How I lost a chance to own a Garrard 301!

[Kishor]

Monday afternoon and after I got through with the usual Monday morning blues of the weekends backlog, I thought of relaxing a bit. Browsing through the Craiglist, Singapore ( thats what I meant by relaxing!) I see an ad for vintage furniture sell. Thinking it to be a usual antique furniture sell I was going to give it a miss; but suddenly one of the pics in the ad caught my eye and I almost jumped from my chair!

There in the pic was an old days console desk with the usual valve radio amplifier set and on the top was old styled turntableon viewing closely and reading thru the ad I knew what I was looking at.an old Garrard 301the master piece!

Whoever had put in the ad did not obviously know what was in the console desk. As the ad stated it was an old piece of furniture very good as a display and storage unit.what the ! All he mentioned underneath was it had an old styled valve radio and a turntable which read Garrard 301. He was not sure if the set was still in working condition and selling as a furniture piece for SGD 200.

Within moments I call the no provided and am answered by a young girl who obviously knew nothing of what was inside. I say I would take the turntable and leave the console desk for the owner to take care. She tells me they want to get rid of the console desk and would like me to take the whole thing. How much would I offerconsidering the console desk to be transported and the turntable condition unknown, I offer SGD 70. She says they are expecting at least SGD 100 and would get back to me the next day.

The next day I wait until afternoon and again call. The girl answers. Says the console desk along with the turntable has been already picked by a guy in the morning. He came and took the console away paying in cash. How much did he pay..SGD 80!... What????....How could that bethe guy obviously was smart enough to ask them if any enquiries on the unit and offer them 10 dollars more to take the whole unit right away. He did not even give them time to rethink as the girl told me he took away the unit along with him!

I could barely stop crying having lost an opportunity to own the master piece. Learning from this experience..jump at the opportunity without thinking twice if one is convinced at what is on offer!

 

[hildebrand]

jump at the opportunity without thinking twice if one is convinced at what is on offer!

I have faced this myself. I was interested in starting with a Philips TT with changer and some 100+ records which someone was offering for 15000/-. I was keeping a bit busy. I fixed the time for sunday. when I called on sunday before coming I was told that it had already been sold in spite of a commitment given to me for coming on sunday.
First come first serve is what works.
I try not to wait now

 

[reubensm]

I too have faced this with the 301 and the TD124. Did not show much interest as at that point, I had decided not to move outside of direct drive. But this was way back in 2007-2008. Not that I regret it but it would have made marquee reading on my signature

But my biggest miss which I still regret is an EMT 938 from All India Radio (Chennai) in an auction.

 

[prem]

Hi Reubensm

I cant believe you missed out on an auction for a EMT 938. Based on your listening preference the EMT 938 is right up your alley. I have checked with 2 senior EMT ex engineers. According to them a EMT 938, 940, 950 and a 930 sound the same. Only a 927 is superior because it has a 16 inch platter and uses a 12 inch arm. So the background is dead quiet. If you buy a 930 you have to be very very careful. Its performance is a sum of its parts. Every thing there has to be to specs. Thats what Stefano Passini wrote to me. He said i am better off with a 938.

 

[shafic]

I could barely stop crying having lost an opportunity to own the master piece. Learning from this experience..jump at the opportunity without thinking twice if one is convinced at what is on offer!

Sad story!! A lesson to be learnt!! Best of luck next time!!

 

[shafic]

I too have faced this with the 301 and the TD124. Did not show much interest as at that point, I had decided not to move outside of direct drive. But this was way back in 2007-2008. Not that I regret it but it would have made marquee reading on my signature

But my biggest miss which I still regret is an EMT 938 from All India Radio (Chennai) in an auction.

Hi,
A couple of years back i missed an opportunity of owning a 301. At that time i felt spending such an amount on a TT was not necessary. Recently i refused the LINN SONDEK due to lack of awareness.

I have learnt a lot from this wonderful forum. If i had started a little earlier i would have had an array of EMTs & GARRARDS.

 

[Record Player]

Indeed a lost chance. My condolences as this is really a big miss. We all can imagine what you would be feeling right now!

 

[reubensm]

Hi Reubensm

I cant believe you missed out on an auction for a EMT 938. Based on your listening preference the EMT 938 is right up your alley. I have checked with 2 senior EMT ex engineers. According to them a EMT 938, 940, 950 and a 930 sound the same. Only a 927 is superior because it has a 16 inch platter and uses a 12 inch arm. So the background is dead quiet. If you buy a 930 you have to be very very careful. Its performance is a sum of its parts. Every thing there has to be to specs. Thats what Stefano Passini wrote to me. He said i am better off with a 938.

Yes, that's what I really regret. In my case what happened was I was not in Chennai at the time and asked a good friend to help me during the auction. He ended up buying it himself and sold it off I think to a collector for a profit. That was a pretty big let down but guess its destiny. In the very recent past, I was to buy a vintage 930 but leg go due to W.A.F and invested in the 401.

 

[reubensm]

Hi,
A couple of years back i missed an opportunity of owning a 301. At that time i felt i felt spending such an amount on a TT was not necessary. Recently i refused the LINN SONDEK due to lack of awareness.

I have learnt a lot from this wonderful forum. If i had started a little earlier i would have had an array of EMTs & GARRARDS.

In my case, I am very alergic to belt drives hence Linn was not really in the mix. Again, when the Garrards were within reach, I was more into direct drives. I had never heard of EMT until I saw Prem's in this forum. Since then I've been chasing EMTs, missed one from Ranjit Singh by a whisker (bought by a fellow FM) and then was in failed talks with Lakhwant Singh for an AIR Meltron EMT. The guy was just nore reasonable.

Ranjit Singh's TD124 in a solid aluminium plinth was offered to me (when it reached its current owner, Lakhwant Singh) but my good friend Gerry warned me against considering it as it was in pretty poor condition with loads of rumble. He had taken a look at it.

For now I think I have the L75 and the 401 and that should make up a more than decent turntable profile. I also have my good old war horse, the SL3200 which still plays very enjoyable music. From my perspective, guess I am near turntable-nirvana but the golden question is, how long this state of Nirvana is going to last

 

[Record Player]

Yes, that's what I really regret. In my case what happened was I was not in Chennai at the time and asked a good friend to help me during the auction. He ended up buying it himself and sold it off I think to a collector for a profit. That was a pretty big let down but guess its destiny. In the very recent past, I was to buy a vintage 930 but leg go due to W.A.F and invested in the 401.

That's a shame and what a let down by a good friend

 

[prem]

Hi Reubensm

With a 401 you can try out different plinths, tonearms, carts, etc. With an EMT it's pretty much a dead end. Very little room for experimentation. Normally with most tables you can buy a better cartridge and upgrade. With an EMT the only way to upgrade is to sell it and move on to another table. So really don't know if it's a boon or a curse

 

[shafic]

Yes, that's what I really regret. In my case what happened was I was not in Chennai at the time and asked a good friend to help me during the auction. He ended up buying it himself and sold it off I think to a collector for a profit. That was a pretty big let down but guess its destiny. In the very recent past, I was to buy a vintage 930 but leg go due to W.A.F and invested in the 401.

Reuben,
Even i had a similar experience with Ilayaraja LPs in Chennai. The letting down by a friend hurt more than the loss of the LPs.

 

[reubensm]

That's a shame and what a let down by a good friend

Thats true RP, from what I've learnt, not everyone is as honest and open as you are. If you had not told me the Garrard story in its entirity, I would have kept looking up ebay and would have still got intimidated by the $1000+ price tags. I was able to take an alternate approach only after finding out how you accomplished it.

Most people in the turntable and vinyl business (both sellers and hobbiests) outside the forum are not always honest and truthful. After all, everyone wants to own these so all leads and approaches remain top secret. One would often hear the usual statement "i have my sources". In the very recent past, a guy from Kochi came down to my neighbourhood and bought a lot of 100 LPs. The owner was planning to give these off to me for free on condition that I don't resell them and care for them. Again, another neighbour told the owner that these records are very valuable and he ended up advertising them and sold them without informing me. These thngs happen, guess its part of the deal.

 

[reubensm]

Hi Reubensm

With a 401 you can try out different plinths, tonearms, carts, etc. With an EMT it's pretty much a dead end. Very little room for experimentation. Normally with most tables you can buy a better cartridge and upgrade. With an EMT the only way to upgrade is to sell it and move on to another table. So really don't know if it's a boon or a curse

Yes, I am that kind of guy, reach the end and be happy with it. I know that the end for me is definitely EMT.

 

[reubensm]

Reuben,
Even i had a similar experience with Ilayaraja LPs in Chennai. The letting down by a friend hurt more than the loss of the LPs.

Yes, agree 100% but I was also cursing myself for not going there myself.

 

[jls001]

Go with the maxim: there are many fishes in the ocean. Or lake. Or pond. And you will feel consoled:lol: The next one will come along someday.

 

[kuruvilajacob]

In my early days of TT hunting, a dealer offered me a monster of a TT for a pittance. It looked like one of those old 3 in 1 . Later when I saw a picture of an EMT, I just realized I missed out on one. I have no regrets. I am lucky to have a Linn Sondeck , 2 Garrard 301s, a Micro Seikie DDX 1000, Thoresn 125 Long base, Lenco L 75 ,Technics SL1200 and SP 25, JP and 3 AR XA and an AR a the Turntable,2 Dual 1019 and many more. So I don't regret missing a Thorens 124 or EMT. I believe these may sound marginally different from my present players but may not be substantially superior. BTW, the Micro Seikie is really opening up and ranks among the top of my list of players.