I was just given a Garrard Lab 80 by the original owner's daughter. Her mother had just passed at age 99. It still has its original 1964 shaped dust cover in excellent condition. Thanks for this vid. It'll help with my restoration.
I still have the Garrard A70 turntable my dad gave me in 1965. Cosmetically, it's great. Mechanically, it's "gummed up". You've inspired me to perhaps rejuvenate it!
A real, beautiful piece of mechanical engineering! I love this machine. Nice job on getting the auto play/reject mechanism working again Mr. Dave. Thank you for sharing with us! Fred
Great video! My dad had one of these when I was a child back in the 70's and he gave it to me after he got a Lenco.. I remember it being built like a tank but alas, I was more smitten with the fancy belt-drive decks of the time and the old girl was scrapped when I was able to afford a more modern unit. Great pity. I'm toying with getting another one. My memory of this and the Lenco is that they both had tremendous bass slam / authority, and an immediacy to the music that I haven't found since, but they were a little noisier than a belt-driven deck. Looking on other vinyl sites, the consensus seems to be that the Lab 80 was the pinnacle of Garrard's automatic turntables; subsequent models were inferior and not built to the same standard. And the Lab 80 just looks so cool.
I turned one of these down for $20 when I went and bought another turntable about 15 years ago. I have regretted it ever since. With the gummy old Garrard grease removed it should be a solid performer.
Good decks the Garrard's, had a few in my day and they don't let you down. They turn slightly fast and when you drop the arm the slow to the right speed due to the drag. All metal and none of that nasty plastic crap inside, all you need is a spot of oil now and again. I have had full auto changers, and single play with auto stop and also size select and speed, click play and away it goes and stops at the end returning the arm to the rest. It looked like a Gold Ring stylus that was in it but the Shure looks much the same. The last Garrard I had I wish I had kept it, but I sold the system, so the deck was art of it. For what they cost they were very good. Of course, most will have come across the cheap auto changers built into radiograms and hi-fis. They covered them all and anything mid range was good and built to last.
The cartridge is a Pickering and is said to be original. The guy I bought it from had just purchased it with other vintage items from the original owner.
You inspired me, I have a very old Garrad record player with build in tube amplifier looks like a suitcase. Sitting in the attic for a long time. I made a start restoring it today!
I am with you I love the garrard clank and clicks vintage turntables are the best and all metal construction show high quality great job as always thank you for sharing this wishing you a very happy and healthy holidays and great new year be safe and careful
I own a SL-95B and a Zero 100. Once the old grease(glue), is cleaned off of these older Garrards, they are pretty much bulletproof. One thing I've learned, use new grease sparingly once the old grease has been cleaned off. A little goes a long way, and a little too much can actually hinder auto operations. 👍
I'm a Garrard lover for life, great TTs. Until they moved to the BSR mechanisms in the 70s, they still hold up well. They just require servicing to make 100% again.
My first “audiophile” turntable was a Garrard SL95B. It had a wood and aluminum tone arm. My mum’s English army buddy worked at the Garrard factory in Swindon, Wiltshire.
I found a Perpetuum Ebner 2001 VH for $5 a few years ago. Was able to fix some mechanical problems but recently it stopped amplifying the sound. Im delaying to fix it because I dont own a variable transformer and I'm not comfortable fiddling with AC. The mechanism is very similar to this Garrard so it was a pleasure to watch.
I like these old turntables! I have a 1974 BIC 940 belt drive turntable, It is automatic but I got it without the stacker spindle, so someone made an aluminium spindle for me. With that spindle, it can play the same side 6 times... I think that if you were to remove the spindle and place the phone as centered as possible, you might have got better WOW result, about the speed, the Garrards and the BSR with the idler drive tends to play a little too fast. Anyway, great video as always.
Actually both the Lab 80 MKi and Mkii works on auto with the single play short spindle. Your information is incorrect. I've owned and worked on numerous Garrard Laboratory Series turntables.
I was just looking through the comments to see if someone else caught this. The auto does indeed work with the short spindle. It just doesn’t change records.
Those Garrards are hard to beat. I have the model SP25Mkv which is only a single play turntable. Very high quality, belt drive. In the basement I have a 1961 Garrard changer that I can dig out if I want to record 78RPM disks.
Thanks for the video! Extremely informative. I just picked one of these up yesterday. It’s only playing at 45 speed and the mechanisms on the switches seem to be the issue. You make it look easy, but at least I have some reference now.
Love your new electric intro. Almost as that canadian guy Mehdi Sadaghdar (ElectroBOOM), who do electric experiments on himself that often makes things blow up. A cat is a potential static electric source as well. I remember my brothers cat wanted to sniff (or eat) my microphone when I did binaural stereo recordings, I heard a pop noise on the recording and that was the discharge he did, god knows what he could do to delicate electronic equipment.
Thanks Dave. It is a cool table and quite under the radar. People have commented on the very good bottom end and musicality of this table. Cited along with the 301 and 401 as the best of the Garrard tables. I think the looks and design are very nice. As usual when you fix this type of equipment I learn so much more about them than I can by reading only. I was going to get you the manual but you seem to be able to figure it out by investigation and observation. Thanks again, can't wait to hear her play. Btw, that is the origional Pickering cartridge or so I was told. Maybe a Goldring as is mentioned here. Don't know. Anyway, I've got a nice Shure waiting to try as well. Gracias amigo...
At 10:20 how did you get that grey cam wheel off? Mine won't budge after oil and PB blaster penetrant. It's stuck ! When I turn the main platter the big gear clicks on the small spring loaded gear section, that's a part of the big gear that cycles everything. Great job. I think I'm almost there to getting this nice Lab 80 fully functional. It was in a Bentley 353 Renaissance console. Boy that was the cat's meow when it came to consoles.
Well i was able to get the big gear to spin and the start and return function working but now the main platter bearings are tight even though they're oiled and the platter spun earlier today in both 45 and 33.3 RPM. So even though the central gear is not engaged to the big gear, the spindle is hard for me to turn by hand and it will no longer spin the platter via the idler wheel. Odd. It's almost as if the auto change mechanism is not completely disengaged from the platter.
Nice turntable, quite a complex automatic mechanism. I've never been a big fan of the idler wheel models though. The drive wheel always seem to cause problems and have lower performance than belt or direct drive, especially when the rubber has gone hard.
I'm hoping u can help me up with a Lab80 I Just bought. When I press the auto Lever, motor starts, the mechanism start moving and the tonearms lifts but stays locked in place, then the mechanism shuts off. I have degreases and relubbed pretty much evrrything and the issues persist.
Just pulled my Garrard Lab 80 out of storage. No surprise, but it doesn’t work. How do I reach out to you to see whether it’s practical for you to overhaul it?
Regarding the speed, when the weight of the tonearm is on the record it will slightly slow the speed so you will find that your speed reading of 33.57 will become 33.3, so use a strobe light and a strobe disc instead of the phone app
Nobody really cares. After all it's vinyl full of imperfections for the audio phools. Here is a fun fact. The weight of the sylus does slow down the record slightly however the drag changes as the toner moves towards the center of the record so it slows it down more on the outside than it does on the inner cuts as they tone arm moves in so you're never going to get it right unless you've got a quartz lock turntable with a frequency generator that measures the actual platter speed it makes adjustments as the platter starts to slow or speed up. Anyone that is really serious about their music isn't listening to it on archaic analog equipment, they're listening to it from a good CD or a high band digital file they're not messing around with vinyl that changes the sound every time you play it. Vinyl has newfound popularity due to all the millennials that didn't grow up with it and taking some new magical format that sounds better when in reality it doesn't sound as good it might sound better than Spotify or sxm radio but it certainly does not sound better than a properly mastered CD on half decent CD player and anyone who thinks that vinyl does sound better really needs to have their hearing checked. I've heard good recordings on both vinyl and CD and I've listened very closely with high-end headphones to get the best experience possible and every time the CD wins hands down over the vinyl.
Nice video. I'm working on one of these now and it is helping me. However, It seems my main plater bearing is beginning to drag more after I have started working on it and lubed it. Any suggestions on how I can get it moving freely again?
A very different design ftom all other types. The mechanism under the deck looks so complicated. Most decks follow a similar pattern to the Bsr decks, but that is very different. Would something like Molly grease stay fluid for longer, or just be a nightmare?
I have this exact turntable - and, it's working -- sort of. I got the RPM Speed and WOW app and see that it's turning at 39.21 RPM; is there any device that will let me adjust the voltage to see if that's indeed the problem -- 120 to 110?
@@12voltvids It's an MK II and when I looked up the manual, it says it's supposed to operate with either 50hz or 60hz but there's a different cable; however, probably 50 years ago it was working here in the US! Manual also gives a range of 110-130 volts, so, I'll be needing to find some help locally.
@@12voltvids it was the spring at the top of the screen when you were working on the gear. It seems a bit slow. It could just be that the mechanism was just gummed up bad.
It seems the only way to adjust for speed would be to alter the diameter of the idler tire and/or the capstan, possibly even cleaning any built-up residue on the capstan if there's any there, of course. But, since the deviation is less than 1%, it's definitely not worth futzing around with it beyond any necessary servicing, especially if it's to try and get impossible accuracy, considering that it's an antique rimdrive. Now, if it were running around like 30 RPM or 36 RPM, then yeah, you've got a problem. But at average revs of 33.6 or 45.4 RPM, It's close enough, especially if stylus drag may help to bring the speed down just enough to get it roughly right. As you've said, this turntable is fixed and working fine, especially for the age and type.
Actually, changing the idler diameter has no direct effect on speed. That is one of the things I learned in Machine Design. It can however affect the net drive force between the capstan/idler & idler/plater, therefore increasing drag from friction, and therefore slowing the plater a bit.
@@lurklad In other words, a change in idler diameter can alter the speed, albeit indirectly. Of course, a change in the diameter of the capstan is what creates a direct change.
Hi! Gud afternoon I’m ding here from the Philippines just wonderin if by chance you’ve encountered a Simpson 260 s6 cause I have one here problem is the ohm range is not functioning clearly and I’m having a hard time searching for replacement and all Can you help me thanks,,,
I have a couple onkyo m504 amps that I picked up in Japan during the 90s. I'm interested to getting them looked at and recalibrated and replace the lights in the meters with let's. Is this something that you might be interested in doings?
@@12voltvids AHA! Well that now makes sense. With the app you suggested and placing the phone centered over the spindle hole, I read 33.69rpm/33.75rpm. So -0.08%/09% deviation. Wow was +/-0.07. Thanks to those who suggested the centered placement. Now to soften up the idler wheel to get rid of the noise (rumble) and perhaps improve the Wow readings.
@@waynemckinnon1238 It doesn't matter where the phone is placed. Those that say it has to be in the middle have no idea what they are talking about. I can put it anywhere on my technics slm1 and the reading is the same 33.29 rpm wow 0.03%. Center, mid platter or right along the edge literally running the tone arm mount.
@@12voltvids fair enough. Would the phone being an off centre weight affect any of the readings? I don't know if wow and flutter applies to turntables or if the app even measures such a thing.
@@petertryndoch8857 No the phone weight should not affect any readings. Wow and flutter are the same thing. Wow applies to turntables as they turn relatively slow, and flutter to tape due to the capstan that spins relatively fast. On my technics slm1 the wow is 0.003 which is extremely low.
