mwhouston Posted October 26, 2014 Posted October 26, 2014 (edited) I found a TT on the side of the road and was given another. I replaced the belt in one and stylus in the other. But now I need a cartridge for one, wanted to stay with MM and only wanted to spend no more than $300 to $500. Tivoli had Garrotts and the K series had been getting some good reports. A friend has a K3 and liked it. In the end I got a K2. The difference between 1, 2 and 3 is the stylus. I paid less than $300 for the K2 at the time. I had read where Garrotts play the music and hide the noise. This is true. Not only that the cart. appears to make all music sound good. The TT it is currently in is a new AT direct drive. With removable head shells and half a dozen new and refurbished old carts. cartridge rolling is fun, fun fun. Of all the carts the K2 is one I just keep going back to. My main rig is a Rega planar3, RB300 arm and Ortofon Rondo Blue MC. But the AT and K2 are fun and good sounding. Edited October 26, 2014 by mwhouston 4
Guest Mr Thorens Posted October 26, 2014 Posted October 26, 2014 Thanks for that. I was wondering how the Garrott K2 sounded. Seems like good value.
soundfan Posted October 26, 2014 Posted October 26, 2014 (edited) I love Garrott carts. One of the best MM carts I have ever heard is the Garrott Optim FGS. I currently use a Garrott P87 Moving Coil, which was Garrott's 2'nd best cart back in the day. IIRC it retailed around 2.5 k at the time of release. I got mine for a steal s/h on Ebay about 2 1/2 years ago and it is still going strong. I'd imagine I have put around 1500 - 2000 hrs easy, of use so far. When I was researching the P 87 before bidding on it I received a lengthy email from an ex Garrott employee. Wish I still had it, he was a wealth of information about Garrott. He suggested I would get at minimum 2500 hours out of the cartridge before a re-tip was due. He also suggested using soft paper (eg newspaper) wet with whatever stylus cleaning solution one uses, and softly pass the paper over each side of the stylus to clean, to remove any build up of crud. I continue to use this method, although occasionally I use a soft brush or Onzow ZeroDust. Edited October 26, 2014 by soundfan 1
mwhouston Posted October 26, 2014 Author Posted October 26, 2014 I don't think Garrotts do MCs any more.
soundfan Posted October 26, 2014 Posted October 26, 2014 I don't think Garrotts do MCs any more. That's correct, as far as I know.
mwhouston Posted October 26, 2014 Author Posted October 26, 2014 Their top of the range MM is quite expensive. It would want to beat MCs at similar price brackets.
Rockman Posted October 30, 2014 Posted October 30, 2014 I had a P77 back in the early 90s, probably the best mm I have used & I've tried most of the popular ones. Had it on a Rega TT. Also had an Fidelity Research mc with broken cantilever repaired by the real Garrott brothers & fitted with their stylus. It was brilliant & became a treasured cart for many years.
Crosscourt121 Posted November 22, 2014 Posted November 22, 2014 I love Garrott carts. One of the best MM carts I have ever heard is the Garrott Optim FGS. I currently use a Garrott P87 Moving Coil, which was Garrott's 2'nd best cart back in the day. IIRC it retailed around 2.5 k at the time of release. I got mine for a steal s/h on Ebay about 2 1/2 years ago and it is still going strong. I'd imagine I have put around 1500 - 2000 hrs easy, of use so far. I'm also using a Garrott P87 purchased from a new friend on a Rega P5. My friend has been helping me with set-up and we have been trying all sorts of things to improve the already great sound. Can I ask what tracking force you are using?
soundfan Posted November 22, 2014 Posted November 22, 2014 I'm also using a Garrott P87 purchased from a new friend on a Rega P5. My friend has been helping me with set-up and we have been trying all sorts of things to improve the already great sound. Can I ask what tracking force you are using? Hi Crosscourt121, I use 1.8 grams
Crosscourt121 Posted November 22, 2014 Posted November 22, 2014 Thanks sound fan. I'm currently 1.75g but still tweaking.
Ian McP Posted November 23, 2014 Posted November 23, 2014 yes, The Garrott brothers saga is indeed a strange one. I remember meeting one of them back in the late 70's, early 80's(?) he'd brought in a parabolic stylus (to the then RMIT Applied Physics lab) which was then photographed under an SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) The stylus was elliptical in shape and when viewed from its major axis the parabolic profile is clearly evident Forget optical microscopy, SEM's gave a much clearer photo. As the parabolic profile sat deeper into the vinyl groove it was theoretically playing part of the vinyl groove wall untouched by previous stylii.
Decky Posted November 23, 2014 Posted November 23, 2014 You just need to sacrifice a cart to image it under an SEM. Gold plating is required for contrast. Anyway - good carts, I was happily using K2 on Rega P3 for a while. 1
mwhouston Posted November 23, 2014 Author Posted November 23, 2014 You just need to sacrifice a cart to image it under an SEM. Gold plating is required for contrast. Anyway - good carts, I was happily using K2 on Rega P3 for a while. K2, same here.
Owen Y Posted November 23, 2014 Posted November 23, 2014 I remember meeting John G when they were in Avalon NSW in the 70s. Memorable in more than one way. He fitted a Microscanner tip onto my Supex SM100/E MM - I still have it & must play it again. They were MM proponents. Cheers, Owen Dark Lantern blog - http://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/
Herbyj Posted November 23, 2014 Posted November 23, 2014 I aways thought that Garrott were repairers of cartridges. Who used to make the cartridges for them? Were the MM and MC made by the same manufacturer to their design? Herby
Owen Y Posted November 23, 2014 Posted November 23, 2014 Hmmm....I think, they used to mod A & R Cambridge carts - ie A&R P77 etc. Cheers, Owen Dark Lantern blog - http://darklanternforowen.wordpress.com/ 1
mwhouston Posted February 8, 2018 Author Posted February 8, 2018 I have spent the last few months with the K2 on a Technics direct drive TT. I'm so impressed with the naturalness and transparency of this cartridge. I just can't stop using it over all other 6 MM carts. My Ortofon Rondo Blue is being re-tipped and when it come back if it doesnt best the K2 its going. I may may even upgrade to the K3. I know I can do this just with a stylus change but at $360 for a K3 I'd get the whole cart and enjoy the two. For a few hundred dollars the K2 is crazy good value. It feels raw, just lets everything through untouched. It also hides surface noise while providing an open gate to the music. Any others really like the K2 or K3?
Ian McP Posted February 8, 2018 Posted February 8, 2018 On 23/11/2014 at 3:25 PM, Decky said: You just need to sacrifice a cart to image it under an SEM. Gold plating is required for contrast. Anyway - good carts, I was happily using K2 on Rega P3 for a while. Late reply! It's not gold plating. It's gold sputter coating, very thin, doesn't affect the cartridge, surface needs to be conducting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputter_deposition
Ian McP Posted February 8, 2018 Posted February 8, 2018 Informative thread on the more contemporary Garrott Bros cartridge range, well... from 2010 https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?t=28017 regards Ian
Andrews_melb Posted February 8, 2018 Posted February 8, 2018 @mwhouston after reading that you are making me want to pull it back out again, i havnt used mine in over a year. Currently sitting on an old micro seiki TT which is boxed up. May have to put it on the rega rp3 soon to see how it goes. I remember loving the sound that K2 put out and such a good price - and the packaging is very australian!
mwhouston Posted February 8, 2018 Author Posted February 8, 2018 i have a new RP3. Haven't tried it in this TT yet.
stevoz Posted February 8, 2018 Posted February 8, 2018 I bought a second hand P66 a while back. It was quite good but I suspected the stylus was quite worn as there was a bit of sibilence.....it did have a very nice sound signature though. BTW, Garrotts carts are what the late brothers called 'Dynamic Coil', so they are neither MM or MC, they claim to be a combo of the best qualities of MM, MC and Decca carts but they are high output, a la MM. 1
Decky Posted February 8, 2018 Posted February 8, 2018 2 hours ago, Ian McP said: Late reply! It's not gold plating. It's gold sputter coating, very thin, doesn't affect the cartridge, surface needs to be conducting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputter_deposition OMG all these years I lived in ignorance and finally I am enlightened - thank you so much
Andrews_melb Posted February 8, 2018 Posted February 8, 2018 1 hour ago, mwhouston said: i have a new RP3. Haven't tried it in this TT yet. I think you’d need to throw the VTA up a bit with it, ive got that rega spacer kit which works easy and is cheap. I might get round to putting it on this weekend 1
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