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Garrard 401

awl

awl

pfm Member
I've just acquired a 401. Have been keeping an eye out for a long time and took a punt on this one – it appears to have been very well looked after and little used.

I'm a bit unsure of how this unit fits into the production history, so if anyone can shed light on it from the pictures below I'd be very grateful.

My plan is to build a plinth for it along the lines of the Loricraft ‘squash ball’ design.

Andrew

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That's very nice. If you are a DIYer I can give you a recipe for something similar based on 2 Ikea beech chopping boards, cost to build about £30 and a weekend of work using hand tools and basic electrical equipment. Not altogether easy, mind.
 
Her Master's Voice?

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Still not found out how to date this deck - does anyone know if it's possible to from the serial number or other markings?

Andrew
 
Andrew - There are a few ways to tell the relative age of a 401, but no absolute way to tell AFAIK the production records were destroyed in a factory fire. There were 50,000 units produced 1965-77, so ~4166/year. But, this is not hard and fast, as production rates varied.

The very early Garrard 401 had two spark suppressors fitted side by side on these are very noticeable on the underside of the chassis. (bottom right hand corner looking from the underside) The suppressors are the same as the Garrard 301. The later type had the suppressor integrated into the on /off switch. The later Garrard 401 suppressors are very difficult to repair they need to have a modification plate and new switch assembly.

Early 401s have a flush mounted strobe, and later units have a raised strobe with a chrome frame. On the earliest 401s, the strobe does not function all of the time, and is turned on by pressing down the speed trim knob.

The font type on the control legend panel differs between earlier and later models. The “fat font” is earlier [Series 1] and the “skinny font” version is later [Series2]. The last control legends included the Garrard logo with the controls as one long strip, where on earlier decks the Garrard logo was cast in the deck itself.

So, you have a "mid" production 401 - middle s/n, raised strobe, fat font - late 60s early 70s (???) as a best guess.

David
 
Thanks David for such a thorough answer - just the information I've been looking for.

Andrew
 
awl said:
Still not found out how to date this deck - does anyone know if it's possible to from the serial number or other markings?
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Does it have any markings on the underside of the chassis? Mine is stamped 301, which relates to the 3rd Quarter of 1971.

Stuart
 
I can see a big '125' stamped on the underside, but not sure how to interpret this if it relates to years and quarters.

I haven't taken the turntable off its board yet, so more may be revealed when I do.

Andrew
 
is there any "solid" evidence on what actually makes garrard 401 sounding great in regard to the plinth?

i understand most of the users talk about high mass plinth but what i don't get is there's hardly any talk about the sound differences between slate, wood or sandwich plinths.

i've acquired a 401 and i now have several options i'm discussing.

one is to multi-layer birch plywood to a desired thickness - say 6" or so without adding anything in-between. this would have an OK mass (but not very big), will look good and be relatively cheap in comparison with other options.

second option would be as above, just inserting layers of led sheets in between. this would bring high mass and further damping. an obvious minus is you have quite some led in room though if i do it properly, the led sheets should be inserted into the plywood so it won't be exposed. this would be much more expensive.

the final option would be a slate plinth, obviously the most expensive one and for my taste esthetically the least pleasing - i just love wood. however if this is the way to squeeze 100% out of these machines than i'm up for it, especially since the above slate plinth from SMD acoustics looks actually a bit easier to build than i would think.

i will have more questions later but let's start from here. has any of your garrard-o-philes heard it in different plinths (in conditions where a comparison is actually relevant, similar system or so) and what are the impressions?

thanks
 
Hi Guys, Come on now anyone got any thoughts on the solid, or open ,slate , wood, debate ? I'm just confused.
 
also, while here - i can see that lots of plinths are open from the bottom. for sake of savings or this is how things should be?
 
pornstar said:
Hi Guys, Come on now anyone got any thoughts on the solid, or open ,slate , wood, debate ? I'm just confused.
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I've tried two plinths with my 301, a Loricraft influenced one (full, not skeletal) with a MDF top-plate floating on squash balls, and my current 40mm slate. All I can say is that they are different in sound, and I'd not really be prepared to rank one over the other. It's hard even to attempt to describe the difference, but maybe the slate is quieter, more controlled and cleaner, the Loricraft-type a bit more upbeat and exciting. The the deck wants to work in each is different too, it sounds best in the Loricraft-type with the rubber washers, yet these kill the sound of the slate plinth and the deck sounds best there with the metal chassis resting directly on the slate and the bolts done up very light finger-tight. I've never heard a solid / Bastin / Shindo type plinth. All I do know is there are many valid way to approach this. Aesthetically I'm for the Shindo type, just beautiful IMO. I wish I could afford one!

anubisgrau said:
also, while here - i can see that lots of plinths are open from the bottom. for sake of savings or this is how things should be?
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The motor can get very hot after a lengthy listening session so you need to factor cooling / air flow in to some degree.

Tony.
 
thanks tony.

OK - i may be naughty here - has anyone done any reverse engineering of the most succesful plinths like shindo or loricraft? or at least do we know what's behind their success?
 
Yes, there are a couple of these referenced on VE:

http://vinylengine.com/phpBB2/viewt...&start=0&sid=d78f929d73dcd6fcceabe9f7611f18c5

http://www.vinylengine.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=33191

http://www.vinylengine.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=24610

And in the Garrard Gallery: http://www.theanalogdept.com/garrard_gallery.htm

anubisgrau said:
thanks tony.

OK - i may be naughty here - has anyone done any reverse engineering of the most succesful plinths like shindo or loricraft? or at least do we know what's behind their success?
Click to expand...
 
Stuart Frazer said:
Does it have any markings on the underside of the chassis? Mine is stamped 301, which relates to the 3rd Quarter of 1971.

Stuart
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I am not so sure this is the way to read it. Most vacuum tubes of the era would use a single-digit-year+week-of-year date stamp. In this way, yours would read 1973 Week 01.

awl said:
I can see a big '125' stamped on the underside, but not sure how to interpret this if it relates to years and quarters.
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If I were to use the above method, yours would date to the 25th week of 1971. Fitting in nicely with what was inferred in my previous post.

As a check, I looked at my 401 which has "243" stamped. My table has a later S/N than yours, in the 32xxx range (?? - cant remember), fat font, raised strobe. This would fit nicely with a 1972 43rd week production date if the 4166/yr were reasonably accurate.

David
 
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