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Garrard 401 for beginners

Great, thanks, mr philip. So I just need to strip the mains cable so that I have a much longer earth wire and then connect live and neutral to the motor as before.

Do you also earth your tonearm to the phono stage in the standard way?
 
Result! Thanks again mr philip!

The hum has gone and I'm listening to records for the first time in about a week. In this condition, its hard to give an objective impression of the 401, since I'm hearing the shock of vinyl after a week listening to cd's.

What I can tell is that it certainly isn't a shy and retiring machine. Even using this cheap bit of black plastic to hold the cartridge, its clear what a big and direct sound the 401 has.

I really need to get my Soled LP12 set-up properly now to do the comparison, and then I need to get the AT33EV on the Garrard. It would be good if I could try the Ittok on the 401, but I've read conflicting reports on their compatibility.

From reading around, and from this very brief first impression, I have the feeling that its good to take a yin/yang approach to tone-arm matching, with the 401 being very much the yang. With the 401 having a large scale and dynamic presentation, the mid-centric and fluid presentation of a uni-pivot is complementary. Whereas with an Ittok, which has a dynamic and forward presentation, it might be too much stress on these qualities.

I wonder which other arms might work to this yin/yang hypothesis?
 
I've got the Nima and Tabriz. The Nima is a great match, as you say the fluidity of the midrange, however, the Tabriz is pulling an extra layer of detail, you can really hear the thwack on the drums. I wouldn't worry about trying your ittok if you already have it although it's a long time since I heard one.
 
Nice one! I'm glad you've got the hum sorted.

Re arms, I know Terry at Loricraft rates the Schroeders and the dual pivot Origin Lives very highly (as well as the SME V which he's still very fond of) – those tend to be the arms they use to demo the 501 at shows. Obviously, I rate my own OL very highly too.

I've also heard people enthuse about the Mørch arms with Garrards, both the uni pivot and dual pivot versions. It's a combo I've never heard myself though.
 
I used an OL Silver for a long time, and it was a nice arm with my 401.

I tried an SME 309 that was modded to a IV level and it was different/better.

I now use a 12" Apparition unipivot, and it has so much more than the OL - much more fluid and more detail.
 
Elephantears said:
From reading around, and from this very brief first impression, I have the feeling that its good to take a yin/yang approach to tone-arm matching, with the 401 being very much the yang. With the 401 having a large scale and dynamic presentation, the mid-centric and fluid presentation of a uni-pivot is complementary. Whereas with an Ittok, which has a dynamic and forward presentation, it might be too much stress on these qualities.

I wonder which other arms might work to this yin/yang hypothesis?
Click to expand...

I'd not read too much into that to be honest, most people seem to choose an arm for a 301/401 upon looks as much as anything! FWIW I felt it was an upgrade sonically moving from a Hadcock 242SE to a SME M2-10, and that was going from a unipivot to a fairly rigid modern arm. I'd not read too much into that either as a lot will be down to cartridge. The Garrards are hugely capable decks, you can use whatever arm you like.

As for earthing: the mains lead for my 301 has the positive and negative to the little junction box you picture and the earth goes to one of the bolts that holds the motor case together. I'm a bit OCD so all this is via neatly soldered and heatshrunk eyelet connectors! My arm is earthed to the preamp, not the deck. I always like a proper mains earth on a turntable and tend to mistrust any with two-core mains leads. It's worth testing with a continuity meter, e.g. if I put a probe on my 301's centre spindle I get continuity back to mains earth. I find decks earthed in this way tend not to have any issues with static vinyl as there is an exit-path. I get no hum at all.
 
Well it's set up and not humming. Here it is in the plinth on loan from banjo man:



And with an LP12 in the background:



I've only just properly set up the suspension on the Soled LP12 after fitting the Ittok, so I'm dealing with a lot of new impressions at once here. The 401 continues to sound HUGE. I don't know how much of this is down to the Grado moving iron cartridge, with its bold brush strokes, compared to the more refined AT33EV on my LP12. However I did have the Grado cart on an SL1210 previously and it didn't sound anything like this. The 401 is really very engaging and involving. I've just put on a really battered old copy of 'Freewheelin' and it deals very well with the surface noise, doing that trick of separating out the noise from the kernel of the music that I've often read about but not experience. The RB250 seems a good bit more stable on the 401 than when I tried it on the LP12, though this might have been set up issues. However low bass is still rather loose, as a quick spin of some drum and bass demonstrated.

On the arm front, it looks like I'm going to be trying the Syrinx PU3 on the 401. Of course I'll want to try this on the LP12 too.

Then I'm picking up quite a nice plinth from a guy in Stockport in a couple of weeks. This will come with another 401, so that'll make three! Like buses...
 
Elephantears said:
Yes, I probably should have tried that John, but I got impatient to put the Ittok back on. I immediately felt that it brought a greater stability to proceedings, but then I realised the deck still needed proper adjustments, since tracking wasn't perfect. I've got it sounding very good now. I think the next step is to get Johnnie's wiring n the Ittok to get this deck to the place where I really want it.

The 401/AO RB250/Grado Plat Ref is enjoyable in a different way to my LP12. The 401 is very broad and expansive, whilst the LP12 is more muscular, concentrated and purposeful: the central voice has a better focus and consistency with the LP12, whereas there is a more relaxed and open sound with the 401.

I'll begin to work out how much of this is down to cartridge and arm in the coming weeks.
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Its very difficult to compare decks with different arms and carts IMO, and also as others have said even with the same arm when it is not ideal for one of the turntables?.
When I chnaged for my LP12 I only had a OL RB250 and Denon DL110 on it so when I got the 401 I transferred the arm & Cart over so I got a direct comparrison, the 401 was the one I use now and the LP12 is in a box in the loft. That said the Ittok is a better maych for the linn so its not easy

Alan
 
I've changed the carts over now so I've got the AT33EV on the 401/AO RB250 and the Grado Platinum Ref on the LP12/Sole/Lingo/Ittok. I'll report back when I've got a more developed sense of the differences. Hopefully in due time I'll be able to do a proper comparison with the same arm and cart, but that's going to take a bit of planning.

I suspect this is going to be a case of liking both decks for different reasons. For instance I've just been listening to Fournier's recordings of the Bach Cello Suites on the 401 and it doesn't have the earthy depth and gravity that I get with the LP12. But then the greater concentration and focus of the LP12 can also mean it gets more congested, which the more open sound of the 401 avoids.

I'd better avoid making any more generalisations at this very early stage, so pinch of salt to the above.
 
JR said:
But do try and get that RB250 stub and counterweight upgraded, only hen I feel will you appreciate what's currently missing with the Rega arm.
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John, do you think a Rega with all those extras would have the stability of an Ittok?

Currently listening to the Soleful LP12/Ittok with the Grad Ref Platinum and I love it. I think this is the winner in my comparisons so far. Possible MC to Moving Iron conversion happening here.
 
Thanks very much for the offer John, I'll be in touch.

I am having serious indecision about the arm. Because I'm getting this plinth soon I need to decide whether to have the armboard set for Ittok/Syrinx etc to allow for direct comparisons, or for Rega, which I guess would give more flexibility, and work out best if the 401 ends up being my second deck.
 
Elephantears said:
Looks very good. I can't believe how many talented woodworkers are exhibiting on this thread. Is that a Morch arm, Jay? It's very svelte.
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Late getting back to this, sorry.

I can't take much credit for the woodwork. I did up a *.dxf CAD template and had it done by a CNC service not far from here. I did do some drilling in the Panzerholz, but it's really hard on tools, and I now live in a flat, so major woodworking projects are out. It's going to get a re-work eventually, I think, and end up sitting in something more stylish.

The arm is a Morch DP6, currently on my Lenco build (again, not my woodworking - thanks Divedeepdog ;)) with a Dyna Karat 17D2 Mk2.
 
Elephantears said:
Thanks very much for the offer John, I'll be in touch.

I am having serious indecision about the arm. Because I'm getting this plinth soon I need to decide whether to have the armboard set for Ittok/Syrinx etc to allow for direct comparisons, or for Rega, which I guess would give more flexibility, and work out best if the 401 ends up being my second deck.
Click to expand...

Can you get a second armboard? If you're going to give it a fair shake against the LP12 you really do need to be sure to use the same arm/cart combo. I must admit I don't favour stock Rega arms (maybe the higher-end ones, though I don't have any experience with them). They're great value for money, but the Syrinx way outclasses them, I should think.
 
This guy has offered to drill the armboard for the arm that I want; I'm not sure what it will take to change it later so I'll enquire further.

I could just get the arm board positioned for Ittok and try that on both.

I must admit I'm already a bit sick of comparing. I quickly tire of switching back and forth and lose my ability to enjoy the music naturally.
 
Once the novelty wares off, I'm sure you'll appreciate what the decks do on an individual level.

I've just visited a friend with an Oracle belt drive, and heavy weight DD Pioneer. Its fun A and B'ing them, but they offer different presentation. Smooth and delicate vs engaging and lively.

Getting used to my Roksan arms, I found going back to a stock Rega disappointing, however, I've stripped the tube, and followed the Audiomods design drilling, and inserting the washer's. Its transformed the arm and I'm looking forward to getting the full Audiomods arm.
 
I must admit that I'm also less than keen on stuff like doing comparisons, and more into just hearing the music. I hope to eventually have three decks with multiple arms to cover the different styles of music I listen to, including mono and 78.
 
That three deck approach would probably play into my natural indecisiveness, so not ideal for me. Even the probability of running two decks makes me think that it might be a better use of money to consolidate one deck and make it as good as possible. I don't know, it's a tricky one.
 
divedeepdog said:
Getting used to my Roksan arms, I found going back to a stock Rega disappointing, however, I've stripped the tube, and followed the Audiomods design drilling, and inserting the washer's. Its transformed the arm and I'm looking forward to getting the full Audiomods arm.
Click to expand...

This is interesting. Does the audimods kitted Rega compete with your Tabriz ZI? I really fancy a Tabriz, I must say.
 
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