing things but better than before. The bamboo has had a positive effect on damping the 301 alongside the Seismic platform which it sits on. Overall it has been a very worthwhile project. I've been paying careful attention to try and lessen vibrational load into the 301 through the rack from other equipment. My power amp, especially, makes a lot of vibration, experiments with sorbothane under the transformers and bamboo chopping blocks with given a better degree of damping. My pre-amp has had additional similagt treatment. I presume this helps the 301, the soundstage appears more detailed and more coherent so for the time being I'll leave these in place.

The quest continues....

[brian2957]

I had an Audiosilente replacement wheel on a GL75 Andrew and it came with silicon and rubber replacements. Is that the case with the 301 idler wheel? Just wondering if silicon is quieter than rubber or vice versa.

[Wakefield Turntables]

I have no idea Brian it just came with one option so I presume that's it!