Garrard Sl 75 Worth Fooling With?

[sgibson389]

I have a Garrard SL 75 that is part of an Altec receiver, cassette, TT combo that was given to me about 8 years ago by my father in law. I never did anything with it, but it is in good shape. I also have a stock TD-160 that I bought new and want to do some mods to it. Is the Garrard worth keeping as a 2nd TT for use when the TD-160 is out of service? I have done some searches for opinions, but it seems like there is not much written about the SL 75.
Any advice?

[aardvarkash10]

don't know it specifically, but the library describes it as using the technology(!!) of the SL95 but with a different (read: cheaper?) arm.

Several of us are SL95 addicted or at the least grudging admirers, so I would have to say that, within the context of minimum spend, yeah... worth a go.

Ain't going to slay your 160 though!

[sgibson389]

Thanks for the response.
Understand that this Altec stereo is at my mom and dad's home and I just glanced at it for the first time in years last week and my eyesight is not quite what it used to me...........turns out it's a SL 95B with a Shure Hi-Track cart. My father inlaw always takes care of his stuff and this turntable is perfect in appearance. It spins up ok, but didn't seem to want to select 45 rpm from the 33rpm position. I didn't try any automatic functions. So I think its a keeper and the next step will be to remove it from the Altec cabinet and check out the mechanicals.
And then fiqure out how to make a plinth for it.

[aardvarkash10]

absolutely its a keeper if its a 95B!!!

Welcome to the Garrard community. Your pipe and dodgy english accent are in the post.

[sgibson389]

I grew up using dad's Type A and around '67 he bought an updated version (Type A 70?) that I used till I bought the TD-160 in '76.
Last week I fired up the Knight Kit 32 watt tube amp that was used with that Type A and may use it with the SL 95B.

Do plinth's made out of glued up 3/4 plywood layers work out pretty good? Birch, oak, or mdf? I would like to make this only once.

[aardvarkash10]

ply is good - denser the better. ply-mdf-ply also works well at damping vibrations since the different layers have different resonant frequencies.

With a suspended chassis like the garrard the mass of the plinth is important, but not life or death stuff, so you are free to build to a design to like and in materials that you can work with rather than being constrained by a need for high mass.

Go wild!

[DSJR]

A shame Garrard didn't tighten their tolerances, although i was told recently that these decks did get better as the production ran on.

Even if you'd had the SL75, I'd have said to go with it and even the SL72 had the lower mass arm from the AP76...

[sgibson389]

I have the plinth made. Turned out a little more massive than intended. Made out of plywood layers with 1/2" red oak over that. I am putting a 3 prong power jack on the back and need to know if I should ground the chassis of the record player? Most of my other equipment is 70's era and are non polarized 2 prong plugs.

[aardvarkash10]

anything that could potentially come into contact with a live circuit should be earthed.

Standard out here is for the chassis to be earth bonded, so I would

[Alec124c41]

You could run into ground loop hum. If so, try disconnecting the power cord earth.

Cheers,
Alec

[aardvarkash10]

hard to get ground loop hum unless the chassis is part of the signal circuit.

The earthing of the chassis (metal components) is a safety issue. Feel free to leave it out if you think the insulation on the motor is still ok.

Me, well, Garrard quality control was notoriously haphazard (if it existed at all) so I would go for safety earthing any metal I can touch.

Your call though.

In respect to Alex - it s important that you do NOT earth the signal circuit to the safety earth. THAT would give rise to ground loops.

[sgibson389]

I will ground it to start with then, keeping in mind any ground loops it may cause. Thanks
I understand the saftey aspect even if the original did not have the ground. I just came across my first "amp", a 1962 Radio Shack 4 tube amp that was line operated with one side of the AC connected to the chassis. Yikes!

[sgibson389]

A day and a half of degreasing has the auto functions and return trip finally working. Never knew grease could turn so yucky. The Shure M93E probably came with it orginally. Is this a good match for the arm? It was set at 2 grams tracking force. Should I just go for a new stylus?

[album]18071[/album]

[aardvarkash10]

wow! That is quite some plinth! Is it made of railway sleepers???