New Garrard 301

it really depends on lots of things ... but I bet you can get a really nice 301 (gone thru extensively) set up with a great plinth (maybe a woodsong, etc) with a basic arm and cartridge for $5K-$6K or so. maybe I am a little low?

 

Having done this, I can say even if you assume the worst you're going to come away having spent about half what SME is charging, and that includes the M2-12R. Fancy plinths can end up being the most expensive component.

 

I think I paid ~1500 for the deck, and my invoice from Woodsong for a full restore and new torlon bearing was about $1200. Round that out with a modest plinth and Schick tonearm and you're maybe just a tad low.

 

yeah ... you’re right. thanks for clarifying.

 

It's a Hifi racks Podium slimline. Fairly easy to find here in the UK. Hi Fi Racks Podium Slimline review | What Hi-Fi?

 

Thanks, both @slcaudiophile and @Rolltide. It seemed to me that was a fair way to measure value. I don't know if the new SP-10 is better than the version III of the old one, at a price. The IIIs are pretty big money, b/c I'm not even sure they made it to these shores. Not a direct comparison, but similar concept- reboot a classic that a lot of people are into refurbishing. Obviously, whole different kind of table.

 

I think that price is ok with an included an arm, but not great. A perfectly restored 301, as Rolltide said, hovers around $3000 and the least expensive quality plinth (Vinylista) goes for $1000+. An SME M2-12R is $2800. I can’t see making a nearly $10k jump from there. That said this thing could have improved parts and tolerances, and the plinth could be “tuned” to a Shindo level, so who knows. Also, aesthetically speaking, I rather like the plinth they’re using. The Woodsong and AF plinths are beautiful, but I’ve come to appreciate the simplicity of the older designs. All in all, even if this is too expensive to justify with thousands of 301s floating around, I’m very glad it’s back in production.

 

UK prices, £800 for a 301, £600 for full strip and service, £800-1,000 for a really nice plinth, SME M2-12R £2,500, so £5,000 for a really, really nice finished example, add £1,000-1,500 for an early grease bearing, but still half of where SME have priced their version.

I have around £3,000 in mine, but that was before SME added over £1,000 onto the cost of the M2-12R, compared to modern decks I think a good 301 can more than hold it's own in the £6-7,000 range, I really don't know how it would compare to decks in the £12,500 range, but that's assuming the new SME 301 sounds similar to our old Garrard 301s which is the big question.

 

Bit of a bargain last one Loricraft made before SME bought them was £80K

http://artduson.com/images/magazines/garrard-audio-2015-09-as-good-as-it-gets.pdf

 

Is it a rim drive? I thought that was considered obsolete.

 

They aren't obsolete, just a lot more expensive to design, tool up for and build than belt drives so less profits and fewer companies that can afford to build them, for similar reasons outside of the various flavours of Chinese Hanpin sourced direct drives there are very few companies designing and building high end models, belt drives are much easier to design and manufacture.

 

The idlers I've heard are very dynamic and punchy sounding, and the best certainly compete with the best of other types of tables. I have a local dealer that builds and installs ultra-high end systems (recently did one just short of $2 million). He put in two tables, one the top end Audio Note, and the other is a re-furbished Thorens 124 (his favorite table). He is also a fan of the 301 and 401 table. At a recent audio show, he had a fresh out of the box 1958 301 that had been stored since its manufacture.

With both the 301/401 and Thorens 124, his preference is for a wooden plinth that is not as massively built as some seen on the market--the simpler, cheaper plinths sound good to him. But, I suspect that the best plinth might also depend on the kind of stand/rack one uses, as well as a host of other factors.

A friend has a 401 (likes the look and it has a better motor than the 301) that has an old 301 grease bearing in it. I wonder if a motor swap can be made for a 301 for those who prefer the 301's look.

There is an Italian company that makes a super nice looking idler table as well as parts to rebuild vintage idlers. I have not heard their table, but, it certainly looks promising. Check out AudioSilente:

azienda

 

I have on short-term loan, from that same dealer (I'm nearly certain), one of his restored/refinished 401's. I have been quite pleased with it compared to the belt drive table that I had been using for about 10 years. While my audiophile-fu is not particularly strong, and I must also factor out the difference in cartridges (CA Maestro v2 vs. AN IQ3 (current cart)), it's clear that it serves up music with more accuracy and better pacing than that which preceded it.

I have only a rough idea of how he would price it, but I know it is more or less 1/2 of the above quoted price of the new 301. Of course, arms and plinths and upgrades can swing that one way or the other.

 

There is also Artisan Fidelity Artisan Fidelity Artisan Fidelity who produce various levels of 301/401 and other classic turntables.

 

I'm prepared to bet that the SME Garrard 301 will be cosmetically a 301 but otherwise very different. I suspect it will have a chassis made from NC machined aluminium plate using their in-house facilities, rather than the die cast chassis of the original. It will be interesting how they have got around the motor and idler issues - I'd love to see it "under the bonnet/hood"!

 

Elsewhere it's being stated that the 301 in the photo is actually a restored original, so more Garrard than SME, but I'd still like to see underneath and know what contribution SME have made. The Classic Turntable Company machine their top plates from solid, I've not heard one though.

 

Dear, oh dear. Not sure this is the early PR/publicity SME would have wanted on this. Very odd.

 

Seeing the thread title:






Seeing the price:

 

I think if I was going for a re-imagined idler drive, with the good ideas culled from the 301/401 and TD124, I'd probably go for this SMD Acoustics V2.0 Turntable

Note the price is minus arm and cartridge, so the overall price is likely to be similar to whatever it is that SME is *actually* showing.

I actually use one of Peak HiFi's plinths for my 401, and very good it is too.

 

The turntable on the stand is in fact a restored original. The SME contribution is the new pricing philosophy.

 

So SME have just added an extra £6-7,000 on top, for what their name, a bit like they did with their tone arms when the new owner took over, not sure many people are going to fall for that with 301s.

 

It's the Opposite for me. I really wish that my plain-black platter 301 had the strobe platter instead.

 

So does the fact it's a restored original and not a new production mean SME plans on selling restorations for 12.5K, or does it mean they just haven't ramped up production yet and want to start generating interest? People seem to be assuming the former, I suspect the latter.

 

Although I agree that unless they've done some major work underneath the former makes no sense as there are many excellent alternative sources I just can't see why they would use an original and thereby promote originals if they are introducing their own newly manufactured version, plus I'm sure they would have had a new one ready for Munich, unless something went terribly wrong, as jusbe mentioned SME haven't exactly managed this well with the picture out and zero official comment or information about a product for which there is a huge amount of interest.

 

Indeed - a whole lot of folks, me included, have been waiting to see what SME were going to do with Garrard and Loricraft. A restored original, an SME standard arm, and what looks like a Loricraft plinth is not what I, for one, expected.