My Garrard 301 journey... almost there.

[scotty38]

Everyone has duplicated my thoughts, stunning.

Nobody has duplicated mine as I think it's spiffing

[Bigbird]

Haha cheers boys. It’s all set up and on the go now. Mind is well and truly blown



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[Opti-cal]

Must have gotten some listening under your 'idler' now Karl . . .

How is she, 'opening up' at all?

[Bigbird]

Must have gotten some listening under your 'idler' now Karl . . .

How is she, 'opening up' at all?

Hi mate so after having a week with the new TT all I can say is this thing is a revelation, it’s in a completely different stratosphere to my LP12 in every area . I’d say I’ve had a 25% increase in performance and this is not an exaggeration.
The linn which was around mid spec Akurate level so it was no slouch . Many of you know how many mods I put onto it to bring its performance up , but this new TT actually makes its sound lean in comparison , almost light and thin of that makes sense.
It’s honestly like my woofers have grown 3 inches or Ive added a sub. The bass is thunderingly deep, but snappy and tight . It’s just does the bottom end so well. The dynamics are crazy , the detail is deeper , the soundstage is bigger ,it’s a more powerful sound and it does it all with so much finesse. It really is like one of those turntables you listen to at hifi shows. It just sounds so sure of itself and Massive!
I can only compare it to the jump in performance I had going from the RP6 to the LP12 and I’m much preferring what this is offering!
It’s exactly what I had hoped for and probably expected to be fair as the parts I’ve used for this build have been of the absolute best quality I could find , no corners cut, cost no object . It’s a great feeling knowing it’s paid off.
The Reed arm is the best arm I have encountered. It’s so well thought out, a doddle to use and setup, you just can’t go wrong with it. Proper engineering! It may be a bit resonant for some but I’m a real lover of wood in my Hifi and in this setup it just works and Id recommend it in a heartbeat . I think this is probably the main contributor to the jump in performance .
The power supply also makes a big difference. The noise from the motor drops dramatically when its in use and the speed is rock solid. I’ve found that dropping down to around 207 volts is my preffered mains voltage on this motor. I felt going down to 200 just killed it ever so slightly . I had someone recently that tried to tell me that the power supply was not a good idea on a Garrard as it saps it of its drive , but all I can say is they was very , very wrong indeed. It really is audible when the music comes on and also when it’s off aswell as the motor is now almost silent . when you disengage the eddy brake and magnet like I’ve done and set speed on the supply unit , the vibration and noise really does drop enough to hear it with your ear to the plinth . A must have for any Garrard owner. It’s a shoot on site upgrade as far as I’m concerned.
So, Where the hell do I go from here? I really feel I’ve got an end game product now that I could live with for years , so my attention will now be turned to the rest of the system to bring it up to this level, and from the video clips I’ve been sent of my new phonostage build , that will be the first piece of the puzzle that hits the big league it’s all coming together nicely and I’m still trying to drag my jaw off the floor.


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[Opti-cal]

Hi mate so after having a week with the new TT all I can say is this thing is a revelation, it’s in a completely different stratosphere to my LP12 in every area . I’d say I’ve had a 25% increase in performance and this is not an exaggeration.
The linn which was around mid spec Akurate level so it was no slouch . Many of you know how many mods I put onto it to bring its performance up , but this new TT actually makes its sound lean in comparison , almost light and thin of that makes sense.
It’s honestly like my woofers have grown 3 inches or Ive added a sub. The bass is thunderingly deep, but snappy and tight . It’s just does the bottom end so well. The dynamics are crazy , the detail is deeper , the soundstage is bigger ,it’s a more powerful sound and it does it all with so much finesse. It really is like one of those turntables you listen to at hifi shows. It just sounds so sure of itself and Massive!
I can only compare it to the jump in performance I had going from the RP6 to the LP12 and I’m much preferring what this is offering!
It’s exactly what I had hoped for and probably expected to be fair as the parts I’ve used for this build have been of the absolute best quality I could find , no corners cut, cost no object . It’s a great feeling knowing it’s paid off.
The Reed arm is the best arm I have encountered. It’s so well thought out, a doddle to use and setup, you just can’t go wrong with it. Proper engineering! It may be a bit resonant for some but I’m a real lover of wood in my Hifi and in this setup it just works and Id recommend it in a heartbeat . I think this is probably the main contributor to the jump in performance .
The power supply also makes a big difference. The noise from the motor drops dramatically when its in use and the speed is rock solid. I’ve found that dropping down to around 207 volts is my preffered mains voltage on this motor. I felt going down to 200 just killed it ever so slightly . I had someone recently that tried to tell me that the power supply was not a good idea on a Garrard as it saps it of its drive , but all I can say is they was very , very wrong indeed. It really is audible when the music comes on and also when it’s off aswell as the motor is now almost silent . when you disengage the eddy brake and magnet like I’ve done and set speed on the supply unit , the vibration and noise really does drop enough to hear it with your ear to the plinth . A must have for any Garrard owner. It’s a shoot on site upgrade as far as I’m concerned.
So, Where the hell do I go from here? I really feel I’ve got an end game product now that I could live with for years , so my attention will now be turned to the rest of the system to bring it up to this level, and from the video clips I’ve been sent of my new phonostage build , that will be the first piece of the puzzle that hits the big league it’s all coming together nicely and I’m still trying to drag my jaw off the floor.


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Sounds incredibly satisfying that its all coming together for you Karl. Honestly its awesome to hear so much enthusiasm for and so much pleasure given by a project well thought out and which I know would have required meticulous planning. Power supplies can make or break a component so that's no surprise. It does look an absolute workman too, as a supply should!

Not that your current system won't show off the Garrard's attributes but I think there's 'heaps' more to come for you. Starting with the phono stage by the sounds of it. If you have the means and the patience to get there, why not. I'll be interested to see what turns up . . . .

Just out of interest do you have plans to elevate the rest of the supporting cast to 'endgame' status. Like I say, not that they won't sound great with it but you're now playing a different sport let along being in a different league!

Cheers,

Chris

[Wakefield Turntables]

Glad your Garrard is hitting the spot. What phonostage are you going for?

[Bigbird]

Sounds incredibly satisfying that its all coming together for you Karl. Honestly its awesome to hear so much enthusiasm for and so much pleasure given by a project well thought out and which I know would have required meticulous planning. Power supplies can make or break a component so that's no surprise. It does look an absolute workman too, as a supply should!

Not that your current system won't show off the Garrard's attributes but I think there's 'heaps' more to come for you. Starting with the phono stage by the sounds of it. If you have the means and the patience to get there, why not. I'll be interested to see what turns up . . . .

Just out of interest do you have plans to elevate the rest of the supporting cast to 'endgame' status. Like I say, not that they won't sound great with it but you're now playing a different sport let along being in a different league!

Cheers,

Chris

Cheers Chris ,

Yeah I will eventually bring it all up to the level of the TT but money doesn’t grow on trees so it will be a marathon not a sprint.

Ive had some cables made up using UP-OCC, carbon braiding and KLE bullet plugs so these should easily beat my Chord cable. The guy building them said he wouldn’t tie his dog up with chord cables so I am expecting a nice step up here. I’m also still on the lookout for the Tellurium silver cables so they will be next on the list.

Ive spoken to Glenn and he says that my monoblocks are already ‘maxed out’ so there is no room for improvement with them , they are TOP spec and sound phenomenal as is to be fair.

The only thing left to do is send off the preamp for a seperate power supply as I already have the RS line stage in it as an upgrade. He said he can ‘full Monty’ it with better coupling caps ,resistors etc and the sky’s the limit with that, just depends on budget really but it will perform like a 15-20k preamp when that’s done. That will really be the last 1500 quid I have to spend to get this rig to the maximum level I can get it.

Once the art 9 dies i will likely look at a more exotic cartridge but the Reed arm has got so much more out of it that I’m pretty happy as is .

The whole setup is already end game for most to be fair but I’m a greedy bastard and want more haha.


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[Chivas]

Haha cheers boys. It’s all set up and on the go now. Mind is well and truly blown



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This is just awesome! Well done on a great result, I hope it was worth the aggro, it certainly looks the business and envy of many! Very classy setup


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[Bigbird]

Glad your Garrard is hitting the spot. What phonostage are you going for?

Thanks mate I’m really enjoying the new bigger bolder sound . Ive gone for the new MK3 Bigbottle phonostage.
Apparently the new pcb layout (which has made it properly symmetrical) , and perfectly hand matching all of the caps, resistors, JFETs etc has elevated its performance into the big league. He’s also found that adding a small PCB onto the board to take 4 matched JFETs (dual-dual deferential) has lowered the noise floor to the quietest he’s heard. Ive also gone for a two box version using an EI transformer instead of a toroid, which has also lowered the noise further and added more detail and definition.
I bought some of the top spec clarity caps CMR caps and matched NOS ‘68 Telefunken valves which Oli thinks sound spectacular in his listening tests ... so much so he bought himself a pair too.
He’s been sending me videos of each incremental stage of development and it sounds phenomenal, even through a phone!
I’m sure it will comfortably see off my Whest 2.2. The beauty of goin for a DIY stage is that I will get the performance of one that would be double or triple the price retail and when I sell my Whest on I won’t be out of pocket.


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[Bigbird]

This is just awesome! Well done on a great result, I hope it was worth the aggro, it certainly looks the business and envy of many! Very classy setup


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Cheers man it absolutely was worth it. It’s incredible


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