SME acquires Garrard

More to the point, SME have acquired not just the Garrard name but also Loricraft Audio.  Terry of Loricraft is a lovely chap and one of the hifi industry's great characters. He has been instrumental in keeping the flame of Garrard alive for the past 40 years and ensuring that appreciation of the Garrard idler drive decks has reached the level it has today. Interesting times ahead, I think.

p.s. a minor footnote, SME and Garrard are a classic pairing.  So too are SME and Shure, so it's sad news to hear that Shure have recently decided to withdraw from the phono cartridge market.

So is that the record cleaners as well ?

I would think so. 

Terry’s a great bloke. All I did was phone up to order a record cleaning machine and was on the phone for about an hour discussing his holidays down near where I live and central heating boilers etc

Rattlesnaic posted:

So is that the record cleaners as well ?

That's what it says on the SME website - I read "for the time being..." as meaning Loricraft staying at their current location.

Richard Dane posted:

More to the point, SME have acquired not just the Garrard name but also Loricraft Audio.  Terry of Loricraft is a lovely chap and one of the hifi industry's great characters. He has been instrumental in keeping the flame of Garrard alive for the past 40 years and ensuring that appreciation of the Garrard idler drive decks has reached the level it has today. Interesting times ahead, I think.

p.s. a minor footnote, SME and Garrard are a classic pairing.  So too are SME and Shure, so it's sad news to hear that Shure have recently decided to withdraw from the phono cartridge market.

No surety then, in the HiFi market? 'tis a crying shame, to be sure, to be sure.

Wouldn‘t be great to see 301 or 401 enter the market again with improved motors, better idler etc? Cool times me think...

Since my only experience with garrard was a 40b turntable (my first turntable),I can't claim an overriding love of garrard. Went on to dual (1214?),thorens td-145,rega p3 and then linn lp12,which currently is being fitted with a krystal cartridge,used ekos (from ittok),kore.... all of which costs more than my first new car - just hope it sounds better. I would have loved to switch from lingo 2 to 4 for cosmetic reasons only. My tt is on a quadraspire wall rack and the lingo 4 could be "mounted" on the wall plate under the shelf.

T38.45 posted:

Wouldn‘t be great to see 301 or 401 enter the market again with improved motors, better idler etc? Cool times me think...

 

i bet they will launch the Garrard classic TT ( maybe 301 / 401 )  with a Loricraft plinth and new tone arm with exotic materials and price it sky high  - just like they did with the Technics SL1200G etc..

who says high end audio is for the wider audience ( read masses ??? )

In the TT market people get fooled easily by exotic materials and the lack of understanding of what they do and what they dont do.

People spend thousands on exotic turntables and still end up missing the soul.

As long as a record spins reliably at 33.33 rpm or 45 rpm then its upto a good cart and phono stage.

The era of simplicity is dead.

The era of gullibility has long since begun

It is great to see British hifi moving forward and thriving.

This is great news. Garrard 301's and 401's are just special and beautiful to my eye. Would love to hear one. And as has been said, Loricraft are lovely people. 

This aquisition and the recent reintroduction of the Technics SP-10 and the announcement of the new Magnepan 30.7 have gotten my attention like nothing else in audio for a long time. Each company can trace it's history back to early days. Love it.