Remembering the Garrott Brothers
Amandela77 -- Sat, 05/02/2009 - 09:40
Wax-heads:
I heard my first Garrott Brothers cartridge last week at my cousins. Mounted on an entry-level Clearaudio turntable, this modestly-priced little wonder (the K2, available from the Needle Doctor for a scant $255 ) took my breath away. It offered everything one doesn't normally expect from inexpensive MMs: lovely tonality, transparency, superb coherence, and the biggest surprise of all, oodles of air and ambiance.
No this wasn't a a great $2000 MC, but for the price I walked away wondersing how Garrott Brothers (in name only, may the twins RIP) can offer so much music for so little. I'm going to buy one and mount it to my Rega 25 with the 600 tonearm.
Does anyone know why Raskins only imports the entry level models? I would love to hear the much-heralded Optim FGS (formerly available from the Doc for about $1000).
How sad that the Garrott Brothers, who died in 1991 as part of a tragic suicide pact, never got to witness analog's re-emergence. I think they would have been pleased.
Amandela
I had not heard of the Garrott Brothers. Thanks for the tip.
RH:
The tragic story of the Garrott Brother surely ranks amongst the saddest and strangest in all audiophilia. As far as I can tell, beginning in the late 1970s and running into the early 1990s, the Brothers, twins it seems and based in Australia, produced a highly distinguished line of MM and MC cartridges.
Apparently, their work involved the application of some of the advances first pioneered by the designers of the famed London/Decca cartridges to MM and MC designs. Although they worked in relative obscurity, since their untimely deaths in the early 1990s (about which more later) their designs have been embraced and championed by a small but loyal following, mostly in Great Britain, but also in the U.S. as well.
Jerry Raskins certainly appears to be one of their fans, and so I am as of two weekends ago. Many feel that their MM cartridges represent the summit of that design type. They (the firm) also make a line of well-regarded MCs none of which I have heard.
Sadly, one of the twins was diagnosed with congenital and inoperable heart failure in the early 1990s. Rather than live in a world dominated by bad-sounding digital recordings and with interest in high-end vinyl reproduction reduced to a trickle (remember this was almost 20 years ago), the brothers and their twin wives instead committed ritual suicide in 1991 (I lie not.)
Fortunately, a loyal employee preserved some of the product molds and design schematics. An Australian holding company called Audio Dynamics Pty. Ltd. obtained the right to produce the designs and to distribute them under the Garrott Brothers name.
Based on what I heard at my cousins, this line of cartridges deserves much wider distribution in the U.S. Maybe you can convince our buddy NG to review the 2 models that currently are available from the Needle Doctor.
Good listening,
Amandela
Amandela77
The Garrott Bros were extraordinary characters and deserve their place in audiophile history. I first had dealings with them when i sent them my AT32 cartridge in the mid 80s for re-tipping. I think only they and a mob in Switzerland were doing re-tips/upgrades at this time. They sent me a wonderful letter - so wish I had kept it - where they deplored the terrible state of the stylus I had posted to them and begged me not to treat the upgraded retip with the same contempt. Never have I a felt so chastised! THese guys really were the audiophiles' audiophiles. WHen the AT32 wore out I bought a P77 from them which I kept and didn't install until years after their death. I have been very happy with it and am on these forum pages now because I am looking to have it re-tipped and wondering if the successors to the brothers legacy at Garrott Bros are worthy of the name.
The other great character from my life as an audiophile is TOr Andersen. Has anyone heard of him? He worked on the Ultra-sound in Sweden, came to Australia and designed and handbuilt his own line of amplifiers (linc) and speakers. These are beauties ...I still have a Linc amplifier and a pair of speakers he made that are delightful. He had all sorts of idiosyncratic ideas about cables etc. He moved to Gundagai of all places in the 90s, used to travel to Sydney a bit, kept an eye on my gear, but I have lost contact with him now?
Does anyone know what became of him?
I still use my 'Garrottized' Decca London Gold I purchased in the mid-80's.
Had the stylus checked recently when I had the Cirkus upgrade fitted to my LP12. Still in good condition!
Sadly that's more indicitive of how much I get to listen these days :( But when my friends and I spin a little vinyl, there is magic - no doubt.
Cheers!
Mark
I had the privilege of meeting John and Brian Garrott on several occasions at their various residences in and around Sydney in the early 1980s.
They took the English A&R P77 cartridge (a good performer in its own right), and hand tweaked it to new levels calling it the Garrott P77 which rightly led to their fame.
Eccentric and passionate, the two reclusive brothers married 2 Phillipino sisters and all four lived together in their various houses with the sisters baking biscuits and fussing over the boys whilst everyone called each other Luvvey. As I recall, John was the voluble protagonist to all who would ring or call by, whilst Brian sat quietly at the workbench, magnifying glass in left eye, painstakingly winding coils and preparing styli.
They passionately despised the MC cartridges then making their early claims for audiophile prominence and I vividly recall them sitting me down in front of their extraordinary Hi Fi system (which consisted of stacked Quads and multiple sub-woofers), and playing a record with the then famous Supex MC cartridge and detaching the headshell to shift in their Garrott P77. Of course the P77 sounded better.
I had them re-tip my P77 at least 3 times during the '80s as no cartridge had ever sounded so sweet.
I doubt that they were worried about the CD revolution as they never mentioned it to me, but the discovery that one of them had developed cancer saw them commit ritual suicide in a pact that seemed consistent with their mutual dependence although no note was ever found.
I still have my original Garrott P77 and I don't believe that any of the cartridges built after their deaths could maintain the Garrott secret manipulations. The fact that the company now brings out a Garrott MC would, I believe, be a cause of grief for Brian and John and is not something they would wish to be remembered for?
Hi bananasunyata,
Regarding retipping of your P77. Give Tivoli Hi-Fi in Camberwell, Victoria a call +61-3-98133533. They are the retail arm of Audio Dynamics, the distributors of Garrot Bros cartridges. They should be able to point you in the right direction.
Good luck!
Mark
One of the biggest audiophile regrets in my life was giving away my Garrott Bros Decca London cartridge. It was a truly great cartridge but in the years after they died I despaired that I'd ever it re-tipped again. Silly me:(
regards
Michael
How amazing to come across this blog. I knew tor anderson, actually worked for him around the early/mid 80's, even helping him move house. He would let me have some of his equipment on loan for my then young ears to evaluate. I also worked for another australian genious designer, allen wright & introduced the two but no collaboration occurred between them as tor was making s/s amps & dynamic speakers & allen was a tube/planar/electrostatic fan. Allen was the one who introduced me to true hifi & tas/hp. Before i met him i thought i had a good system (rega planar 3 t/t, rega arm, empire cart, david hafler pre & power amps & acoustic research ar9 speakers). After that utilising allen's knowledge & hp' reviews i ended up with a goldmund studio/syrinx pu3/clearaudio cart/ allen's prototype tube preamp/ 60's leak mono blocks(modified by allen) & early quads with the otto major panels. I met the garrotts when i had a mishap with my clearaudio. When i went to their house they had homemade elctrostatics, sometime between 1984-1986. Sorry for the long ramble.
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