Garrard 401, Linn LP12,OL or Michell Gyro?

Chaps / Faz

The 401 is a Hifi bargin. If someone wants vinyl they automatically buy a LP12 and then spend the rest of their time worrying about set up / performance issues etc. You only have to read this forum to confirm that. Also very few people and dealers have any idea how to set one up properly.

The 401 is built like a brick and once mounted in a good plinth will loose all traces of rumble, which it did suffer from in the cheap plinths prevalent in the 1980's.

My 401 is mounted in a Loricraft plinth, it has an Aro arm, a new type Naim prefix and and Loricraft PSU. This combined with a Dynavector 17D2mk11 cartridge murders any LP12 in terms of durabilty, ease of use and sound.

It even out performs the Ninja.

I would not swap the Garrard for all the tea in China.

Regards

Mick

Of the 3 turntables the Gyrodec is nearer to the sound of the CD3.

Have you considered a Rega Turntable as an option? if you're looking for a CD3 type sound.

Thanks for your further views. I've not done anything yet due to a sudden lack of funds(car mot). However, while I wait to get paid, I'm still running the Systemdek.

Has anyone used the OL motor upgrade? Does it improve the sound as suggested?

Paul

You asked "When did you get the Ninja round for the comparison?"

I visited fox's place, a few years ago, when he lived in Twerton near Bath which is only 45 miles from where I lived.

His Ninja was mounted on Mana (I cannot remember how many phases) and it sounded good despite being on a bouncey wooden floor.

Regards

Mick

quote:

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Originally posted by JohnMak:
Basil ..... that was a very selective and misleading excerpt you took from Noels very positive article on the Garrard 401.

I have a copy of it here and will add part of the next few paragraphs.
If any Garrad owners would like a full copy, I'm happy to email it.

See as follows another excerpt from the same article :-

" ........It was great to be proved wrong. The Garrard had miraculously become very quiet. Even vinyl roar seemed in good check At enormous volume I could hear the speaker cones flapping hard, stimulated by record warps, but there was no sign of feedback into the plinth, from loudspeakers about six feet away. Only the spectrum analyser could tell whether a hint of that 25Hz rumble remained. But if it did, I couldn't hear it.

I wasn't expecting miracles, and certainly not this degree of improve- ment. The 401 hasn't just been rejuvenated; it has been transformed, entering the mainstream of hi-fi life splendidly after twenty years of idleness. It is effectively new, having never been used in earnest before, of course. But from the moment I found it fully useable all this changed. The cartridge was installed, the arm carefully set up and LPs started to build up in little, vertical groups around the lounge as I set about enjoying them again.
It's not that I haven't been able to enjoy them before, but solid-plinth turntables are very easy to use, especially if you hand-cue, like me; I just cannot use a lift/lower. With a rock-solid plinth offering a firm foundation, and with a beautifully machined, magic-wand of an arm, the 401 finally proved what I had always suspected: it is a superb machine to own and use."

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I spoke to The 401 Doctor recently and asked him if a 401 had ever rumbled. His response was that in all the years he's been tinkering with Garrards he's only ever come across one motor that was noisy. The motor in question was from a late production 401. He also said it was him that prepared Noel Keywood's 401 for the magazine article.

Peter

User34 at Laposte dot net

Who is the 401 Doctor ?

Regards

Mick

quote:

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Originally posted by Mick Parry:
Who is the 401 Doctor ?

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Dr. Martin Bastin, of course.

Peter

User34 at Laposte dot net

Yes sorry I should have realised. I have never dealt with Dr Bastin as Loricraft are on my doorstep.

Regards

Mick