Hi,
It seems that SME has bought Garrard & Loricraft Audio.
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That’s a surprise
I suspect that’ll mean a newly produced 301 will be on the way.
Gradiente wanted a fair wack for the brand, I had heard this may come together - I hope they do something more with the 501, the plinth could be greatly improved. I’m guessing the pricing may be on the move too.
New 301 @ £10k here we come.
I wonder if/how it’ll affect what Martina does with her 501 in Germany.
There’s already a CTC 301 for £2.5k, I suspect more 501 idler on oil rig turrets and priced at similar level as SME 20
SME are excellent precision engineers. This comes at a cost. I believe the SME and Garrard brands do have a synergy of heritage and as such they would be very well placed to take up the 501. I would imagine the deal with Terry will be a 5 year job? I don’t think Lorricraft have a large stock of original units but they do have the 501 plans and SME do have the manufacturing facilities and marketing nous / budget. They may do some upgrade parts / platters / bearings etc but I would imagine these will be very costly. I would also imagine they will be clamping down with Brand copyright on parts manufacturers (pulleys / mats / etc on eBay) I would guess Lorricraft’s servicing prices will be going up somewhat also.
They look a bit pony.
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I bet they don’t sell many, fugly
Blimy
Seems odd to have survived vinyl’s low-point and then bail-out in the midst of the biggest revival we’re ever likely to experience!
I’d agree they have manufacture facilities that loricraft didn’t, I believe it was all farmed out for the 501?
The problem will be coming up with an iconic design worthy of Garrard name?
Is the design copyright?
As a Garrard fan if I had the money I’d buy a CTC.
I have a pair of Leak TL/12 Pluses here which belong to Terry. I’ll have to pop over to Lambourn and see what’s up.
VB
Maybe he is retiring
I cant help thinking it’s sad but almost inevitable. They’ve been cruising with a very old model range for years. Audio Technica, Goldring and Nagaoka have kept things pretty much up to date with new ranges but the V15 Mk6 never did arrive.
As to Garrard and SME, which do we think will be first - 86SBMk3, Zero200 or SP25Mk7? 
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As to Garrard and SME, which do we think will be first - 86SBMk3, Zero200 or SP25Mk7?
I would say they should develop the RC-100
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I’d like to see a new version of the 301 in a lovely plinth for £150
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