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Garrard 401 plinth Q.

G

gortnipper

loose nut
I am beginning to build a plinth for my 401 from a nice solid block of wood that I have come into which is about 50mm/2" thick.

Aesthetically, a border of 50mm/2" front/back may look pretty good, but this makes a very deep (470mm/19") plinth that will be an issue for shelf space.

I am wondering about peoples experience with how much room is required on the front and back edges of the plinth to the edge of the table deck? Would a narrow (15mm, 5/8") front/back lip affect the sound at all?

David
 
I doubt it. You will have more bother with the sound by using a piece of timber. Conventional thinking is that decks sound better in ply sandwiches ratehr than planks so you may wish to review your design and use veneers rather than solid.
 
what type of wood do you have?,
some hardwoods like Mahogany can give quite good results, a friend of mine has his 401 on a piece of 2" Mahogany and is very pleased with the sound,

as has been said, the normal approach is to use laminated 18mm cabinet grade plywood, you can also do a sandwich of plywood and mdf,
 
I have a 43,000 year old (yes, that is right) piece of swamp Kauri. Very well preserved and now perfectly dried after 7 years aging after being cut, and 10 years drying before that as a log.
 
Well, I would say that your question is a total waste of time as I would bet both my testicles that no one else in the world has ever made a Garrard 401 plinth out of a lump of 43,000 year old swamp Kauri. Knowing this, it is fair to assume that no one has the foggiest idea what it will sound like :)

Where abouts are you as I might just have a solution to your over sized Garrard....as long as your in no big hurry.
 
LOL - But my question was not about how this particular wood will sound, but rather about the distance between the front face and the front edge of the TT deck. I am wondering that if it is too narrow (~15mm, 5/8"), there may be not enough mass in that part of the plinth.

Your solution??
 
At 50mm, the std pillars will not be long enough to go through the plinth and still allow the nuts to fit over and be run up.

My solution: I had longer pillars made.

Other solution: Recess the nuts by using a speed bore to drill a recess for the nuts.

NEXT.

I removed the rubber spacers between the pillars and the chassis, then torqued the chassis down against the plinth. WRONG.

At this point it looks like you will get far better acoustic performance if you use modified fibre tap washers to actually space the chassis off the plinth by about 1mm. This makes good sense in terms of mechanical isolation.

I've tried to tie everything to as much mass as possible, then isolate the lot by using a minimal contact area in my 'roller ball' suspension.
It hasn't worked, hence the fibre washer suggestion above.

I have access to many 401/ 301 combos, and they sound very, very different from each other.

Instinct tells me you will know when it's 'dialed in' properly. I'm still up against a TD125 / 12" SME , DL103R as the most 'meaty' and musical combo I've heard. A 301 comes in second, with the same arm and cartridge.My ears, though, not yours :)
Below, for the few of you who haven't seen it.


http://image.wetpaint.com/image/1/k3TUbibVTbzIi_vQvKx52w68176/GW800H605
 
Hey PeeWee - I remember seeing your 401 at the Vinyl show...Mitac says hello ;-)

I will use a speed bore to recess the nuts.

Then when is all done, I will get with Klaus and get a dust cover made.

Your roller balls haven't worked? I thought you were pretty keen on those, what happened?

David
 
The roller balls might be working, but there is so much micro phonics from the actual plinth, that I need to find some additional isolation.

I can show you an interesting effect with the suspension.In the lateral plane, you can impart a hefty movement to the plinth, and it will not upset the record /arm at all. If the platter is stationary, you can cause the plinth to wobble underneath it, without the platter moving, at all.
 
You asked why ply is considered better - I don't know. I haven't built identical plinths from different materials (let's be honest, who has?). The conventional wisdom attempts to explain it by saying that ply is acoustically inert because the plys are crossed. MDF is said to be oK for similar reasons. This is potentially complete nonsense, like a lot of other so-called technical explanations.

My view is that a piece of wood as special as yours should be treated well. I don't think the thickness of the bit at the front will make a significant difference to the sound, so make something that looks good to your eyes. How it will sound is anybody's guess, because along with our other contributor I'd bet as many family jewels as you like that nobody else has built one. How many have ever seen a piece of prehistoric bog wood, let alone made anything from it?
 
Ahem,
Swamp Kauri is plentiful here, and there are whole industries built up around it.
It is absolutely beautiful wood, and not exactly rare. Making plinths from New Zealand native timbers is a bit of a hobby for some, and my friend Klaus has Kauri and Rimu plinths made up for a variety of his 401'a and 301's.

It's just nice to look at, that's all. :)
 
[googles]
So it is, nice looking wood. It's like a light version of burr walnut. If it's available as a veneer i might go that route with a ply base, but this may be less straightforward. Either way, it's a nice project, have fun!
 
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