There are many who rate the Garrard 301 and 401 as amongst the best turntables ever made. Others respectfully may disagree but they have a strong following so given that Yes you should be able to incorporate your 401. If you really like the SME sound, and only after trying it, trust your ears, you might look for an SME V, if you feel you need to. As for the power cord the best advice is to check the archives and see what others have used on their EAR88pb and let that be a starter for you.
Moving from mm to mc
In prior threads I did a poor job of communicating. Let me state quickly where I am and where I want to go. In the days before children I ate, drank and slept vinyl. Since they are grown and gone, I have pulled the vinyl out and picked up a Garrard 401 with a SME 3009 Series II improved tone arm and a Shure V15 Type III cartridge. I drove 100 miles from Charlotte, NC to Raleigh, NC to have the tone arm rewired and the 401 checked out. All was well until I recently listened to a Benz Micro Glider through a tube amp and was blown away. That is where I want to go … to a system using a mc. However, getting from a 7.1 home theatre system to a viable mc system is proving to be a major undertaking, because the quality and technology has changed so much. So I will use my existing system until I figure this out. I did pick up an EAR 88pb at an outrageously low price, because I read enough to know that I would need a decent phono preamp to support mid to low output mc’s.
I have read about matching the tone arm to the specs of the mc you want to use, and selecting a good turntable. Please indulge a few questions: 1) Can I realistically incorporate my 401, or should I move on to something else? 2) Can I use my SME? As I understand it, the SME is not designed to work with mid to low output mc’s. 3) Finally, should I change out the power cord on the EAR, and what cabling would you recommend? Realistically, I know this will take a while to figure this out. In the event I have to replace all, I am estimating $4,000 - $6,000 for a tt, arm and cart, depending on new or used. I would like to think I can incorporate my Yamaha RX-V3900 in the loop. At this point, I could use some sound advice. It is tough when you live in a city without a good stereo shop. Thank you.
I have read about matching the tone arm to the specs of the mc you want to use, and selecting a good turntable. Please indulge a few questions: 1) Can I realistically incorporate my 401, or should I move on to something else? 2) Can I use my SME? As I understand it, the SME is not designed to work with mid to low output mc’s. 3) Finally, should I change out the power cord on the EAR, and what cabling would you recommend? Realistically, I know this will take a while to figure this out. In the event I have to replace all, I am estimating $4,000 - $6,000 for a tt, arm and cart, depending on new or used. I would like to think I can incorporate my Yamaha RX-V3900 in the loop. At this point, I could use some sound advice. It is tough when you live in a city without a good stereo shop. Thank you.