FS: Garrard 401 with Phonomac-fettled AT-1503 Mk1 tonearm
Perhaps against my better judgment … though I am in the process of progressing with an SP10 project and can’t really justify both … I am tentatively offering my Garrard 401 for sale.
Motor unit was bought from Ali Tait and kept in fine fettle by him .. I have since serviced it myself with new bearing thrust pad, greased linkages, new brake pads, fresh oil etc. It runs very sweetly indeed.
It’s in a DAS piano black plinth and is fitted (by Angus/Phonomac) with a Phonomac Audio Technica AT-1503 Mk1 - the rarest of this family of arms that also includes the ATP12T.
The AT-1503 Mk1 was the original professional broadcast arm developed with and for NKH, the Japanese broadcaster, as fitted to the first generation of SP10 motor units.
The AT-1503 has been fettled and rewired by Angus including replacement of the original bearings with hybrid ceramic ones (very low friction). He also fitted a plate that includes a retaining clip (meaning you don't need a separate clip on the plinth to retain the arm) with an integrated stainless armlift (a new Jelco-sourced unit in stainless steel). He has managed to retain the fairly complex two-piece base and adjustment screws within the armboard.
Angus also made a heavy counterweight (alongside the standard AT original counterweight which is also present), so I could use SPUs - it will balance out up to 35g or so headshell assemblies. It's a high mass arm and matches these cartrdges well.
I have a couple of spare armboards to fit SME and I can't remember the other one (probably 230mm Fidelity Research if memory serves though could be something else entirely that I've forgotten). New blank ones are available from DAS in Austria. Garrard rubber mat with metal insert is in very nice condition.
Arm cable is by Bigman80 here on the forum and very good quality, much better than the original old-style AT one with its plastic RCA plugs, I'm sure I have that somewhere and could attempt to find it but it's possible I might not be able to if it's in the depths of the garage.
Asking price for the deck all assembled is £1200 which is a couple of hundred less than it owes me. No headshell/cartridge at that but I have a couple suitable I could include for another £70 or thereabouts if needed.
It's capable of taking very high-end, low-compliance cartridges and I ran it successfully for some months (when my TD124 MkII was away at Loricraft having the stepper pulley bearing replaced) with Miyajimas and SPUs - pics shown are from that period (shown with Miyajima Madake and Ikeda headshell, and an SPU).
It's a modest footprint for a 401 (49cm x 39cm x 12cm from bottom of feet till top of the plinth, though the plinth itself is solid layered ply and quite heavy. The deck is sunk into the plinth, to my mind it's a nice look. The last couple of pictures show it with an AT-1010 which is what I had on it before I switched to the AT-1503 Mk1.
Collection preferred from Reading/Bracknell area so you can hear it running though I am happy to travel an hour or so around a sort of M4/A34/M40/M25/M3 sort of boundary for a handover.
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Originally Posted by Mikeandvan
