Garrard 301

by cmo on Ever Evolving

Description

I thought I'd take a shot at the Garrard 301 idler drive turntable. This is what I came up with.

I stacked two pieces of 8 quarters hard maple (which made the plinth aprox. 4" thick overall) and added the Zebrawood surround. It fits the 'table and motor very tightly and weighs about 30lbs. I didn't want a totally dead overdamped sound, and like maple wherever I have used it, so there ya go.

I borrowed from the Cain and Cain design and built a decoupled Tone arm pod. It uses four pieces of stacked Baltic Birch ply that is hollowed out and filled with lead shot. It is topped with Ebony and is adjustable forsetting cartridge pivot distance. The whole thing sits on BDR cones and another 4" slab of Hard Maple.

The Triplanar is awsome, and the whole rig is absolutely stunning..... I really wasn't expecting it to sound this good. It pretty much blew my VPI Aries away..... Just crazy.

Anyway, I'm loving it and have something I helped create...... Pretty cool.
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Components Toggle details

    • Garrard 301
    Zebra wood and Maple
    • Triplnar VII
    Sweet
    • Garrard 301
    Zebra Wood

Comments 11

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Owner
Hi Andromeda,

Thanks for the kind words.

Wow... I just realized I need to update my system. I haven't looked at this page
in a while myself. I now have a totally rebuilt 301 that's in the plinth you see in
the pics (and I am in the process of rebuilding the cream one you see in the
pics). I installed a ZYX Universe too.

The VPI was a bit quieter, but the Garrard just has so much pace, slam, and
drive! Everything just seems to jump and come to life with the Garrards - I guess
I would just describe it as more "musical"

cmo

Owner
Added BDR large Pits under the BDR cones.... I could almost swear the bass tightened up and is even more explosive.

BTW, has anyone ever messed with dampening under the platters on a Garrard?

Chris

cmo

Owner
Dave,

I looked for a Lenco for a while and could'nt find one. OTOH, I kind of liked the looks of the Garrard better so that's what I went for. I can't tell you which one might sound better, but from what I've read they are pretty similar.

This was a fun "project" and I am very happy with the results. The reason I highlight "project" is that I thought that's what it would be; a side experiment, something to build, etc. Thing is, this TT totally blew me away when it was finished. I had a VPI Aries (which by all accounts is a very nice 'table) and it got smoked by the 50 year old Garrard. I still have some more tweaks to do.......... I want to add an outboard power supply; maybe a Loricraft or a PS Audio Power Plant to regulate the speed, but overall I am very impressed with this thing.

Chris

cmo

Owner
Albert,

I think I may get a chance to compare the Garrard to the new De Vinci turntable within a couple of weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.

Chris

cmo

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