hen Ajay Shirke, already a major investor in Siltech, Crystal Cable and Spendor, recently acquired SME, one wondered whether it represented the opening move in a further expansion. Well, we received the answer with the announcement that SME has, in turn, acquired the Garrard brand from IGB Gradiente S.A. of Brazil. One of the UK’s iconic audio producers, Garrard made turntables that were ubiquitous in the first wave of popular audio electronics, gracing everything from radiograms to broadcast studios with the 301 and 401 idler-drive transcription decks, often paired with SME 3009 tonearms. Indeed, the Garrard/SME pairing is so embedded in the UK’s audio heritage that the news of SME's acquisition of Garrard is more like a reconciliation than a new marriage.

But in many ways, the most interesting part of the announcement is the lowest key. Alongside the Garrard name, SME has also acquired Loricraft, for many years the sole authorized service agent for the Garrard 301 and 401 ‘tables. But that’s not the most significant thing that Terry Sullivan of Loricraft and his team bring to the table. Yes, those years of experience will prove invaluable when it comes to servicing the installed base of older models, offering reassuring continuity, while the Loricraft record-cleaning machines also enjoy an excellent reputation. But is that really why SME acquired the Garrard name -- just to keep it alive? No, I suspect that the real jewel in this particular crown is the 501, Loricraft’s beautifully engineered and thoroughly modern take on the Garrard idler-drive of old.

Take a precision light-engineering company like SME, for whom tonearm production always sat alongside OEM, aerospace and other engineering projects, and add an established idler-drive turntable design and the prospects are enticing. Where Loricraft had to manufacture the entire 501 externally, an expensive option they were (in retrospect) poorly placed to finance, one suspects that SME has capacity to spare, making a high-end Garrard/SME pairing a very real possibility, as well as the opportunity to develop more-affordable idler-drive designs to sit below it. Of course, there are no guarantees, but the possibilities are definitely fascinating.