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Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ.

Probably my poor grandma

You'll be glad to know my 88 is idler-drive, it's currently got an Acos Lustre arm and Shure M44 cartridges (78s + LPs and all that). I helped my friend set up an 88/SME 3009II Improved/Shure M44G earlier this year through his Sony multi-channel surround system thingy. Awesome! I don't doubt the quietness of your 75 - looking through the technical reports when these decks were new Goldring claimed -60dB rumble, (weighted to the then DIN standard 45539 and don't ask, I don't how the weighting was applied) Garrard didn't deign to publish rumble figures saying that it was almost non-existent but I have read that the 401 is 10db better than the 301. Now that these decks are getting on for 30+ years I suppose condition is of greater importance than the original spec.

The Lenco is as quiet as my Garrards but all three have had busy lives. I prefer the sound of the Garrards, but as I said in the first post I couldn't live without the Lenco either. It's in a Mono Leak system upstairs and in daily use.

Why do manufacturers stick with belts when a 30 year old 75 can trounce a VPI? Even SME only make belt drives. Are there any new decent direct drives out there? Only Garrard (Loricraft)produce an idler drive to my knowledge, at five and a half grand (UK) - if you've the money and space go for it. Belts win on grounds of cost and ease of construction but that's all.

Quote from Modern Gramophones and Electrical Reproducers (London 1929)
"...the motor in a gramophone is the source of all the energy which we ultimately hear as sound."

I've said enough

Regards


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