Garrard 301 - Project

@fsonicsmith 

The platter on @lalitk Garrard 301 is a 301 strobe platter. The 401 Strobe platter is different - it has an indent in the centre about the size of the record label..

The 301 strobe platter was an extra cost upgrade in the last years of the 301 production.

The only downside of the 301 strobe platter is that it is slightly concave, which means a hard mat such as copper, graphite etc are only supported at the edge.

On my 301 I had the 301 strobe platter machined flat so that copper mats were fully supported over the whole surface.

 

@lalitk

I’ve built several Garrard’s for friends - both 301 & 401 - to very high specs.

I’ve also heard varying platters/bearings including CTC aluminium, CTC Brass, Shindo etc

401

Using an Audiograil refurbished 401 as a starting point with additional mods by myself including custom plinth I found the CTC 20mm larger aluminium platter with CTC bearing an improvement over standard. The heavy brass platter on the 401was a massive improvement over the aluminium - stability, precision - far more substantive sound with authority.

301

Here’s the rub. I don’t think the heavy platters work that well on 301’s. The reason is twofold - 401 motors have a lot more torque than the 301 and the 301 is more of a Rube Goldberg TT. The 401 is more neutral.

In terms of 301 motors they varied a lot from low to medium torque.

My own 301 is pretty tricked out - a number of improvements over and above the Artisan Fidelity/CTC 301’s.

As far as platters go - I started with a standard 301 strobe platter, had it precision machined flat to a few micron - I would not recommend this unless you have a engineer that has the skills to work to microns because it is very easy to remove too much meat and leave parts of the platter too thin in parts - the standard platters are not uniform thickness underneath.

I have the following mats in the cupboard - Boston 2 Graphite, Micro Seiki 180g copper, Final Audio 4.5kg copper, SAEC SS300 alloy mat, Goldmund Relief Mat/Clamp, Sota Compositions mat ( barium lead/acrylic ) and a few others.

Weights and clamps in the cupboard I have include Final 1.8kg weight, Audiocraft weight 75g/1.5kg, Goldmund Relief Clamp and several others.

Also tried Stillpoints weight ( horrible ), Origins Live mat and clamps - horrible.

I have found the heavier platters such as CTC and Shindo sound weightier and better in some ways but they upset the base timing and coherency. I believe this is due to the 301 being a Rube Goldberg contraption where changes can upset the balance and the motor is not as strong as in the 401.

I have also checked the wear on some of the heavy platter/new bearing combinations installed after a year or so and seen more wear on thrust pad and spindle than my original 50 year old bearing/spindle - there are no free lunches.

My recommendation would be to get the CTC 3mm thicker standard size platter - this will give you a flat surface to try mats without adding a huge amount of mass.

Personally in my own system I use the SAEC SS300 with no clamp or weight. This presents a more relaxed sound than other combinations but has the advantage of not loading up the bearing.

My bearing is modded - long CTC spindle in original bearing and modded thrust pad - I cannot recommend this because spindles and bearing housings need to be made in pairs. I started with the CTC spindle ( which fortunately was oversize ) and honed it down to match my original housing.

If you buy the CTC bearing to match the platter - get the long spindle version - this will enable you to experiment with thicker mats and weights clamps etc.

My modded 301 easily betters my old Platine Verdier - using the same arms/cartridges in comparisons in my system.

Aftermarket power supplies - you need one that can vary the speed. The Long Dog Audio fits that criteria.

One thing that I noticed after rebuilding my motor, including new bearings, precision matching the motor spindle, and using the best double ester oils for lubrication - my 301 ran way faster. Calculating the speed reduction required I tried the smallest ( Red ) CTC pulley that should have worked. Unfortunately their tolerances were out by some margin, so I had to trim the motor pulley by hand, individually for each speed to get the speed control centered.

What I surmise is that Garrard carried a stash of different sized pulleys for 301 production to accommodate the variability of the motors, and depending on speed, selected a pulley that got them there.

Even the positioning of the motor pulley can alter the speed - I have found some original pulleys are tapered - which means you must get the pulley in exactly the right position.

Using a separate power supply with speed control can bypass these problems.

On my 301 my speed is absolutely spot on on all speeds without the need for an aftermarket power supply. Using this as a base I have found well designed power supplies offer an improvement - but the biggest advantage is being able to dial in the speed accurately for most 301's that are not spot on.

As far as installing aftermarket bearings you can change the bearings without removing the TT from the plinth, and not turning the TT upside down quite easily - but it requires nimble fingers and small tools to get up inside underneath to the 3 nuts underneath.

Hope this helps.

 

@mdalton -  @lalitk has a 301, not a 401 - it is a different platter and the 301 strobe platter does not have a lip.

MDF is basically wood dust and glue. The reason MDF has no purchase when you screw into it is because the glue is the most expensive component, and the manufacturers only put enough in to just hold the wood dust together and no more. It is designed as a very low cost material. I worked for a number of years in the timber industry.

When you buy something like DAS plinth you are buying weetbix wrapped in xmas paper.

This doesn’t necessarily mean it will sound bad, it simply means you are buying a plinth that’s full of wood dust and glue.

Personally on my 301 I used a hybrid of compressed bamboo ply and birch ply. Bamboo ply is harder than Maple, can be CNC’d ( I did mine myself ) and provides a stable platform that won’t warp over time. It is not pretty though, which appears to be important for some folk.

I do not use wood veneers because they are not stable and eventually you can see all the joins and I personally can’t stand that. If I wanted a wood finish I would do a shindo style laminated solid wood block plinth.

 

Sovtek 12AX7LPS is indeed not a separate “variant” of the 12AX7 but rather a Sovtek-branded 12AX7 with the “LPS” designation,

So for those of us who speak English as a native language, the 12AX7LPS is indeed a variant of 12AX7, whether you subscribe to either Merriam-Webster or Cambridge dictionary. I personally use 12AX7HTF's in my Marantz 7.

Congrats on the Softone. 

 

 

TFK ECC83s are so "legendary" for their "tonal richness" 

No they are not.

Exact opposite - in the Marantz 7 circuit they are fast, reasonably transparent and very flat. I have a draw full of premium flat plate Telefunkins. They have never sounded rich.

If you want rich - Mullards tend to be much more fullsome the expense of speed and neutrality.

The problem with any discussion on tubes is that the best tube can be circuit related - you can't make blanket statements.

I like Telefunkens, but, I never considered them to be tonally rich sounding tubes.  The ones I heard were very lively and dynamic sounding, but, considerably leaner than the likes of Mullard and Amperex.  

Absolutely correct - I have drawer fulls of flat plate telefunkens - they are as described. I also have a stash of Mullard CV4004 and M8137's both are richer and fuller sounding than the Tele's.

In my Marantz 7 I preferred the Telfunkens.

In my Jadis preamp I preferred the Mullards in some positions ( but not all ).

 

 

 

 

 

Do you find that your preference for Telefunken or Mullard shifts depending on the type of music you’re listening to or is it the system’s overall tonal balance?

No. I listen to mostly Jazz & Classical.

My preferences are for maximum speed and transparency. I very seldom have any issues with system balance - having multiple arms/cartridges is enough.

One thing I cannot stand is slowness or aberrations/colourations - I find that ultimately they grate on you over time. Best to build a balanced system to start with.

In terms of tube choice - its the particular application that can determine tube variant in my experiences - specifically with classic circuits eg Marantz you have tubes that perform gain functions and tubes that are used in a cathode follower application ( no gain, used as buffer to generate a low impedance output ).

Occasionally I have found that the 2 best tubes in those positions are not the same.

@lewm

I used to distribute Quicksilver, I have owned them years ago - the QS preamp runs the tubes very very hard. 

@lewm 

Dover, I own the old QS preamp that has a built in MM phono stage, along with its linestage, 

Yes - that's the one I'm talking about. In hindsight it may have been the power supply feeds to the tubes that had some design foibles that were precarious. I have the circuit diagrams here with updates by Mike ( there were several updates to that pre ), but my tech was not happy. He did explain to me the design issue, but I can't remember the detail - its some years ago.

Its an ok preamp.