Greetings... I registered in 2011 but it's taken me a long time to say hello!
Greetings all and happy new year. Even though I registered several years ago I never really got around to participating here. You know how life gets in the way sometimes - my wife and I found out we were expecting and it kind of put a temporary halt to all my music endeavours.
Around 2011 I had decided I wanted to get into vinyl again, in my teenage years I had a NAD 3210 with 3020 amp and KEF Coda 3 speakers, I really loved that system. So, in 2011 after a chat with a random stranger in a hi-fi shop I learned of Garrard turntables, and after a bit of research decided I would get a 401. At that time the prices were still quite affordable and I picked one up for under £500.
Being from Bolton I found Dom at Northwest Analogue nearby and he did a stellar job restoring the 401. The next step in the project was a plinth; I looked at plywood and panzerholz but decided on slate and ordered a gorgeous slate plinth from NWA, along with the then available 401 Redbeard bearing. Next step was an arm and cart so I settled on an SME IV and Dynavector XX2 MkII. I'd already bought a Heed Questar MC phono stage but always felt it didn't really do justice to the rest of the components, but that's when the adventure was interrupted by the arrival of my daughter!
Fast forward to Christmas 2019 and my daughter will be 6 in a few days. I've treated myself to a Pathos In The Groove, and finally I think I have a phono pre worthy of the rest of the turntable system!
Along with the 401 I have some other tasty bits including ATC SCM50 ASL Pro speakers, which I love almost as much as the wife, and I also like dabbling with electronic music production. Most of my spending money last year went into putting together a eurorack modular synth.
So, I'm in the process of setting my music room up again and it feels great. One thing I've realised along the way though, I love good sound but I'm not an audiophile, I'm just into music (maybe that's the wrong thing to say around here). I must admit, in hindsight a bog standard 1210 with a decent cart would probably have done me fine, but having said that the Garrard journey has certainly been interesting and I'm not going to swap anything or try to upgrade/downgrade now. I'm more than happy with the setup I have and I'm just enjoying the music!
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