Rebuilt Garrard 401, Vinylista Plinth and Origin Live Illustrious MkIII Tone Arm

Rebuilt Garrard 401, Vinylista Plinth and Origin
Live Illustrious MkIII Tone Arm.

This listing is subject to prior sale.The Rebuilt 401/Vinylista
plinth/OL Illustrious MkIII is for sale locally and also on ebay and USAudio Mart.  The USAudio Mart listing has more pictures.,
for some reason it accepted more photos.

I rated the 401/plinth/OL Illustrious as an 7 for Audiogon Good. Hard to rate a rebuilt classic that is over 50 yrs old and a plinth the is 10-15 yrs old.

 VERY low serial number (under 1200)
original US Import with early flat strobe lens and very rare US/North American
60Hz platter.

 Table has been rebuilt including the
following parts:

 New motor bushings in top and
bottom motor housings and new felt washers in both ends.

Rivets were drilled out and tapped
for Philips head screws, new bronze bushings installed and the felts replaced.

Spindle bearing was disassembled,
spindle was cleaned and a new stainless spindle bearing by Classic Turntables
was installed.

The whole base plate was replaced
with a repainted/refinished plate from Classic turntables. The original serial #
plate was installed on the new plate as was the paper

Serial number on the underside.

A new 120-volt strobe bulb was
installed. All springs on the motor suspension were replaced. Various springs
on table were replaced with new springs from Classic Turntables.

All linkage was cleaned and lubed
with white lithium grease.  A new strobe
cover under the platter was installed. The original Garrard 60Hz motor pully
was cleaned. The idler wheel was replaced with an excellent condition original
Garrard idler wheel. The aluminum piece on the front of the table with the
lettering for speed, on/off and pitch was replaced. The silver colored inserts
on each control knob were replaced.

The plinth is a
professionally made (read woodworking professional – not some  weekend garage wood warrior) by the Well-known German Audio
company Vinylista and is marked Vinylista Brenner - Berlin. It is constructed
in the well proven and popular Loricraft style using squash balls in each corner
to support and isolate the motor board that holds the 401.

 I have used both CLD style plinths (most so
called CLD plinths are just plywood layers glued together with no dampening
material between the two stiff outside layers, and are usually made of birch
ply). The Loricraft style uses a heavy board that is 1.25” thick to hold the
401/301 motor unit. This “motorboard” is then supported in each corner by the
squash balls. This method provides the 401 with a modified suspension.  The squash balls can be purchased in three
degrees of firmness if you want to experiment. The plinth comes with three arm
boards. One for Rega and two for SME; a 9” and 12” I believe. The armboards are
fasted to the motor board with machined torx screws. This plinth is like the
Mercedes-Benz version of a 401 plinth.

 The TT comes
equipped with the well-known Origin Live Illustrious Mk III tone arm. Tone arm
comes in its Origin Live wooden box. This is an original Origin Live designed
and manufactured tone arm, not to confused with the Origin Live Rega modified
tone arms.

   This combo of rebuilt 401,
Vinlyista plinth and Origin Live Illustrious (with a Koetsu Rosewood Signature)
was outstanding and proved the wisdom of mating the rebuilt 401 with a high
quality Loricraft style plinth AND a MODERN TONEARM!!!. I know some of us think
the old SME 3009 arms are great (I have used a SME 3009 on a rebuilt TD124) but
this table deserves a high quality Moving coil and a great arm to hold it.

Cosmetically the 401 looks very
good with the exception of the right-hand part of the control board that has
discoloration. I had intended on having this part repainted since it is easily
removed from the main motor plate with 4-5 screws on the underside but ran out
of time to complete the project.

The plinth has numerous surface
marks on the sides from age and use.  The
front and back boards have a few marks on the top. The plinth is age rated a 7
out of 10. This is a 54-year-old TT and a 12-15 yr old plinth!

The wood in this plinth is absolutely
beautiful and really complements the whole 401 TT concept … hand made of real
solid wood (1.5” thick), ….. no,  not veneer
on particle board.…  Since this is a
solid wood construction and not veneer the surface marks could very easily be
sanded out if desired.

The included arm boards provide a
wide variety of hi-end tone possibilities. Any Origin Live, Rega or Rega
geometry arm, either new or older SME. New arm boards from Vinylista or any
competent mill shop provide endless possibilities for tonearm variety. Not like
the cheap plinths on ebay or the internet that use the main plinth to mount the
arm (no replaceable armboard) and limit your choices to one tonearm because
they are made with a fixed tonearm mount.

 If you made it through all this
descriptive verbiage then you obviously are an audiophile and understand this
is not a $699 Rega that you buy and play. You will need to assemble and dial in
the tonearm and your cartridge before you enjoy the amazing playback of a well done
401 TT system.

 The 401 unit will ship in its own
box. The plinth and tonearm may ship in one or two boxes.   Shipping and insurance will be via FedEx
ground.

 YouTube demo
video: https://youtu.be/X4Wu1gmEWDY

The video was
intended to show the 401, arm and plinth working, not to be an audiophile
recording, the position of the camera in front of the TT was right in front of
the right channel. Koetsu cartridge used for demo purposes and is not included
in this listing or available for sale.



Buyer pays shipping and insurance. Shipping
quote is only for one box and will not be correct. DO NOT rely on the amt given
by the site.

Pickup in Westchester county NY can be arranged.
I am willing to discount slightly for a local pickup. As with all vintage
electronics NO RETURNS ACCEPTED. Seller has 20 years of eBay & Audiogon
100% positive feedback.