Poplar burl, w/custom crossovers by Deja Vu Audio using vintage parts; had to replace original paper woofers with hemp versions due to cat incident. AN Lexus LX 96 speaker cable.
Synthesis Art in Music Ensemble
Tube integrated amp, w/ Preferred Series NOS 8x7189/EL84 (Preferred Series NOS from The Tube Store), 4x 12AU7 (new production Tung-Sol)
Synthesis Art in Music Brio
Tube phono pre, 2x12AX7 (new production Electro-Harmonix)
Garrard 401
Restored w/custom plinth by Woodsong Audio; Track Audio isolation feet.
mdalton, I love the look of your system, especially your Garrard 401, with Reed tonearm.
I built my own Garrard 401 plinth, installed a Dynavector 501 arm I bought from Chris Harban, it sounds great with my Herron phono stage and Herron line stage.
Amp is an 812 SET built by Paul Birkeland of Bottlehead, his own design, it is the quietest tube amp I've ever heard, yet it powers my custom 12" Tannoys with plenty of grunt in my large room.
It's great when things work out so well, isn't it?
No, I did all the work on the TT itself. I fit the chassis, located and installed the arm, made and installed the purpleheart top and sides, made and installed the insert trim pieces, and the hardest thing out all of it, putting the Waterlox Tung Oil high gloss finish. Twelve coats of it, with nearly 24 hours between coats. Just so you know, my employment was as a heavy equiment operator, but I built my own house as well. So high grade wood finshes was not in my reportoire of endeavors. It's hard.
I tried with polyethelene gloss finish, but I couldn't get it to lay down right, so I sanded it all down, and went to the tung oil.
It's not as nice as what I've seen Chris and others do, but it's good enough for me. The wood part was easy in comparison. When something went wrong, as it often does on one of my projects, I just saw the wood of the plimth, make new boards from 1 1/2" thick boards of Purpleheart on my tablesaw, shape them, install and sand them, and lastly, put the Tung Oil finish on the table.
It was a very long and engaging process, but I enjoyed it, and I love what I have to show for it.
Beautiful system. I especially like your Garrard 401 with the blue Woodsong plinth. Chris Harban is a marvel at what he does.
I've never had any pliths made by him, but many years ago, I bought my Dynavector 501 tonearm from him. I recently installed a new armlift from a current 507 arm, and with some home machining, I was able to make it work perfectly.
If you'd like, feel free to check out my DIY plinth and Dynavector arm. It's a system that keeps me smiling.
