Garrard 401

1 9 6 5 1965
1 9 7 7 1977

Like a few other "oldies", such as the Thorens TD-124, the Quad ESL57, the Marantz Model 8B or Garrard's earlier 301, the 401 still is going strong.

The 401 is a pleasure to look at, too, with more than one similarity with JBL's contemporary amps - 1960s design at its very best.

Interestingly, perhaps luckily, the 401 didn't see visually alternate versions throughout its long life : no "disco shine " version, "faux diamond", "faux wood" or 24k gold-plated with backlit ruby inserts...
It would've been interesting to observe in retrospect, though !


The 401 belongs to that family of hi-fi objects which japanese audiophiles were buying for peanuts while we were looking elsewhere for ultra-tech and feature-packed items.
The japanese thus preceded us in re-discovering what we made... first :)

So what happened during the 1970s' painstaking and vivid research and the 1980s over-engineering madness if 1960s designs still rule ? I wonder !


Since 1998 sustained by Loricraft in the UK, who managed to buy the rights back from the brazilian Gradiente to re-use the glorious name and even produce a successor to the 401. 25 years after the fact :)

Even if a 501 is too much money for most who'd love to use one daily, be sure to thoroughly visit Loricraft's website as it does show what live-audio-made-by-real-people can be like, unlike the yearly chip swapping most brands have now fallen into.



Two reviews from Hifi-World (one, two) and one from theanalogdept.com.

Garrard 401, image 1 Garrard 401, image 2 Garrard 401, image 3
Garrard 401 specifications
Title Value
Type : professional record player
Motor : 4-pole induction, shielded
6 tension-spring suspended
Drive : idler with rubber ring
Platter : dynamically balanced
aluminium diecast
30,5cm diameter
Speeds : 33 1/3 rpm
45rpm
78rpm
Pitch control : ±3%
Wow & flutter : lower than 0,08%
S/N ratio : better than 51dB (1,4cm/s. at 100Hz)
PC : 12W
Dimensions : 34,9 x 37,1 x 15,4cm
page online since : june 2005
page updated : september 2010
page type : LGT / KNB
page weight : 298.97 Kb / 0 b
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