by josephazannieri » 26 Apr 2012 22:45
Yo seekers of holiness:
Back in 1974, a guy who owed me $40.00 for a Lafayette tube amplifier and a pair of 8 inch bass reflex speakers with Altec 755C's in them and a single speed Rek O Kut turntable came to me with his problem. He was leaving town, and he wanted to take care of what he owed me, and he didn't have any money. He brought me an old single play British turntable from 1954 that he had gotten from his father. It had a mono Leak arm on it. It was cool and curvy looking, though it was from a manufacturer that I held in only modest regard as a producer of mass record changers, nothing as good as my Thorens TD 150 or my 4-speed Dual 1010 with the special head for 78's.
I told him I'd forgive the money if he would give me the old turntable. I didn't think much of it. I respected him for being interested in taking care of me, and I figured at some time that I might have a use for the old turntable, if I could make it go around. I thought I was doing him a favor, and the $40.00 wouldn't break me, even if the old turntable turned out not to work or be otherwise worthless. Eventually, I took the Leak arm off it and mounted an Acratone Gray clone arm on it, and used it off and on in the basement workshop as a test rig.
It sat around and got used sporadically for about 20 years, and I didn't think much about it. Then about 15 years ago, I took a look at it again. Imagine my surprise to discover that it was a battleship grey grease bearing Garrard 301, with a serial number from 1954, everybody else's Holy Grail, based on all the ecstatic writings in the excruciating HIFI press about PRAT and Inner Detail and bass overwhelmingness, none of which I could hear.
So here I am, with no slate or skeletal or Loricraft or Imbabi squash-ball plinths, just scrap plywood sides and a scrap MDF top, and a Thorens TP-13 arm and a Grace G707 arm, not an SME 3012, and no exotic moving coil cart, either, just a couple of old Shures, and those are not even sacred V-15III's. the Garrard has been generally reliable, and it plays pretty good, but I guess I am just a convenience agnostic, too lazy to seek out real holiness, and probably consigned to HIFI hell for my lack of belief. I still haven't found the Holy Grail, but you know what? I'm not looking for it. The old Garrard still plays ok, and if it doesn't work, I can still play records on the old Thorens. I will now have to flagellate myself for my unbelief and irreverence.
And good luck from that irreligious old guy,
Joe Z.
