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Friends,
I was almost about to pull the trigger on a EMT 948/950 from Mr.Dusch (EMT engineer). However I have never heard them so I was taking some time. In the mean time I heard a couple of other vintage turntables and among them the Garrard 301 sounded terrific to me. The Garrard I heard was installed in decent wooden plinth (probably ply), nothing exotic though. Now that I am thinking of getting one there seems to be various options to get a Garrard TT:
1. Buy a good 301 off ebay and get a decent birch ply plinth built and ready to go!
2. Same as option 1 but also do the kokomo bearing upgrade and the Loricraft PSU upgrade.
3. Get one of the current Garrard flag bearers (Loricraft, Audio grail, OMA etc) to build you a 301 based TT with the same mods as mentioned in option 2.
4. Finally get an exotic fully built, modded 301 from Steve Dobbins or Artisan Fidelity or may be Albert Porter. I see that they change even the platter and mods to the Garrard. Here I am concerned that it may ultimately alter the overall sound more towards the modern side. I am not really after that. Some improvements to the overall noise floor and soundstaging is fine but taking it too far may ultimately get me only half the Garrard sound and other half the modder's sound.
My question is, what is the right way of doing a Garrard for a first timer and non-diyer like me considering that I want my Garrard to sound like a very good Garrard in the first place ?
If I just do good birch ply plinth and get a clean 301 to go with it, how far am I done ? Will a Dobbins plinth be a much higher grade of an upgrade ?
I currently use an Immedia RPM2 turntable which is already very good so with the Garrard I want to start at a certain acceptable level.
Follow Ups:
Guys, I am looking at the Audio Grail restored Garards, the only doubt I have is, after they done all the restoration will it sound like an original Garrard ? When they restore they will be changing parts, polishing some parts and other such stuff. Will they have original parts to replace ? If not then they will be using parts that are re-manufactured. Ultimately after all the work will there be any change in the signature sound ?
After all I can always find a good cond nicely running Garrard sold by one of the local audiophiles, with the same good old predictable Garrard sound. Will there be any deviation with Grail units ?
Not sure I understand the question. As I read it, you are concerned that all the signature qualities of the Garrard sound be maintained? As far as I can tell, Audio Grail aim to bring their Garrard refurbishments into 'as new' condition. In other words, as if Garrard were still making 301 and 401 decks today and you were able to pop out and buy one at your local dealer. I don't detect a move to 'improve' the sound by altering the original design parameters.
Using local folk is generally a good idea. However, you are no more likely to retain the original sound of the deck in doing this than if you were to use expert restorers. Also, from what I can tell, Audio Grail Garrards have some 'mana', or some cachet about them now, built on a reputation of really good restorations. I don't have one but I wouldn't hesitate to choose theirs if I wanted another Garrard for my systems.
Choice is yours, of course!
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
They are old and if something is wrong,you will have to take it apart and fix it which it does not sound like you want to do. A good heavy plinth will work. Plywood or slate can work well for a plinth for an idler.
Based on your comment below I would not buy a 301 on e-bay and then a plinth. I think your comment "ready to go" will end up being an incorrect statement. As a fellow non-diyer I would recommend buying something completed and working from a quality vendor such as those you mentioned in your post.
"My question is, what is the right way of doing a Garrard for a first timer and non-diyer like me considering that I want my Garrard to sound like a very good Garrard in the first place ?"
Ain't cheap, of course.
Edits: 10/19/14
I would look for a 401, a bit less $$, and just as good. There are other bearing options as well, the Kokomo may not be my first choice. I have the following bearing, link below, in my 301. My 401 has a Martin Bastin bearing. I built a baltic birch ply plinth with a 1" slab of Jotoba for the top layer, cost about $75 in materials.
Edits: 10/19/14
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
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