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Garrard Zero Z2000B

You picked a nice table there. Looks like you got the lubrication issue taken care off. It been a long time since I worked on one. I will echo others by saying keep the Shure cart. Have used those for years. Get a JICO stylus for it. It doesn't have to be their SAS stylus if funds are limited like mine always are. They sell an elliptical one for about $35 with shipping. Once lubed, you should be good to go for a long time.

Eric
 
From prior searches it looks like 3in1 oil is appropriate for the bearings. I assume oil inn the tonearm bearings would help dampen any "free play" movement. Again, it seems like people either love or hate these tables, but generally love the cartridge. I will post playback results as soon as I get a stylus. Many thanks to all again.
 
secretguy said:
That's not quite true. The little known (these days) GT 55 was actually the last attempt with that tonearm design. While it's quite a bit less massy due to being made of magnesium, it still has all the sloppy bearing points. Much better table than the Zeros, but I still wouldn't play a valuable record on it.
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While the GT55 maintains a zero tracking panotograph tonearm, the turntable is a different design than the Zero 100 series.
 
No, the bearings in the Zero Tracking arm were not "rivets in holes." They were two precision sealed ball bearings, as anyone who has had one apart would know, and one unipivot; and the main lateral tonearm pivot as on the SL95B/SL72B and AP76 (an advance over previous Garrards to the SL95), also a precision sealed ball bearing.

The assemblage is a bit high-mass for a Shure M91E/ED or V15. There was yet snother iteration of the Zero Tracking Error arm on the GT55, made of magnesium to solve the mass ptoblem. The GT55 was also made in a single play version with a single-ball inverted thrust bearing. Unfortunately many GT55 have been junked due to problems in the Matsushita-design (Technics) servo drive governor. Most could have been fixed by replacement of small electrolytic capacitors.
 
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SFBayArch said:
While the GT55 maintains a zero tracking panotograph tonearm, the turntable is a different design than the Zero 100 series.
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.... which, itself, included several different designs: idler, belt, belt/idler, single play and stacker.

John
 
It is an interesting arm design. Makes you wonder how it could be executed with modern bearings and polymers.
 
quadaptor said:
It is an interesting arm design. Makes you wonder how it could be executed with modern bearings and polymers.
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Yes, I think the concept is very good but I do wonder whether fitting the arm with properly bushed pivot points would add too much mass to it. It's pretty "massy" as it is.

If it could be done well, it would accomplish what a linear tracker accomplishes without all the "tech" of optical sensors, multiple accessory motors, etc.

John
 
quadaptor said:
It is an interesting arm design. Makes you wonder how it could be executed with modern bearings and polymers.
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I like them, I've had a few and repaired a few more for others. I still own one of the early models in a gorgeous walnut base. The parts are mostly interchangeable between the Z100 models.

My favorite is the single play idler driven model. I think they are beautiful tables, but they are not my favorite linear trackers. For performance alone, I'd go for an HK Rabco armed model.

Here's one I still have in my collection:
Zero1001_zps58b8a75a.jpg
 
Very nice! The arm looks like something a machinist could understand. Like I said, using modern polymers and bearings, coupled with CNC technology and Garrards geometry it could possibly be done. Of course it would be a labor of love and not economic gain - but there's nothing wrong with that.
 
quadaptor said:
How do you like the 990B? I've had my eye on one of those too.
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I thought the 990B is an attractive turntable that was a pretty good and reliable performer. It doesn't have the more complicated electronics of the later GT models. I'm not a fan of the cheap vinyl wrapped MDF base, but that is an easily remedied complaint.

All in all, it's a very nice entry level turntable for someone interested in (re)discovering vinyl. In my case, this one became my nephew's table.
 
Very cool. Yeah, the vinyl wood is not as good as the real thing, but it is nicely done. Its actually done better than my AR XB.
 
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The Garrard 990B figures into one of the most visible examples of Garrard's skill at "parts-bin engineering," which I am not saying disparagingly. Up top, what you can see of the 990B tonearm is identical to that on Garrard's top-line direct-drive DD75. What's under the unit plate differs because the 990B is a changer with a conventional velocity trip while the DD75 is single play with a photosensor trip that is a no-physical-contact analog to the velocity trip. But what works is successfully used on both.

I think the 990B actually came first.
 
Love my Garrard's

I have 4 Garrard Turntables, my very 1st Zero 100 which is beautiful to look at, but now after all these years has some sort of issue keeping the speed even. Hoping it is just the idler wheel and hoping I can find a good or new one.

Then I have a mint GT55 which is pretty nice, then I have a GT55 not mint for backup parts. The GT-55 seems cheaper made in every way except the tonearm which is a better design, but no where near as good looking. got a Zero 2000B, somewhere but cant locat it right now. Must be in a closet somewhere. another good looking model but not much different than a Zero 100 best I can tell, change in cosmetics.

For all of these I need new dustcovers, and those are hard to locate at a fair price , and almost impossible to find new. I have the real wood lowboy base on the GT55 and the Lighter Color Vinyl Rap base on the Zero 100. if anyone knows of any new dust covers out there let me know.

My two cents ;-) - Flaps
 
I just dug out the Z2000B from my Dad's attic yesterday. It luckily had the duskt cover so its is pretty much intact sans the lubirication. It seems like the weight at the back of the arm is a bit gummed up, can anyone tell me the best way to restore that ?
 
Beautiful TT

Thas is one good looking Turntable. I have a Z100 and a GT55, love both even though both have some minor issues. Sure wish I could get a base like that in nice condition w cover. Thanks for the pretty pic. :-)

SFBayArch said:
I like them, I've had a few and repaired a few more for others. I still own one of the early models in a gorgeous walnut base. The parts are mostly interchangeable between the Z100 models.

My favorite is the single play idler driven model. I think they are beautiful tables, but they are not my favorite linear trackers. For performance alone, I'd go for an HK Rabco armed model.

Here's one I still have in my collection:
Zero1001_zps58b8a75a.jpg
Click to expand...
 
quadaptor said:
After several searches I've concluded people seem to either love or hate Garrard tables. I recently acquired a very nice Z2000B table and after cleaning up the old grease got it working correctly. I don't know much about these tables and would appreciate hearing anybody's experiences with the Z2000B. The arm has a Shure M91ED cartridge with a shot stylus. Is this a good cart for this table and who makes a decent replacement stylus? Many thanks to all.
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The Z2000B is a good performer (no IGD) due to the tangential arm, but not really excellent. One thing I noticed, there is no muting switch built-in on its auto cycle during tonearm lifts (which I think it should have had).

When the tonearm, or should I say, the stylus reaches the run out groove of the record, friction of the pivots does the best of it: As the groove pulls the cantilever to the left, then suddenly, the tonearm is lifted off at this stage producing a loud pop sound (synonymous to a stretched rubber band that's suddenly released its tension is the best way to describe this).

The Z2000B (as well as the whole Zero series models) should really have incorporated this built-in muting switch due to this inherent problem.
 
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