Garrard 301 - Project

Thanks for the mention lalitk.

As the photos in my profile show, I favor a large plinth, as large in all three dimensions as your rack can accommodate. Forgetting about any thought process that a massive plinth absorbs vibration, the real estate on the top allows for all arm lengths without a cantilevered arm mount hanging off of the edge of the plinth. 

Unfortunately it appears that Russ Collinson has moved on from plinth building. The alternatives for a quality plinth are pricey. Stay away from the two different plinth builders seemingly based in Muldovia seen on eBay. I have one sitting idle in by basement where it will likely remain.

The Reed arms are a bit tricky to mount because the mounting template supplied by Reed is confusing to use. You are going to need a bit of patience or the assistance of a Reed dealer to mount its P-S in such a way as that your cartridge can be optimally aligned. 

Your choice of rack for the deck will be critical. I use Symposium's rigid (non floating top) model. The rack should be massive, offer good isolation from vibration at the top shelf, and should offer leveling footers. 

The IEC and PC imho are not important. I have had no compatibility problems among a broad range of cartridges, currently a Lyra Etna SL and a VdH Crimson Strad XGW. 

I use Stillpointe footers under the plinth. Though more willing to be of assistance if you are buying something from him, Steve Dobbs (Xactaudio) is a great source of information. 

As I think I told you in a PM, I chose to go with an aftermarket heavy duty brass bearing from Ray of ClassicHifi in the UK. And that is despite the fact that my 301 came with a NOS grease bearing (which I have kept for later use one day). 

Slate is not optimum. Sorry but just true. 

Agree that having a concrete slab floor is preferable to being over a basement with floor joists. But most of us don't get to design our houses and listening rooms (though in my case I did) and many of us like having a full basement. 

Btw, if you get a speed control unit such as the LDA, remove the eddy brake. 

I have 3 TT s in PA slate and am very pleased with performance but I did not sample a wide variety of materials so would not claim slate is absolutely the best. So what do you prefer, fsonic?

Hi Lewm. I would love to claim that I have tried a slate plinth with either my TD124 or 301 but that would not be true. So when I responded above that it is not true that slate is optimum, I did so brashly and from trusted wisdom. That said, I went through a series of turntables starting in the early 2000's and then started focusing on idlers in the last fifteen. I have talked at length with many experts. I have experimented with several different wood plinths and with multiple platters on both of my idlers. Unfortunately our niche (idler drive turntables) within a niche hobby does not result in very much scientific analysis of matters such as vibration damping properties of alternating layers of birch vs. slate. If you do some research you will find some good threads on the Lenco Heaven site. Slate is not known for absorbing or damping motor vibration or any other vibration. Our lizard brains just assume that slate being heavy and massive it must be good for something like a plinth. 

I have no doubt that a Garrard 301/401 can sound very good mounted on a slate plinth. My unsupported belief is that the sound you will get is not consistent with the best characteristics of idlers. To draw an analogy, why would anyone take a Harbeth loudspeaker and convert the enclosure from wood to Magico-style alloy keeping everything else equal?

What I have been trying to say, particularly with my Harbeth speaker enclosure analogy, is that in my very humble opinion trying to make a 301 sound "airy, transparent, neutral, fast" et al is trying to turn the 301 into something that it is not. Why would anyone take an Audi R8 and install a lift kit and all terrain tires on it? If you want airy, transparent, neutral, and fast, any number of current era TT designs deliver those qualities in spades.

The 301 as a result of its design has a more relaxed truth of timbre and tone character. The powerful motor coupled with original very light platter also gives it "snap" to transient's and a strong sense of propulsiveness (my spell check denies that as being a word), but without sacrificing the relaxed overall touch and tone. 

Why not play to the strengths of the design rather than ameliorate them as if to mimic a modern sophisticated belt drive or DD table? 

In my case I did, largely out of blind luck and intuition, substitute a heavy duty all- brass bearing assembly and the Steve Dobbs alloy with copper top platter. At one point I was using the Classic HiFi brass platter that weighs 12kgs, nearly 25 lbs. 

https://www.classichifi-shop.co.uk/product/brass-platter-20-mm-oversize/

I much prefer the sound of the Dobbs platter. The heavier platter eliminated all sense of excitement to the sound. How can this be, one might ask? It is rotating at the very same speed and with all that inertia it ought to sound every bit as authoritative. I have no answer. Except that maybe just maybe the resonance of the all brass platter bouncing back through the LP and back to the stylus does something adverse to lively sound. And maybe just maybe all that mass and inertia can not overcome stylus drag and it's effects whereas letting the powerful motor exert itself through a relatively light platter overcomes stylus drag. 

And yet another factor is the inherent added friction of a very heavy platter on the bearing assembly. 

All any of us can do with the 301 is experiment. If a slate plinth mated with the 301 sounds the way you want it to sound I can not argue that you have made a bad choice. 

I think most bearing are about the same size. 
 

the Shindo is very large. There is a stock v Shindo picture in my virtual system

The Classic HiFi UK brass 301 bearing is also much larger, perhaps not as large but close and it is built to handle the 12kg brass platter that Ray offers. That said, I bought both and as stated above prefer the Dobbins (not "Dobbs", may bad) platter which is alloy topped with a layer of copper. 

@fsonicsmith

I thought about aftermarket bearing and platter but my dealer suggested that I should hear ‘stock’ 301 first and then start tweaking the TT with aftermarket parts. The upgrade like bearing appears to be a no brainer. I do not know at this time how much a platter would enhance the performance. Is Dobbins platter still available or is it pretty much unobtainable?

It has been a few years since I have had any interaction with Steve Dobbins. I am sure he sources the platter and it is very likely still available. Something I would strongly consider first is just the upgraded bearing and the stock platter. The sound is so damned fun that way. Lively, dynamic, toe-tapping fun.