Hello! I've been quiet since I sold my Leak Stereo 20s to buy a Lavardin IT a couple of years ago. So I thought I would post here about work I've been doing on my turntable since then.
I bought a Nottingham Analogue Dais a few years ago with money from selling my Westfield. Before that, I was using a Martin Bastin-modified Garrard 301, which I still have in the loft (my wife refuses to let me sell it!). The early mods to my Leaks were done by the late Peter Bruty who always used an NA Mentor. When I was able to contact Glenn Croft to continue maintaining and improving the Leaks, I found that he too had an NA, a Dais. So when it came to buying a new turntable for myself it was a no-brainer.
I bought the Dais with Ace Space 9" arm and used it with my DV17D2. Through a series of changes, not all voluntary, I ended up with a 12" Ace Space (very worthwhile) and first a s/h 47 Lab MC Bee and then new Benz Wood SL (similarly worthwhile, and good value from Expert Stylus with a trade-in).
But I always felt that the mdf chassis of the Dais was a weak point. I looked at the Annalog and thought how lovely it would be.... Aiming to replicate the thinking behind it, I tried first 1 then 2 butcher block boards for the chassis, standing them on another larger butcher block as the plinth in place of the marble-effect NA one. Yes, it was better. It looked interesting. But it wasn't a night-and-day improvement. I guess that justifies the use of mdf in the original, and also shows you can't just copy something like the Annalog that has obviously had a lot of thinking gone into it.
One thing that did make a significant improvement, however, was moving from the butcher block plinth to a hunk of slate, 2.5" thick, which I bought as an offcut from a slate shop in the Lake District for £30. I was very pleased with that! Noticing that many people like slate plinths for their Garrards, I looked at the option of a slate chassis for the Dais. All I wanted was a cylinder with one square corner for the armboard. I was amazed when my local monumental mason wanted over £300 for one!
Reading that people were also finding panzerholz (tankwood) to be a better option for Garrards, I wondered whether this would be good as a chassis for the Dais. Google brought me to L T Lewis (www.ltlewis.co.uk) and Andrew (delignit@ltlewis.co.uk). I found that he sells tankwood to F1 teams to use as the "plank" under cars where its hardness and density are an advantage. This means he has offcuts at good prices! So I ordered 2 1000x625mm offcuts, 25mm thick and 25-ply. The delivery company left them in front of my front door and my wife could hardly move them to get in, they're so dense. I also obtained some special Bosch jigsaw blades, 308BF and 308BOF, intended for hardwood, without which I would have had no chance with the tankwood.
Anyway, I made the chassis from 4 layers and the plinth from 3. The chassis sits on 3 Stillpoints attached to the 3rd layer. After experimenting with using the NA armboard I made my own out of tankwood. I put some pictures of the journey on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151283392563471.464437.521778470&type=1&l=d531692d7f
How does it sound? Greater clarity overall, lower noise floor, better image (including some height), clearer bass, more realism, more musical. Records don't sound like records now. I have not been able to compare it to the Annalog, but it cost me about £370 to buy sufficient for the chassis, the plinth and also a platform for my Lavardin (the latest version comes with a plywood platform). And I have space on the chassis for another armboard if I can ever justify buying an MM headamp to use with my Decca Gold on modified Rega RB300 that's currently still on the Garrard.
So if you have the chance to use tankwood as a chassis or plinth then I would recommend you give it a go. It comes in various thicknesses, but be careful with very thick planks unless you have more than just the jigsaw that I had.
I bought a Nottingham Analogue Dais a few years ago with money from selling my Westfield. Before that, I was using a Martin Bastin-modified Garrard 301, which I still have in the loft (my wife refuses to let me sell it!). The early mods to my Leaks were done by the late Peter Bruty who always used an NA Mentor. When I was able to contact Glenn Croft to continue maintaining and improving the Leaks, I found that he too had an NA, a Dais. So when it came to buying a new turntable for myself it was a no-brainer.
I bought the Dais with Ace Space 9" arm and used it with my DV17D2. Through a series of changes, not all voluntary, I ended up with a 12" Ace Space (very worthwhile) and first a s/h 47 Lab MC Bee and then new Benz Wood SL (similarly worthwhile, and good value from Expert Stylus with a trade-in).
But I always felt that the mdf chassis of the Dais was a weak point. I looked at the Annalog and thought how lovely it would be.... Aiming to replicate the thinking behind it, I tried first 1 then 2 butcher block boards for the chassis, standing them on another larger butcher block as the plinth in place of the marble-effect NA one. Yes, it was better. It looked interesting. But it wasn't a night-and-day improvement. I guess that justifies the use of mdf in the original, and also shows you can't just copy something like the Annalog that has obviously had a lot of thinking gone into it.
One thing that did make a significant improvement, however, was moving from the butcher block plinth to a hunk of slate, 2.5" thick, which I bought as an offcut from a slate shop in the Lake District for £30. I was very pleased with that! Noticing that many people like slate plinths for their Garrards, I looked at the option of a slate chassis for the Dais. All I wanted was a cylinder with one square corner for the armboard. I was amazed when my local monumental mason wanted over £300 for one!
Reading that people were also finding panzerholz (tankwood) to be a better option for Garrards, I wondered whether this would be good as a chassis for the Dais. Google brought me to L T Lewis (www.ltlewis.co.uk) and Andrew (delignit@ltlewis.co.uk). I found that he sells tankwood to F1 teams to use as the "plank" under cars where its hardness and density are an advantage. This means he has offcuts at good prices! So I ordered 2 1000x625mm offcuts, 25mm thick and 25-ply. The delivery company left them in front of my front door and my wife could hardly move them to get in, they're so dense. I also obtained some special Bosch jigsaw blades, 308BF and 308BOF, intended for hardwood, without which I would have had no chance with the tankwood.
Anyway, I made the chassis from 4 layers and the plinth from 3. The chassis sits on 3 Stillpoints attached to the 3rd layer. After experimenting with using the NA armboard I made my own out of tankwood. I put some pictures of the journey on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151283392563471.464437.521778470&type=1&l=d531692d7f
How does it sound? Greater clarity overall, lower noise floor, better image (including some height), clearer bass, more realism, more musical. Records don't sound like records now. I have not been able to compare it to the Annalog, but it cost me about £370 to buy sufficient for the chassis, the plinth and also a platform for my Lavardin (the latest version comes with a plywood platform). And I have space on the chassis for another armboard if I can ever justify buying an MM headamp to use with my Decca Gold on modified Rega RB300 that's currently still on the Garrard.
So if you have the chance to use tankwood as a chassis or plinth then I would recommend you give it a go. It comes in various thicknesses, but be careful with very thick planks unless you have more than just the jigsaw that I had.
.
