Bastion

A weakness of the Garrard 301, one identified by the Garrard engineers when designing the 401, is the relatively flexible area around the bearing and the top plate in general. On the 301 the point where the bearing housing mounts to the main cast chassis is quite thin and there is definitely the potential for movement and flexing. Various after market bearing manufacturers have tried to counter this by making the top flange of the bearing housing a lot bigger. My own Shindo bearing does this for example. It still doesn’t stiffen the rest of the top plate though.

A few people over the years have tried to deal with this issue in another way, namely strengthening the top plate itself. Most of these have required some sort of drilling and modification to the chassis of the 301, something I did not want to do.

Matthew Taylor of Audio Grail has come up with a cool new contraption to address this very issue. He’s developed what he has named the Bastion Plate. Its a 5mm thick machined piece of carbon fibre that mounts to the top plate of the 301. There is plenty of clearance for after-market bearings (like my Shindo one, in fact Matt said he also uses a Shindo bearing in his own 301). It comes complete with all the longer screws required for fitment. No modification to the chassis itself is required.

It comes excellently packaged as well.

Matt says to get a similar stiffness level from an aluminium plate it would have to be a lot thicker than the 5mm of the Bastion.

A nice addition and probably the last thing I will update on the 301. Get in touch with Matthew if you would like one, it’s worth it. I have noticed an increase in detail across the whole frequency spectrum, and the turntable is even quieter than before. There must have been some smearing or something going on previously that I wasn’t aware of.

Here’s the blurb: “The Audio Grail ‘Bastion Plate’ is a hand layered high graphite content 3K 5mm thick carbon fibre form designed to stiffen the top of the 301 chassis. (Carbon Fibre is up to x6 times stiffer than aluminium.) A little history… The 301 was designed in 53 and released in 54 three years prior to the advent of Stereo. Garrard had to to play catch up with the demands of Stereo transcription throughout the 301’s production. These adaptations ultimately culminated in the 401 featuring a considerably stiffer ribbed chassis with bridge over the motor cut out. Enough of the history, what are the benefits? Detail from low to high frequency, increased separation and enhanced imaging. There’s more… An additional benefit of this UK produced carbon fibre is its graphite content which manages resonance extremely well (Graphite dissipates resonance quickly) The Bastion plate comes with slightly longer screws and mounts to the existing holes in the chassis – No drilling or bonding, the authenticity of the unit is preserved – This upgrade is of course completely reversible – we think it looks great too!”

I took the time whilst the turntable was apart to fit a nice new super flexible braided power cable. It replaced the one that Loricraft had supplied which was a bit basic, with one that I made up and fitted some eyelet terminals to, for better connection, and peace of mind.