My Garrard 301 journey... almost there.
Hi guys and gals,
Ive been lurking in the shadows for sometime now whilst I put together my first idler TT.
I started the journey last July/august time when I started to brainstorm and research what I wanted with regards to looks and specs and have nibbled away at it as and when funds have allowed.
I’m getting pretty close to completion now so I thought I would share a few pics of what I have cobbled together.
People around me think I’m bloody bonkers having only just finished a pretty high spec LP12 which was stunning in all aspects, but , with the nature of this hobby , its always digging its claws in and I fancied a change, for better or worse.
Ive always been drawn to the vintage look (in all aspects of life not only hifi) and had been wondering how to take the style of yesteryear and build on its strengths and give a modern performance. So after speaking to a few people about its pros and cons i decided on a 301 as it sounded up my street.
A few names and parts kept coming up with regards to improving on the original .... audio silente idler wheel , Woodsongs eddy disc, various aftermarket bearings and platters upgrades, thicker aluminum chassis ,and so on.
After speaking to Ray at CTC , it seemed that his classic 301 incorporated all of the above but I wasn’t sure wether they made any differences so I decided to hunt around and speak to a few people online who had experience with both and overwhelmingly they said that the CTC 301 was an improvement on a standard 301 offering a touch more detail and 3D sound, so I decided to take the plunge and put my order in. It arrived this week and I have to say Ray has done a stunning job and was very happy to customise it for me in metallic black and do a polished platter as opposed to his standard all gloss black scheme.
After seeing all the rave reviews I decided that I had to get a Tenuto mat as they are one of the rare hifi products that doesn’t get a bad word said about it. So that’s what I did
Next I set my sights on a new arm as I knew the roksan I had probably wasn’t quite right so I found an ex display Reed arm. I liked the sound of the 10.5 inch as it was a good compromise between the speed of 9 inch and tracking error of a 12 inch and the price was great so I pulled the trigger
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Last edited by Bigbird; 19-02-2020 at 11:29.
CTC Classic 301 , SPH bearing and Hanze Hifi HAT CPS-2 all analogue power supply / Tenuto Mk2 mat / custom Panzerholz and Kewasinga articulating plinth / Track audio isolation feet / Reed tonearm / Audio Technica ART 9 / 2 box BigBottle mk3 phonostage with Clarity cap CMR and NOS Telefunkens valves / Croft 25R preamp with upgraded 12BH7A line stage and NOS 1956 RCA valves / Croft 7R monoblocks with NOS 56 RCA valves/ Dynaudio Contour 30i speakers / Spotfire interconnects and speaker cables / Merlin Scorpion mains block / Rhodium mains cables / Marantz CD DAC /