Considering selling my restored Garrard 301

I have in the past been very loyal to the ID Motor TT's.

Nearly 20 Years with a Garrard 401- Martin Bastin Overhauled - 9 Stone in Weight Granite Plinth, which was swapped out for a PTP Solid Nine with PTP Bearing.

I see from your post there is not a dedicated Platter Bearing Upgrade or Speed Controller referred to.

I am an advocate of the dedicated Platter Bearing Upgrades and the use of the SC.

I still own the PTP Solid Nine, but have today found the DD TT's that are overhauled with a modern design concepts for the Speed Control and Platter Bearing much more attractive to my tastes.

As for a valuation of your own TT, the SAEC has a value of approx' $550 if a price is chosen to rouse immediate interest.

The Cadenza Blue will be a difficult sale, if too much is wanted, Trade In Value and a few 100 Hours of usage life should rouse a interest?

The Beauty of the Plinth and the Value of the Plinth is in the eye of the Beholder, think maybe in the area of $150, as a means to saving a DIY Project for somebody wanting to experience this Plinth Type.

The 301 will be best assessed if looking at the Link and the Historical Sales available to be seen as well. 

If it is off any interest, there are Idler Drive TT owners who own in conjunction Vintage DD TT's. Maybe this might help with your making a decision on where to look into for the next TT.    

For your Plinth, if it allows, there is a not too expensive treatment that can be an concealed addition, where there is 2" Diameter Holes x 1" Drilled into the underside and fill the holes progressively in depth with Newplast Modellers Putty. Newplast has exceptional damping properties and should work very well in conjunction with the energy dissipation offered by the Butchers Block, 1/4" - 1" in depth should be more than enough to discover the attenuation that most suits ones tastes.

The Spacing between the Holes will be approx’ 1". This as a method is commonly seen on a Idler Drive Plinths both Professional Designs and DIY , but usually other materials are used to fill the holes, i.e, Lead Shot, Oil Soaked Lead Shot, Sand, Oil Sand, Rice.

The above is Old Skool and has been Superseded.

To get with the modern approach the use of a Resin Impregnated Densified Wood as the methodology is the one getting the most success and demanding the super high Plinth Prices from Professional Producers.

The other point of interest is that it is not Idler Drive TT’s alone benefitting from the use of Densified Wood as a Plinth Material, there are now well known Branded TT’s with it utilised as an important material for the Damping Dissipation values it offers.

The good news is that Densified Woods such as Permali and Panzerholz are not expensive to Source. If a design for a Top Plate for the Plinth can be foreseen, it should be possible to have a P’mali - P’holz Board as the Plinth and using the Butchers Block as a Sub-Plinth. Of the new Plinth dimension is oversized to the Butchers Block, Side Panels could be attached and the whole of the Structure is then Veneered.

This as a idea, can be found with a search on Google, there are a selection of very similar projects undertaken to be found.

Also important not to overlook the idea of a Speed Controller they are Transformative for a ID, and once experienced, I don’t know of any who wished to revert to no SC in use.

The link has a sensible discussion on approaches to a ID Plinth Design.

I Know the owner of Long Dog Audio and was demo’d a pre-production quartz power supply on a Garrard 401, it got a Hand Clap from the attendees, the impression it made was quite something, especially as prior to adding the LDA, the TT was being supplied Power through a Multi £000? Mains Conditioner Unit.

I was also loaned a Production LDA Quartz Power Supply, to use as a Comparison to a Power Supply/Speed Controller I Use that was built by its designer.

The LDA was the most attractive on my system.

The LDA was also used in another system with my own SC and another SC Design produced by the system owner for a 401 and Lenco.

The Lenco GL75 TT, has its own Bespoke Plinth Design and was the used TT, the LDA was preferred by myself and the system owner on this occasion as well.

Note: A DD TT with a built in Speed Control design will offer all that a ID TT can offer when it comes to having the Speed Control utilised as an extra.

The DD TT in many cases can be acquired for the cost of a ID's add on SC. 

I can only vouch for my experiencing the LDA Quartz Power Supply and how it made a impression in the two different guises of the build I was able to encounter and have demo's off.

As for the Electronics and their Value, I can only vouch for the sonic changes encountered, as for this, the design is without doubt, using my well documented recollections and assessment, making it known the LDA has been out in front of other Power Supplies experienced in use on Idler Drives.

I have also heard the LDA connected to a Belt Drive TT with a non A synchronous Motor, where the improvement was notable for the betterment.

Some LDA owners also reported it was quite impressive when attached to a CD Player.