Garrard 301/401 versus Thorens TD124

[clivem2]

Re rumble/noise etc on the 301, whilst I'm having "fun" getting the plinth right for my 301, rumble/noise are not problems I have. I suspect the overall condition on any 301/401 is more important than whether it's a 301 or 401.

 

[Tony L]

That's the jist of the original comment as far as I understand - the suggestion was that the 301 has more 'rumble/noise/vibration' (delete as applicable) in the vertical plane than the 401, which was fine for playing mono as the pickup recognises only left/right movement.... therefore the theory was that the 301 is less useful at stereo (which uses up/down movement too) than the 401, where whatever caused this 'rumble/noise/vibration' was apparently addressed.

If this were true, neither deck would be of interest as anything other than retro museum curios due to the plethora of other decks available that are completely immune from such incompetence of mechanical design. If a 301 rumbled to the extent that the unwanted lateral stylus movement impacted stereo replay it’s second hand value would be about two quid tops.

Tony.

 

[RichShortland]

Re rumble/noise etc on the 301, whilst I'm having "fun" getting the plinth right for my 301, rumble/noise are not problems I have. I suspect the overall condition on any 301/401 is more important than whether it's a 301 or 401.

Absolutely - this can make or break the performance. Luckily my 401 is in great condition

Tony wrote >If this were true, neither deck would be of interest as anything other than retro museum curios due to the plethora of other decks available that are completely immune from such incompetence of mechanical design. If a 301 rumbled to the extent that the unwanted lateral stylus movement impacted stereo replay it’s second hand value would be about two quid tops.

Tony, I think you are miss-understanding the degrees we are talking about here - the 301 doesn't/didn't shake like a cement mixer, merely it is suggested that it possibly rumbled more than the 401(everytihing is relative). Plus knowing what we know now about plinth design etc, the type of plinths that were used at the time (ie. very poor indeed) may also have played a big part - a properly plinth'ed 301 may not behave in the same way.

It's not news to anyone that idler drives are more noisey than belt drives - but handled properly this can effectively be minimised so as to be negligable. I hear no such noise in the lead in grooves/quiet passages on my 401 for example.

Rich