Garrard Zero 100SB

[dantheman91]

Hi Guys

Looking into buying my first ever deck again but the one i am after has a problem with a noisy motor could this just need a belt change its £50 so i am weighing up the options also putting together my first system too Pioneer A300X , Ditton 15's the current owner says its in good working order apart from the noise...

Thoughts?

Thank you

[walpurgis]

Nostalgia can lead you up the garden path Dan.

[Beobloke]

The noisy motor is a common problem with these - basically the rotor is in two parts and after a good few years, the glue fails that holds the two halves together, so what you're hearing is the magnet rattling around as it spins.

It's not a difficult job but to fix it you need to remove the motor, dismantle it, and clean and glue the two parts back together. Give the motor bearings a clean out with IPA while you're in there and add some fresh oil, and it should spin sweetly and silently for many more years.

[dantheman91]

Could this be a Job for you Adam If your passing sometime I mean you can take it away and do the work ETC No worries if not.....?

[Beobloke]

I'd be happy to fettle it for you but I'm afraid I don't get down Bournemouth way very much. The next time I know I'm going to be there is the 22nd September for a concert!

[worrasf]

Hi Guys

Looking into buying my first ever deck again but the one i am after has a problem with a noisy motor could this just need a belt change its £50 so i am weighing up the options also putting together my first system too Pioneer A300X , Ditton 15's the current owner says its in good working order apart from the noise...

Thoughts?

Thank you

I had one of these back in the day - a triumph of form over function. Looked “space age” but I remember my Gerard SP25 mk4 sounding nicer but if it’s nostalgia your after go for it and enjoy the memories


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[DSJR]

To modify what Adam's said regarding the motor. The rotor is in THREE parts, the rotor/spindle proper, an aluminium disc and a slightly thicker magnet sandwiched between them. These motors when made were very low in vibration and ran superbly well bearing inmind the simplified build over earlier versions. It's possible to stick errant parts back, but if you're not scrupulous, the motors vibrate more after as the balancing is very slightly off. I believe Dual licenced the 'synchro lab' design for some of their motors according to Dual's ex service manager in Canada.

More importantly - and my 86SB suffers here even with a fresh motor - is that two of the three fixing grommets are softer compound and have probably sagged over time, meaning that any remaining vibration is transmitted through to the stylus and heard as a background 'drone' - something many cheaper decks of the period did all on their own when new... If I gently support the motor from underneath while playing, the drone completely disappears, showing to me that when new, Garrard worked bloody hard with pennies*, to get a good performance from the drive.

* Plessey used Garrard as a cash cow it appears and I'm coinstantly stunned how these decks were production engineered and worked so reliably. Given a chance, they could have been as solidly engineered as any Dual and with the funky styling they had a talent for, would be hugely sought after classics today and not just for the tonearm, which offers nothing sonically, but looks really cool

If my earlier idler Zero 100 is anything to go by, these decks work quite well despite themselves, but it's my opinion the centre of gravity on the arm bearings relevent to the stylus is slightly off (maybe a load of crap this, but it's a hunch), making cartridge choice a little fussy. An AT120e sounds great in my AP76 and 86SB, but not at all in the Zero arm (effective mass is an issue too obviously). I use a surviving ortofon VMS10e II in mine and it's very good and I've also tried a Rega R100 as well (lives on as a related Sumiko Pearl). More realistically, an AT95E or EX is probably nearer the mark in all honesty and these should be rather better than the 'EJ based' Shure 93E they often came with.

Lastly, the mechs on ALL post 50's garrards tend to gum up with dried lubricants, giving jerky lift action on these particular mechs and if you're unlucky, seized trip parts and speed change, the latter of which are frail plastic on the SB models. GREAT CARE is needed in stripping down, cleaning and re-assembling, as I had to do with nmy AP76 and Zero 100 idler decks, the 86SB already had some work done i think and the arm behaves flawlessly.

Once fettled, the mech is smooth if a bit abrupt lifting the arm and returning it compared to say, a Dual, and there's an O Ring which liquifies and runs away that fits around the bottom of the platter hub directly under the geared part which quietens these mechanisms right down (I think it's a 15mm x 1.6mm from memory). I have many pics of my 'stuff' posted on my Vinyl Engine 'gallery if you're interested and the ring is pictured on the bottom of my Zero 100 platter (this bit is similar to the SB hub)

Wonderful conversation pieces these, but as with old Duals too, they need some work and at day's end, today, they're only 'borderling HiFi' grade for vinyl reproduction although a careful artridge match won't ever damage records played on them.

[mikeyb]

I'm reading this thinking, avoid, it's crap

[Beobloke]

Then you’d be wrong.

It’s a 40 year old mechanical item. It’s not beyond belief that it’ll need a bit of maintenance.

[Pharos]

I bought my first, (idler) version in 1970 for near £50. It was OK but there were design aspects I didn't like; the motor spindle was tapered to allow speed adjustment, which meant that the idler wheel ran one edge on it.

I changed to the SB version, and flooded the arm bearings with Molyslip gearbox additive, just thin enough not to upset tracking but thick enough to dampen movement. I used a G900SE which worked very well and had years of pleasure with it until I was 'Linned' in the early 90s. Removed the Ittock II and put in an RB300, never really liked it, but it will do ATM.