The Garrard 301 Restoration Project PT XXXXII - Playing with my Balls (Well ball bearings)!

It's Sunday and time for another update for the 301. There has been a lack of information regarding the chassis stiffener from the US of A mainly beacuse I wanted to see if the improvements in soundstage were still apparent and not just initial installation bias. I'm happy to report that my feelings towards the soundstage are still the same. Just a smidge more cohesion, great clarity and definition of the small details, maybe a tiny bit more depth in the soundstage but overall a positive improvement.

So, this got me thinking.I've been rooting around in my spares box again and discovered an old set of turntable footers that I'd used years ago on a previous project. These footers are solid aluminium, very nicely turned that sit on a single ball bearing. mounted footer. I'm thinking on trying these on my newly made Bamboo plinth instead of the Bamboo feet that I made. I'd also get an additional level of flexibility with these new (old) footers in that I can change the height of each foot so levelling up the Garrard would be that much more easy. I'm hoping that I may introduce a greater level of Isolation for the Garrard from its external environment and maybe improve things a little further. This with the ability to produce a more accurately level 301 is tweakers heaven!

I can only try and it's a very nice easy thing to reverse. The second thing I've been looking into is the periphery ring that I use. Here's a link for those interested https://www.waynesaudio.com/product-...uter-ring-ss-2 Yes it's expensive but it's a very well made piece of kit and great for sorting out those warped 60 year old DECCA SXL's ! Heres a video that I made years ago for Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z04nC7c56g which demonstrates it's usage, this is back when I had the birch ply plinth . The periphery ring also adds additional mass and inertia to the platter as well as helping to flatten out warping in the records alongside producing a more congruent platter/vinyl interface. The platter ring gets used alongside a 1KG solid copper weight, again helping to to produce mass/inertia and further helping to reduce vinyl warp and vinyl/platter interface (this can also be seen in the videolink).

So, the first thing I'm assessing is the periphery ring/copper weight combo and then I'll start with the new plinth feet. The journey continues into it's second decade. As ever stay tuned...