This beauty harks from the 1970’s. The Garrard Zero 100 was top of the range at the time. The deck is very much a Hi-Fi piece. It features several innovative features.The parallel tracking arm was only available on the most expensive Garrard decks. A problem with your normal turntable arm is that the stylus is only actually in line with the grooves at two places as it traverses the record. This is due to the arm moving in an arc over the record. This arm features a pivoting head shell which kept at the correct angle by a second arm which sits along side the main load bearing arm. In this way better tracking is achieved.
Another feature is the magnetic anti skate mechanism. Two magnets are arranged to oppose each other and thus provide a force to counter the tendency for the stylus to skate towards the center of the record. Adjustment is provided by moving a metal plate between the magnets to reduce the force.
The cartridge is a perfectly respectable Shure M7 5EJ. It needed a new stylus of course, being second hand. Note that on the shell there is an adjustment M or A. This is to accommodate the difference in thickness between a single record and a stack, if you are using the auto changer feature.
It needed a good clean up inside and a re lubrication. I also replaced the mains lead and audio cable. The latter had a 5 pin DIN plug fitted, as was common at the time.
If all that isn’t good enough for you, it is capable of playing a stack of records one after the other, though I don’t have the alternative spindle required to do this…
The new owner is delighted with it now, though at first he had his reservations. The main one was that it is so large. He did accept this though when I pointed out that records are 12″ and you need the extra space for the arm and controls. His other reservation was that he didn’t have a clue how to put a record on. Youth today eh.
Update:
Three years later I now have my own Zero 100. It is the later single player belt drive version, a Garrard Zero 100SB.
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