SME buy Garrard
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plastic penguin
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Never realised Garrard was still in existence. Thought that Garrard was in name only.
I'll keep an eye on their progress. Have a soft spot for older Garrard models.
I'll keep an eye on their progress. Have a soft spot for older Garrard models.
alchemist 1
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That was such an interesting design. I have to say that nowadays I see it as a solution to a problem that didn’t need fixing (not to say it doesn’t exist), and that it rather let itself down elsewhere. But a worthy item in HiFi history all the same.alchemist 1 said:
Infiniteloop
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Al ears said:
They’re just about to release a new all in one TT. The Synergy. To me, it just looks odd. A random collection of shapes to house the power supply, controller and platter itself
Visually it’s a mess....
Chris Munden said:
I think they hinted to Michael Fremer in his Munich show report that the 401 might be coming back, but no idea of price. It's on his Analog Planet site IIRC.
Price of any new 401/301 will be through the roof because of heritage tax, same as how Panasonic is capitalizing on the SL1200. What is it now, three or four times the price the orginals were when they were discontinued in 2010?
While at the budget end, should they choose to compete there, it will either be a shite all-plastic thingy or yet another variation of the 'thin steel platter and alloy arm nailed to contiboard' formula.
While at the budget end, should they choose to compete there, it will either be a shite all-plastic thingy or yet another variation of the 'thin steel platter and alloy arm nailed to contiboard' formula.
Al ears said:
Agreed. For a change, would be nice to see Garrard do budget the same way they always did budget: metal chassis idler drive, just to be different. It has its own merits and charms despite the negatives. Why not be different, providing you 'do different' greatly? Respect to Audio Technica for at least being different with the LP5, which WHF really did highly rate, but could never quite bring themselves to recommend over the formica worktop alternatives, almost as if they feared they'd lose credibility by doing so.
I'm inclined to agree with MajorFubar and All Ears, both give good points and I agree re the AT LP-5. There has been a good deal of snobbery over decades of HI FI, mostly aimed at the high end gear, hey, if you have money spend it on what you like, but this snobbery was very evident on review sites, not all I might ad.
Most of the turn table market with the resurgence of Vinyl is budget to middle, thats where the profits are for the manufactueres, high end gear often referred to in the States as the NERD/GEEK end of the hobby has a small market. SME really need to do some serious market research before investing huge ammounts of money in a product that might not return them a profit,
Why did I buy a Audio Technica LP-5, no, not from reviews but from a shop demo. My reason was my old Rega Planar 3 was getting tired even though I did the motor mount mod and new drive belt along with a bearing clean and re oil, I even fitted a new Ortofon Red, it sounded great but a new deck was out of my price range. Then I heard the LP-5, Well, it sort of did things better than the Rega, and absolutely no detectable Wow or motor noise, which the Rega had on inner tracks, and the AT95EX really out shone the Ortofon. In my humble opinion the arm is capabale of handling more expensive cartridges.
Most of the turn table market with the resurgence of Vinyl is budget to middle, thats where the profits are for the manufactueres, high end gear often referred to in the States as the NERD/GEEK end of the hobby has a small market. SME really need to do some serious market research before investing huge ammounts of money in a product that might not return them a profit,
Why did I buy a Audio Technica LP-5, no, not from reviews but from a shop demo. My reason was my old Rega Planar 3 was getting tired even though I did the motor mount mod and new drive belt along with a bearing clean and re oil, I even fitted a new Ortofon Red, it sounded great but a new deck was out of my price range. Then I heard the LP-5, Well, it sort of did things better than the Rega, and absolutely no detectable Wow or motor noise, which the Rega had on inner tracks, and the AT95EX really out shone the Ortofon. In my humble opinion the arm is capabale of handling more expensive cartridges.
Chris Munden said:
AT95EX is a gem. Chap on this forum uses a slightly butchered 95EX stylus with a much more expensive cartridge and by all accounts it puts in a very good show for itself.
Al ears
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MajorFubar said:
I'd agree. Regards the tonearm I think that you will find many will, up to a point, support much better cartridges as the manufacturers normally fit the cheapest they feel that they can get away with this enabling them to sell the deck at a reasonable price.
Regards SME, they were never in the mass-market game and, in my opinion, should never attemp to dive in to the budget end of the market where there are plenty of other manufacturers to choose from. They are not totally reliant on turntable scales and seem to be doing very nicely as is.
Agreed, all ears, about the market sector and SME, however, in my opinion they could easily make the Gerrard into a cult deck like Rega have done which would really establish the famous name. Yes, it could be pitched at the Rega higher end.
I put a Nagaoka MP-100 on my LP-5 and it sounds excellent, again better than the Ortofon even with a 'blue' stylus, but its not any better than the AT95EX just a sightly different sound stage on some instruments. may be its the Conical tip stylus of the Nagaoka VS the Eliptical on the AT. If I ever upgrade the AT95EX it would be another AT cartridge or may be a Goldring.
I put a Nagaoka MP-100 on my LP-5 and it sounds excellent, again better than the Ortofon even with a 'blue' stylus, but its not any better than the AT95EX just a sightly different sound stage on some instruments. may be its the Conical tip stylus of the Nagaoka VS the Eliptical on the AT. If I ever upgrade the AT95EX it would be another AT cartridge or may be a Goldring.
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