How Good Is Garrard 301

[Alec124c41]

It looks like it has an optical readout of the tonearm position.

Cheers,
Alec

SPOT ON. More exactly, i bet it's for measuring how much wow is present (how much off-center is the record).

The strobe lamp is on another position. A common lamp bulb is useless for strobe. You need a neon bulb or a xenon/flash bulb.

If you look at which way the lamp is pointed, you see a condenser to focus the light, a mirror to reflect it upward, a transparent scale attached to the bottom of the tone arm, then a mirror to reflect that across the deck, and another to reflect it upward. There should probably be a lens and a ground glass screen there.

Cheers,
Alec

[flavio81]

It looks like it has an optical readout of the tonearm position.

Cheers,
Alec

SPOT ON. More exactly, i bet it's for measuring how much wow is present (how much off-center is the record).

The strobe lamp is on another position. A common lamp bulb is useless for strobe. You need a neon bulb or a xenon/flash bulb.

If you look at which way the lamp is pointed, you see a condenser to focus the light, a mirror to reflect it upward, a transparent scale attached to the bottom of the tone arm, then a mirror to reflect that across the deck, and another to reflect it upward. There should probably be a lens and a ground glass screen there.

Cheers,
Alec

Exactly. It is projecting some kind of image that directly depends on the rotation of the tonearm.

[J.D.]

Thanks folkishienne for the idea of donating a scan of the Manual, which will go a long way toward narrowing down all the guesstimating.

And a very public minded thing to do. Good one.

[chariot]

A friend of mine has a 301 I have a 401, both tidy but not perfect. Using a mechanics stethascope, all we hear from the motors is a faint pulsing whirring noise (with the scope on the motor case) no rumble at all through the speakers, no noise off the plinth to speak of. My friend has a 36mm ply plinth I have a 25mm MDF plinth. The Idler wheels and inner platter rims are super clean. Both tables are perfectly level. We both have Kokomo thrust bearings.
Errol

My 401 is mounted on a double-decker marine ply plinth: the top one 51 mm, the bottom one 34 mm, separated by 40 mm high stainless steel spacers. Below all that IsoPod polyurethane cushions. Kokomo thrust bearing.
Certainly no rumble discernible at all. Motor vibration carried through from the motor ==> pulley ==> idler wheel ==> platter ==> stylus==>amplifier ==> loudspeakers as a low frequency "hum" is another matter!
Listen to the change in sound (disappearance of the "hum") when in the run-out groove you switch the table off witout engaging the brake.

[J.D.]

Folkishienne,

Just looking again at that photo of the underside of the Bbc FastTrack, and... wondering if you know.... what's that apparatus connected to the base of the spindle bearing housing--- with the long armature coming from the far corner ?

Wondering if that was a lubricant supply-tube that allowed the bearing to be topped from the upper deck without pulling the chassis or pulling the platter ...

[Blue Angel]

Folkishienne,

Just looking again at that photo of the underside of the Bbc FastTrack, and... wondering if you know.... what's that apparatus connected to the base of the spindle bearing housing--- with the long armature coming from the far corner ?

Wondering if that was a lubricant supply-tube that allowed the bearing to be topped from the upper deck without pulling the chassis or pulling the platter ...

Isn't it a geared hour counter of sorts? Thanks for the pix, guys.

blue angel

[jomoco]

I just recently read the 3 page Jules Coleman review of the Shindo Garrard 301 originally for Wired ezine and republished by the us importer that may help explain what is possible at the far end of tuning the 301 platform but at 20K+ US$ retail it is more of a dream target for DIYers than a reality purchase.

http://www.toneimports.com/shindo/shindo301/shindo301.html

[Steerpike_jhb]

what's that apparatus connected to the base of the spindle bearing housing--- with the long armature coming from the far corner ?

I beieve it's a motor and gearbox mechanism to lower and/or raise the platter remotely.

If you look at the top of the player, there are 3 curved black stand-offs around the platter rim. The large strobe disc sits on these and is stationary IF the platter is lowered. Raising the platter brings it upwards to lift the strobe disc off the 3 standoffs, and start it rotating - giving an 'instant start' clutch effect.

(Somebody should grab those images off ebay while they are still visible and put then in the VE library. Is that allowed?)

[paul401]

Hi,

Steerpike you are correct, in fact the platter lift/lower function is mentioned in the listing.
I can remember seeing a documentary many years ago about radio stations, can't remember exact details, it's that long ago, but it did contain a clip with one of these in use. The record comes up to meet the arm. Amazing!

If I remember correctly the record was cued manually, the platter then lowered, set spinning and is then raised to start play.

Must have been late 70's/early80's when I saw the documentary, but the footage may well have been earlier. Having only seen decks where the arm/cartridge is lowered onto the record this image has remained with me, as I had never seen anything like it.

Paul

[JaS]

Somebody should grab those images off ebay while they are still visible and put then in the VE library. Is that allowed?

It's a good idea to ask the seller first, but IME they are always happy to once the item has sold.

Regards,
JaS

[flavio81]

I just recently read the 3 page Jules Coleman review of the Shindo Garrard 301 originally for Wired ezine and republished by the us importer that may help explain what is possible at the far end of tuning the 301 platform but at 20K+ US$ retail it is more of a dream target for DIYers than a reality purchase.

http://www.toneimports.com/shindo/shindo301/shindo301.html

Nicely written review, and full of praise. But it does not have any measurements, not a single one, so we have to trust in the reviewers' subjective opinion, having no objective proof of how the table performs.

[flavio81]

If I remember correctly the record was cued manually, the platter then lowered, set spinning and is then raised to start play.

The Telefunken PS 80/81 broadcasting turntables had a double platter, the top one supported the record, the lower one was always spinning. So, to play the record, the lower platter met the upper platter, and the record started spinning "instantly".

As far as i can recall, the EMT broadcasting turntables had that system too.

[delcam1n0]

Hmmm,

Moving platter?? Up/Down??

Does sound a bit like all those unmodified(!) Thorens
TD124s that are still giving modern TTs a run for their
money 50+ years after introduction.......

[1200y3]

301s and 401s were supposed to be a professional turntable at one time. The spindle bearings on many professional turntables are quite similar to the Garrards, but the idler wheel linkage on Garrards is just a piece of sheet metal. Idler wheels and linkages on EMTs and McCurdy's can be as big as prybars with a dedicated lever/bar to control a solid idler wheel linkage, one for each speed ( 2 or 3 idler wheels that don't have to slide up a pulley).

Bigger idler wheels/linkages can mean bigger noise too though.