Power supply for famous Garrards 301 401
As you know Garrard has a failing.here is what a magazine "SOUND PRACTICES - Spring 1994"
Reason these units throw out so much vibration is due to the eddy current brake system. This awful device labours the huge shaded pole motor slightly, to allow adjustments in turntable speed and to adjust for slight variations in the size of the idler wheel. Garrard's pre war turntable, the 201 (two speed, 78 rpm and 80 rpm), was even harder on the motor. This system used a centrifugal governor working against a felt pad. It's no wonder the motors are always burnt out on pre WWII radiograms. Anyway, back to the eddy current brake. Through a series of levers, turning the pitch control knob slides a magnet over an alloy disc fitted to the shaft of the motor. With the knob turned fully counter clockwise the magnet is positioned over the disc and slows the poor old motor down, resulting in the deck running 2 1/2% slow (just 1 1/2% for the 301). Turning the knob clockwise positions the magnet off the disc, allowing the motor to run at its normal mains electric frequency. 2 1/2% fast of course! Normal operation is with the brake half applied. And that is the problem, the brake is always, in operation. To make matters worse, on the last 401s the alloy disc was very badly positioned, and tended to oscillate on its axis. The nearer the magnet to the disc, the more it labours the motor and slows it down. The further away, the less the effect. Now imagine our poor motor having the above applied 50 or 60 times a second. You have to bear this to believe how bad it is. The 301 has a slimmer disc which is easily dented in transit if someone forgets to tighten the transit clamp. On the plus side, the magnet itself is not positioned over the disc. Instead, two 'arms' are positioned on either side of the disc. These connect to the magnet and allow the eddy currents to be 'steered'. This system is an advantage over the 401 because the disc is within a field between the two arms, and thus the speed is not affected as much.
A major upgrade is to remove the eddy current brake completely and fit a dedicated variable frequency power supply. " This power supply(re-generator pure sine wave) has: -smooth control voltage from 0 to 240 Volt, pure sine wave! -smooth control frequency , variable mode -fixed rotating speed 33, 45, 78 , fixed mode -output power 50Watt -weight 5 Kg(10 Lbs) Shipping by USPS trackable, cost will be estimated by country destination. you can see my auction on eBay with this item
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