Location: Hampshire
Posts: 306
I'm Mel.
Type of wood supposedly determines the "tone" of your deck. I was VERY sceptical until I started playing around with ebony. I'll only impart two pieces of advice, firstly modify the deck one mod a time and carefully note positive/negative effects. Secondly, enjoy yourself. I have a SME 3009 with Shure v15 Mk3 with the JICO SAS/s stylus on mine and it rakes up tremendous amounts of details, my 3009 is also set up as a "real sound" tonearm with vintage tinned copper tonearm cable and IC's, again I was sceptical but it produces a fantastic sound to more more analytical SME 3012 setup. You picked a great deck, I think you'll have lots of fun.
SS
CD Teac VRDS25X(Audiotuned) DECK 1210 Mat Crystal Audio Mods MN Base/Bearing/Platter+Ebony armboard Feet Isonoe PSU Paul Hynes SR7EHD-27XL/DCSXL Ag DC lead/3 Stage Regs/Recap PCB+No Pitch/Strobe/Light ARM SME V(Kondo Ag Rewire&Tags) MC Cadenza Black FGS CABLES Arm Yannis SPD-4 IC Yannis 222 Litz+Ag bullets Power WAR PRE ATC SCA2 SPEAKERS ATC 50ASL STANDS Atacama PHONO Sugden Masterclass PA4 SUT Ortofon ST80SE POWER PSAudio P10
VALVE
PRE Croft Epoch(Modded) AMP Sondex S100 (Modded) SPEAKERS Tannoy 15"MG+RFC Warwick cabs+ Ref XO + Batpure supertweeters DECK Garrard 301 Mat Teunto Bearings 401(Bastin) Plinth Bamboo Arms 3009/3012 PSU Eagle+Tachometer MC Ag Meister II/FGS + Ortofon SPU MONO CABLES Arm Yannis 420.5 Litz+ SpeakerPC Tripple C+WBT-0681 Ag IC Oyaide FTVS-510 AgWBT 0110Ag Phonostages Paradise(4 Box Mega-Modded) / Croft Musicmaker
Thanks Andrew, I was also thinking of getting a 3009 or Mission 774 and a classic cart like one of the shures. What do you mean by 'real sound' tonearm? And what difference does copper tonearm cable make? I got a Jelco 750D I will try with it first though. I have a starter plinth kindly given to me by Westflower of this forum, but I've yet to set it up, just an old SME plinth, but with lead lining. Looks wise the nicest plinths I've seen are those compact slate ones with the TT sunk (flush with plinth), they look awesome with the 401, but of course we all know looks come second to SQ and I'm not sure whether I'll like slate or wood.
Current system 1210 GR. CDP - Meridian G08. Amp -Sugden A21I - Sig. Wharfedale Lintons.
Location: Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland
Posts: 533
I'm stuart.
The Jelco 750 works a treat with the 401, and it doesn't look out of place
Garrard 401, Jelco 750 with Shuggie, Ortofon 2M Black / ZYX Yatra 100, Project Phono RS with Sigma22 Linear PS, RPi3 + DigiOne + Linear PS, RPi3/1Tb SSD with PiCorePlayer + Linear PS, Perreaux Eloquence 250i 40th Anniversary with ES9038Pro DAC, DCG3 Pre-Amp, Neurochrome 8x2 Pre-Amp, Neurochrome 686 Power amp, Benchmark DAC2 HGC, Primare V25 CD player, Monitor Audio PL300, Sjostrom DCT03 DC Blocker.
Cheers guy, the Misson 774 appears to be quite cheap as well. Will keep an eye out for one. Any typical carts to match?
Current system 1210 GR. CDP - Meridian G08. Amp -Sugden A21I - Sig. Wharfedale Lintons.