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Enter the Shindo Player
System Modifications
Shindo Platter
The platter of a turntable must turn at the
proper speed through many different levels of
groove modulation, light modulation on quiet
passages and heavy modulation on complex passages
and everywhere in between changing from second
to nanosecond. The needle is offering various
amounts of resistance to the platter as it navigates
these various levels of modulation. The heavier
the platter, the farther from the pivot point
we have this weight, the less the various resistances
affect the speed. The better the platter maintains
speed the warmer, more dynamic and natural the
sound becomes due to the pitch solidifying.
This weight must also be perfectly balanced
or the effect is just the opposite. Just imagine
spinning on your heel... now add a 10lb weight
at arms length... now put the weight on the
end of a 5 foot pole....this is your flywheel
effect. At a certain point you'll have a hard
time stopping yourself as the "flywheel" takes
over. Also the platter must not vibrate/ring
or it will effect the tracing of the modulations
and that's why the Shindo uses a damped integral
mat. The Shindo platter is 20mm larger than
the stock unit, and about 3lb heavier.
The Shindo Spindle/Bearing
This must also be perfectly balanced (pitch
and speed stability again), offer extreme rigidity
and at the same time have minimal resistance.
The bearing on a turntable is directly connected
to the record itself via the spindle hole. Considering
that it takes something along the lines of an
electron microscope to see the groove's, you
can imagine how little it takes to disturb the
tracing of them. The Shindo bearing is higher
mass, has a larger diameter and is machined
to much tighter tolerances than the stock unit.
It also uses a special oil.
The Shindo Plinth
The Garrard offers better performance than most
tables due to its idler drive and large high
torque motor. These two important items also
have one major drawback, vibration. Vibration
will affect the resolution of the playback system
and can cause power robbing rumble (low frequency
resonance). To dissipate this vibration we have
one good option... mass. The only problem is
that when filtering vibration from the table
we must make sure we remove it evenly in frequency
or we will add a "voice" to the table. The voice
comes from filtering out the vibration more
at certain frequencies than others. Shindo has
done extensive research by the only means possible,
building them and listening. This has taken
many years to perfect. The Shindo plinth system
uses layers of laminated hardwood glued together
and lacquered by 6th generation master carpenters.
There are no voids left under the table and
literally the plinth fits the Garrard like a
glove. Not only beautiful to look at but offers
the highest performance. A must for every Garrard
301.
The Shindo SPU
The Ortofon SPU is a classic design dating back
to the mid 1950's, considered one of the finest
cartridges in the world due to it's amazing
musicality and direct sweet sound. Shindo takes
the Ortofon SPU and does some proprietary modifications
to the damper, coil, suspension and cantilever.
This makes the classic SPU sound more refined,
extended and resolute. These cartridges work
best on 12" high quality arms which are also
the most desirable combination with a Garrard
301.
Shindo Arome Step Up
Shindo has designed a special hand made transformer
especially for the SPU (also works with other
low impedance cartridges such as Denon, Shelter
etc.). It uses a balanced input (arm must be
terminated with XLR plugs which is very easy)
for better S/N ratio, RF rejection and better
signal transfer of the low voltage of a MC cartridge.
Step up transformers are the only way to properly
use a low output cartridge- period.
Shindo Mersault RF-773 Tone-Arm
It's basically a high precision version of the
legendary Ortofon/EMT RF-297. It's the same
design using modern high precision ball bearings
for superior tracking ability. This is the best
arm for the Garrard 301.. we have tried many.
These are tremendous upgrades. They are not
inexpensive but they bring the 301 up to the
standards and well beyond the finest available.
Copyright Shindo Labs USA 2004-2005
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