Do put up one nice review of the 401 and how it pitches against the 1200. It will be interesting to notice your observations & sonic differences between these legendary idler & direct drive systems.
Sir Garrard 401 has Arrived!!
- Thread starter Record Player
- Start date
Do put up one nice review of the 401 and how it pitches against the 1200. It will be interesting to notice your observations & sonic differences between these legendary idler & direct drive systems.
Record Player
Well-Known Member
Do put up one nice review of the 401 and how it pitches against the 1200. It will be interesting to notice your observations & sonic differences between these legendary idler & direct drive systems.
Absolutely Saket. That's something I am looking forward to as well. I've got a very good benchmark with the 1200s and really want to see what the 401 produces compared to my 2 under nineteen champs
.Will take a few weeks before the 401 is ready to sing and post that a review for sure.
hildebrand
Active Member
Congratulations RP. Feel like visiting you asap. Going by the number of 'me' in the opening message, looks like the source was irish and transferred his style to you
It is greatest of the transcription turntables. If I remember correctly the model stopped in 1976 and was a favourite of the BBC!
kuruvilajacob
Well-Known Member
Thank you for your compliments and wishes Sir. I hope I will be able to do justice by setting it up correctly with an acceptable plinth and tonearm.
I will continue to ring you for help
By all means Record Player. I am thinking of modifying 2 Dual 1019s . They have the potential to be the next target for audiophile collectors as good idler wheel players for modification. My brother is using one of them and he swears they are the best he has had. Unlike Lenco L 75, the stock arm of is not too bad. I have seen the collection of one of the leading vintage Turntable collector has kept two of them along with many EMTs and Garrards, and Thorens. What's special about the Dual 1019 is it's heavy platter and high torque..
soulforged
Well-Known Member
:clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping:
What can I say?
What can I say?
reubensm
Well-Known Member
Interestingly waiting for the review on the 401 vs the SL1200. I have a slight inclination to believe that the SL1200 may beat it. But again, this would depend on the type of music played and the listening style but the read would be interesting.
Record Player
Well-Known Member
Absolutely Reuben.
Right now I am not biased towards either one. So the review to come will be purely unbiased. This review will be an important one, so I will try and keep it as detailed as possible and like you said, will be purely on my setup with what I play, amp, cart etc. Other important factors for the 401 will be the plinth and tonearm and accurate alignments being used.
I think that the 1200 will beat the 401 in terms of speed accuracy and damping/ isolation. However, the sound signature will be an interesting aspect to compare. The choice of tonearm and cartridge will be very important for the 401 and so will be the pinth.
Which cartridges should suit the 401 in the expert's opinion?
Which cartridges should suit the 401 in the expert's opinion?
reubensm
Well-Known Member
Exactly, here's an example for why I said this - personally my listening style is extreme, I love solid tight lows and extreme highs. In order to achieve extreme highs, I have added two addon tweeters to my speaker system. Wify and I love the shrill highs and tunderous bass as it gives us the party or live performance feel. However the other day when my good friend JK_Chaos visited, he found the music very shrill even after I had the treble control turned all the way down
Hence listening style is very important. My cousin uses the Thorens TD124 with a SME 3012 and vintage Shure M75-6, back in Perth. He says that it sounds very fluid and smooth. When he listened to my Technics SL3200 playing Midnight Oil's Diesel and Dust during his last visit, he said that it sounded as though it had a lot of un-necessary punch in it. This made me very interested in the TD 124 but apparently, the TD124 cost of acquisition is even higher than that of the 301
reubensm
Well-Known Member
Yes, but the sheer marquee value of a Garrard 301 or 401 will carry it through.
I have always been a Shure guy so I'm very biased on this one. Hence not sure if I am the correct person to comment
hyeah:
I am amazed that how seriously turntables were taken back in those days. Some turntables were really made to play perfectly, isn't it? I am not sure if engineers today look for such minute details while designing new equipment.
Record Player
Well-Known Member
Of what little I've read, many reckon the DL103 pairs very well with the 401.
Record Player
Well-Known Member
Congrats RP! You are becoming quite the 'collector'Let's catch up and audition each other's set-ups soon. Ta!
Absolutely N. Apologies, I've been pending another visit to your place for our Vinyl Jam session. Soon it shall...
If you insist on comparing them, use the same cartridge and the same electronics chain to make the comparison.
Bare minimum fettling/tweaks to be undertaken on the 401: high-mass plinth, a good tonearm in good working condition, correctly set up tonearm with respect to VTA, tracking force, anti-skate (and azimuth too, if possible), correctly aligned cartridge to nulls and correctly set overhang, and correctly set speed.
Bare minimum tweaks to 1200: correctly set up tonearm with respect to VTA, tracking force, anti-skate (and azimuth too, if possible), correctly aligned cartridge to nulls and correctly set overhang, and correctly set speed.
Have fun:licklips:
I have done my share of comparing, trying as much as possible to take away the dissimilarities. But my results and opinions are strictly confidential at this time so as not to bias you in any way. All the same, I would advise everyone to keep an open mind and not preempt or guess an answer, if at least to keep the comparo least biased.
Bare minimum fettling/tweaks to be undertaken on the 401: high-mass plinth, a good tonearm in good working condition, correctly set up tonearm with respect to VTA, tracking force, anti-skate (and azimuth too, if possible), correctly aligned cartridge to nulls and correctly set overhang, and correctly set speed.
Bare minimum tweaks to 1200: correctly set up tonearm with respect to VTA, tracking force, anti-skate (and azimuth too, if possible), correctly aligned cartridge to nulls and correctly set overhang, and correctly set speed.
Have fun:licklips:
I have done my share of comparing, trying as much as possible to take away the dissimilarities. But my results and opinions are strictly confidential at this time so as not to bias you in any way. All the same, I would advise everyone to keep an open mind and not preempt or guess an answer, if at least to keep the comparo least biased.
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Record Player
Well-Known Member
Please check out the level of engineering put into these modern turntables.
This too.
Or this. Or this.
This is about the engineering. Not about the stratospheric prices. So kindly ignore the price for now and see the turntables for the sheer engineering
.If many turntables look like jewelry, tonearms are even more ahead of the curve in that department!
Thanks Jls for the link. I am looking into these fantastic tables. What I meant to say in my post is that those old tts were not really priced exorbitantly, and were more mainstream than these new tts. And the engineers put so much effort to achieve perfection in those consumer grade (to an extent) turntables.
Frankly speaking, these new turntables in links you have posted look more like 'concept' turntables, more for showing what the manufacturer has achieved rather than selling them to a mainstream customer.
But that is my perception; for others, it may be different.
And needless to say it again, these turntables are looking absolutely ravishing.Regards,
Saket
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