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Retired; want'a play vinyl; should I drag out my old Garrard SL95-B? Needles?

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Posted on January 24, 2015 at 20:03:14
dbtrail@gmail.com
Audiophile

Posts: 10
Location: Washington
Joined: February 24, 2013
 Actually have been retired for 12 years. Still have my old, (purchased new by me), Garrard SL95-B turntable. I remembered not long after I bought it....way back then....I began to wish I had gotten a Dual. Could never afford to make the switch. Now my wife wants to drag out her old 45's and a bunch of LP's in 33rpm. So I need to plug together a modest system. I have plenty of amps, speakers, etc. Want I'd like to know is how decent my old Garrard will be for good care, (in all speeds), of old records???? AND, where might I get a good needle, (or cartridge and needle---probably flip-over type?) to use? Presuming that my old one has been well worn. When I was young, I and my close friends were always paranoid about how we wanted to care for records. We were really careful. Thinking back....good thing. But I would like to have a tip as to where to look for vintage record care and feeding now. Also source for sleeves for 45's and LP's.

Help and comments would be appreciated. Thanks for reading,
Dennis in E WA state
Dennis

 

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Are you visiting and/or vacationing in California Dennis? NT, posted on January 24, 2015 at 20:31:50
DeKay
 .

 

RE: Retired; want'a play vinyl; should I drag out my old Garrard SL95-B? Needles?, posted on January 24, 2015 at 20:41:51
Eli Duttman
Audiophile

Posts: 10455
Location: Monroe Township, NJ
Joined: March 31, 2000
 Definitely hop over to the Vinyl "board" and get some "skinny" from those "inmates".

Except 78s, all your old discs can be played back with the same stylus. A stereo stylus rides towards the bottom of mono 45 and 33 grooves.

I can't say I know your Garrard. I'm guessing it is not the most gentle or sophisticated of things and I would look towards a "rugged" cartridge with a spherical stylus. I've posted a link below to a modestly priced, spherical sylus, Shure DJ cartridge. DJ carts. are designed to take rough handling and I suspect will do better than a "finicky" HIFI model in your old Garrard TT. BTW, you can buy a 78 stylus for the Shure cartridge.


Eli D.

 

RE: Retired; want'a play vinyl; should I drag out my old Garrard SL95-B? Needles?, posted on January 24, 2015 at 22:24:08
bluemooze
Audiophile

Posts: 269
Location: New Jersey
Joined: November 18, 2009
 +1 for Eli Duttman's advice to visit the Vinyl Asylum with this. :-)

 

RE: Retired; want'a play vinyl; should I drag out my old Garrard SL95-B? Needles?, posted on January 25, 2015 at 07:55:04
dbtrail@gmail.com
Audiophile

Posts: 10
Location: Washington
Joined: February 24, 2013
 Eli: Thanks. I bookmarked your link to the Shure cartridge. I'm going to have to look over my Garrard to see how hard it will be to switch between 78 and the lower rpm needles. I guess, ideally, it would be nice to have two turntables..one for each. (grin) I always get myself into things worse than first imagined. I did post to the vinyl group and am getting help there too. Sounds as if, (pun), that my 95-B TT will work better than I first thought.
Dennis
Dennis

 

RE: Retired; want'a play vinyl; should I drag out my old Garrard SL95-B? Needles?, posted on January 25, 2015 at 09:13:26
DavidLD
Audiophile

Posts: 4884
Joined: May 29, 2002
 The SL95B was way up in the Garrard lineup, I think considered similar to the Dual 1219 in terms of price and quality. A conventional arm design, not the funky zero radius type.

In my 1970 Allied catalog, it is listed as Garrard's finest turntable, for perfectionists, at $129.51 including the 1-cent artridge.
The same catalog lists the Dual 1219 at $159.51

The 1-cent cartridges include the Empire 888E, Pickering V15/ATE3 or the Shure M93E, all stickering at $39.95 For an extra $5 you could go with the Empire 888TE, Pickering XV15/AME or Shure M91E, all stickering at $49.95

I would not think it any problem at all dropping a currently available cartridge in this rather sophisticated arm riding on needle bearings.

 

RE: Retired; want'a play vinyl; should I drag out my old Garrard SL95-B? Needles?, posted on January 25, 2015 at 12:16:18
Eli Duttman
Audiophile

Posts: 10455
Location: Monroe Township, NJ
Joined: March 31, 2000
 That is GOOD news. In absence of info., I was being very cautious.

I would suggest staying away from Grado, as the unshielded bodies are VULNERABLE to hum pickup.


Eli D.

 

RE: Retired; want'a play vinyl; should I drag out my old Garrard SL95-B? Needles?, posted on January 26, 2015 at 07:19:06
BillH
Audiophile

Posts: 3913
Location: Baton Rouge
Joined: December 23, 1999
 How fun! Think about the Pickering XV series, such as the XV-750, which worked very well with the SL95-B. I think I saw one for sale here recently.

 

RE: Retired; want'a play vinyl; should I drag out my old Garrard SL95-B? Needles?, posted on January 28, 2015 at 21:20:00
Mike27
Audiophile

Posts: 297
Joined: October 31, 2006
 I have an SL-95B, and properly set up, it can track well at 1.5 grams with any number of modern cartridges. I've used Ortofon OM-20, a couple of Audio-Technicas, and an old Grado in it.

The big problem with these, and especially if they've been in storage for a while, is that the grease in all the moving parts tends to harden like glue and jam the mechanism. Sometimes parts can be damaged when this happens. The only cure is to disassemble and clean off the old hardened grease. If you have some mechanical aptitude it's not that hard, just meticulous work. The Vinyl Engine site has the service manual (which mainly consists of an exploded drawing and list of parts) as well as a Garrard forum (link below.) That group covers a lot of different models but there are a number of old threads on the SL-95B and related models.

If you have the large hole 45 spindle, there's no better way to play a stack of singles!

Hope this helps!

Mike

 

RE: Retired; want'a play vinyl; should I drag out my old Garrard SL95-B? Needles?, posted on January 28, 2015 at 22:12:22
dbtrail@gmail.com
Audiophile

Posts: 10
Location: Washington
Joined: February 24, 2013
 Mike, indeed, that does help. I have found my way over to Vinyl Engine and am find a lot of additional information. I've discovered that my 95-B does work, mechanically, so next is to hook up audio. (I've been slow due to other room rearrangement tasks) So far it looks good. I think I'll put a new stylus in the M91ED cart in it now. I also have, in mint condition, my original Garrard owner's manual which is pretty good about describing maintenance lubrication. I will do that before I put any serious time on it. This 95 has had good care all it's life, so I have high hopes.
Cheers, Dennis
Dennis

 

RE: Retired; want'a play vinyl; should I drag out my old Garrard SL95-B? Needles?, posted on January 28, 2015 at 22:26:56
Mike27
Audiophile

Posts: 297
Joined: October 31, 2006
 That Shure should work fine. Not my personal favorite (tastes vary) but they track well and have a nicely balanced sound. You will get many hours of enjoyment.

 

RE: Retired; want'a play vinyl; should I drag out my old Garrard SL95-B? Needles?, posted on January 29, 2015 at 08:59:32
Crazy Dave
Audiophile

Posts: 14371
Location: East Coast
Joined: October 4, 2001
 Agreed, except I like the Shure sound! Keep the table, buy more records!

Dave

 

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