GARRARD 401 - Restoration thread!!

[Jimbo]

The Garrard 401 (39432) Restoration Pt XV - Coming in song

I finally managed to find time to properly install the Panzerholz cartridge body for my hot rodded Shure M55E, and here she is.



The Panzerholz body has really transformed this M55E and I have to say that the new body is as equally important as the JICO SAS/B stylus in making this vintage cartridge a giant killer. I've not switeched on my Garrard 301 now for five weeks and it has a cartridge costing many times that of the M55E even taking into account the cost of the modifications. This cartridge now surpasses the performance of a Ortofon 2M black cartridge and without all the messing around associated with set up of these cartridges. Musical seperation bewteen instruments is staggering. Detail is staggering. I'm extremely happy with this cartridge and the argument for a JICO SAS/R is now more than justified. I'm hoping to buy one at some this year and this should push performance even further. Installing the new body has not been without problems. I did have to increase the diameter of the screw hole shafts in the body by several mm's to accomodate my mounting screws but that was no big deal. So, the M55E is now sitting parallel with the record surface, loaded with 500pF of capacitance, tracks at 1.25g with 1.1g of bias applied. I would say that I've put about 10-15 hours on the cart now so not quite broken in but each hour is a true joy!

Stay tuned.....

Just got to find £500 down the back of the sofa for the JICO SAS/R N44-7! Still a new 2M Black stylus is about £370 so only £130 more for the SAS/R. Might take a punt.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Jim, I'm running the SAS/B the N44-7 SAS/R is one of the very few Ruby based cantilever products that you can purchase from JICO let alone from anyone else. It's $500 but this converts to £395, not including import taxes etc, so maybe £500. I've started research into buying and running my ultimate vintage reference MM, let's say Ruby cantilevers will be part of the brew!