Garrard 301 Pictures of the Day - SME/BK tonearm.

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Posted on August 19, 2013 at 19:25:57

B.K.
Audiophile

Posts: 1112
Location: California
Joined: February 18, 2007
Contributor
Since: March 12, 2007

I started on this project back in 2009 and put it on hold when I moved from Ireland to the US in 2011. The turntable and plinth have been sitting in a wooden crate for almost 2 years. Finally, got around to setting up this turntable in my home-cinema room last weekend.

Turntable is a Garrard 301 Grease bearing - purchased 4 years ago - condition is amazing!

The plinth is a two tier design, made by http://www.layers-of-beauty.co.uk/. I provided the design; it uses three columns which secure the top section to the bottom section via M10 bolts. The two tiers lengthen the paths from the feet to the chassis and allow a very heavy plinth with access to the tonearm connections from the middle.

Turntable and plinth weighs about 80 LBs. The short tonearm is an SME IV; the 12'' tonearm was custom made for me by SME in 2011. I asked them to make a tonearm based on the M2-12R except with a straight tube. The headshell is a modified RS Labs RS3. I wanted a pivot directly below the stylus tip so that I could experiment with different offset angles but maintain a straight path from the stylus tip to the pivot along the tonearm tube. The pivot is locked (as a side note, the RS-Labs headshell does not self-align even when the pivot is free to rotate).

The geometry of the SME/BK tonearm is currently set to: 305 mm effective length; 6 mm overhang; null radii at 37 mm and 97 mm. This gives moderately low tracking distortion across the playing surface of an LP, but without a significant need to cancel the inside force. Cartridges are Shure Ultra, and Denon DL103R.

Speakers are Kef 104.2 with Klipsch sub-woofers; Yamaha amp.

Pictures were taken with my Samsung Galaxy phone (sorry, have a Nikon DSLR, but it has become too much trouble to use!)

Best regards,

BK

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Bloody good show Brian!

tubesforever

20:04:02 08/21/13

4

Thanks

B.K.

08:30:26 08/22/13

3

Provide me with an engineering drawing and I will machine up whatever you want to try.

tubesforever

10:23:30 08/22/13

...

Show full thread outline!

Bloody good show Brian!

tubesforever

20:04:02 08/21/13

4

Thanks

B.K.

08:30:26 08/22/13

3

Provide me with an engineering drawing and I will machine up whatever you want to try.

tubesforever

10:23:30 08/22/13

RE: Thanks

John Elison

08:40:37 08/22/13

Good observation

B.K.

11:35:13 08/22/13

RE: Garrard 301 Pictures of the Day - SME/BK tonearm.

Dman

07:28:56 08/20/13

Very Nice Set Up!

amandarae

20:01:23 08/19/13

RE: Garrard 301 Pictures of the Day - SME/BK tonearm.

SgreenP@MSN.com

19:50:56 08/19/13

3

Which wood box?

B.K.

04:16:47 08/20/13

RE: Which wood box?

SgreenP@MSN.com

07:50:46 08/20/13

RE: Garrard 301 Pictures of the Day - SME/BK tonearm.

amioutaline?

20:39:43 08/19/13

RE: Garrard 301 Pictures of the Day - SME/BK tonearm., posted on August 19, 2013 at 19:50:56
SgreenP@MSN.com Audiophile Posts: 3560 Joined: April 23, 2007	...just thinking the wood box will resonate like a drum....???

Very Nice Set Up!, posted on August 19, 2013 at 20:01:23
amandarae Audiophile Posts: 2596 Location: So.Cal Joined: November 30, 2004	Your 301 set up looks fresh! Also, I love the 12" custom tonearm. It match very well "aesthetically" with the tt! Abe

RE: Garrard 301 Pictures of the Day - SME/BK tonearm., posted on August 19, 2013 at 20:39:43
amioutaline?	Hi that base with a stick; I've got 20 bucks says it's a sink.

Which wood box?, posted on August 20, 2013 at 04:16:47

B.K.
Audiophile

Posts: 1112
Location: California
Joined: February 18, 2007
Contributor
Since: March 12, 2007

Which wood box; the shipping crate?

BK

RE: Garrard 301 Pictures of the Day - SME/BK tonearm., posted on August 20, 2013 at 07:28:56
Dman Audiophile Posts: 7211 Location: Kansas Joined: January 28, 2001	Those DIY pics are so good they almost classify as audio-porn!!! Great looking machine!!! HOT 'table, man! Dman Analog Junkie

RE: Which wood box?, posted on August 20, 2013 at 07:50:46
SgreenP@MSN.com Audiophile Posts: 3560 Joined: April 23, 2007	Your turntable is mounted in a wooden box?

Bloody good show Brian!, posted on August 21, 2013 at 20:04:02
tubesforever Manufacturer Posts: 10505 Location: Great Basin Joined: May 7, 2005	I am a big believer in mass. That is a very interesting tonearm. Did the headshell ever work as intended? I bet it is nice to be spinning some vinyl again. Cheers! "Help support our school's Music programs"

Thanks, posted on August 22, 2013 at 08:30:26

B.K.
Audiophile

Posts: 1112
Location: California
Joined: February 18, 2007
Contributor
Since: March 12, 2007

Yes, I had a turntable set up in the living room, but this one in the smaller room has a more cozy feeling.

The RS Labs headshell does not work as reported! There are numerous problems with this design. For one, the theory is wrong, a headshell with a pivot at the stylus tip will not self align. I tried several different configurations and found also that the headshell does not self align regardless of where the pivot is moved forwards or backwards relative to the stylus tip.

Secondly, even if it did work, the cartridge leads impose far too much bias on the headshell to allow free movement. I tried several different leads too, long and short. I found that if you twist and pull the leads so that the headshell is roughly aligned as intended, then it sort-of stays that way. But the process is very approximate.

Besides the above, there were a number of other issues, the design is just not very good: the pivot has too much friction, and if you loosen it, there is too much slack. In any case, what I really wanted was to experiment with alternative alignments, to see what were the advantages of the different options. My next step is to have a similar headshell machined, allowing variable offset with the stylus at the pivot.

Might take another few years to see that upgrade though!

Best regards,

BK

RE: Thanks, posted on August 22, 2013 at 08:40:37

John Elison
Audiophile

Posts: 24045
Location: Central Kentucky
Joined: December 20, 2000
Contributor
Since: January 29, 2004

Just out of curiosity, does the headshell automatically align correctly if you remove the cartridge leads completely?

What about antiskating? Does it make a difference?

I noticed that your 12" tonearm is mounted for a normal overhang alignment. It would have been interesting to find out what an underhang of about 10-mm would be like. I believe the original RS-1 tonearm was designed for underhang.

Nice looking turntable, though. I love those SME tonearms.

Best regards,
John Elison

Provide me with an engineering drawing and I will machine up whatever you want to try., posted on August 22, 2013 at 10:23:30
tubesforever Manufacturer Posts: 10505 Location: Great Basin Joined: May 7, 2005	Getting a professional machine shop to do one of a kind projects is an even tougher job than your development process. I do a lot of one off work, mostly for repairs but also for R&D. I wonder how they get the mass light enough to be a non issue. Jim "Help support our school's Music programs"

Good observation, posted on August 22, 2013 at 11:35:13

B.K.
Audiophile

Posts: 1112
Location: California
Joined: February 18, 2007
Contributor
Since: March 12, 2007

Hi John,

You are right, the cut-out in the plinth is for a std SME 12'' tonearm. The project started out with a plan to mount an SME 312! Right now, the tonearm is pushed all the way to the back, and I would like to re-design the headshell for an effective length of 300 mm.

At the start, since I really didn't know how the lengths would turn out, I had the tonearm on a free-standing mount which allowed a full range of adjustments.

I tried underhang, and the result was the same. I can't recall exactly if I did an experiment without any headshell leads, but I did satisfy myself that the headshell does not self align.

Brian

Vinyl Asylum

Garrard 301 Pictures of the Day - SME/BK tonearm.

71.47.134.84