Hi everyone,

Just posting some info on Garrard AT6 / mk2 / SL65 turntables for anyone coming across these turntables in their restos!

To my surprise several (probably the older) of the Kriesler 11-97 stereograms actually came fitted with AT6 turntables and not the Mk2 - as 2 I have purchased in very original condition were so fitted.

These are not "quite" as good predominately bc the AT6 does not have the "anti bias / skate" weight designed to offset the central pull on the tonearm and help keep the stylus in the centre of the groove. Although the effectiveness of the pivot weight setup is questionable as it's just a fixed non adjustable pivot weight mounted to the side of the overarm operated by a arm extending from the inner tonearm vertical pivot screw.

The Mk2 also have a delrin insert in the chassis for the trip lever which supposedly reduces the "drag" on the tonearm as it tracks across the vinyl. Both of these differences are to help reduce the vtf required on the stylus given the shift towards magnetic carts that tracked around 2-3 grams instead of the ceramics at 5 grams.

I raided my spare parts to find an old AT6 mk2 with the anti bias but it was quite wrecked and not worth fixing up to replace the AT6 so I thought Id scour marketplace & picked up a SL65 which is basically just a later model version of the at6 mk2 but with a "syncro lab" motor upgrade and a cuing lever to operate the tonearm manually if so desired. This had the same anti bias pivot weight although has a 2gram pivot weight instead of the 3gram one installed on the scrap AT6 mk2 & has the same trip lever delrin insert and has a larger diameter platter bearing. It fit straight in the cabinet in the original holes!

After cleaning up the mechanism underneath and lightly oiling it I simply swapped headshells which are interchangable so I have my magnetic Audio Technica cart tracking at 3 grams on it and it is a very very nice sounding setup for something so old! It seems to track ok at 2 grams too but our house is timber floorboards and everytime anyone goes near it it will skip so I have it at 3 which is a good compromise I think.

The anti bias weight honestly seemed to small to be doing anything and didn't seem to make any audible difference by turning it on or off so I took the at6 mk2 3 gram weight and swapped it over - just carefully removing the circlip and the 3 gram weight at least seems to offer some anti bias demonstrated by reducing the vtf to NIL so the tonearm just balances mid air and it will slowly drift towards the rest position which it didn't do before. Maybe the original 2 gram weight on the sl65 was reduced for tracking around the 1 - 2 gram vtf I'm not sure.

Also for anyone looking at a reasonably priced preamp I got the Fosi X5 from amazon for $160 and it sounds great!

"but our house is timber floorboards and everytime anyone goes near it it will skip so I have it at 3 which is a good compromise I think."

An ex-Pye engineer I knew years ago had a similar problem. He cut a hole in the floor and constructed a brick pillar, concreted into the ground and projecting a few mm through a clearance hole in the timber floor, under the carpet. Turntable furniture sat on that.

Solved the problem!

but our house is timber floorboards and everytime anyone goes near it it will skip

Back in the 1970's I bolted a wooden shelf to the (double) brick wall and sat turntable and amp on that. I had to literally jump on the floorboards before any problem after that.

Haha great ideas!
Not sure I’d receive permission for either though….i could probably rig up a few small supports under the house but we’ll see….already in trouble with the mrs for the amount of time spent on this thing haha

I recently had some more experience with bearers & joists in my shearing shed. The area where shearing takes place was re-decked in the late 70's the shed having been built around 1951: Wooden framed.

This area was rather springy due to a joist failing. I firmed that up by adding more joists and that took the spring out of it, after several of the failing nails, also adding to the bounce were replaced with screws. The old timber was hardwood and that areas flooring, Murray Pine.

That of course meant that all holes had to be pilot bored & countersunk, lest the dried hardboard split. Naturally I found an electrician with a cordless drill obsession (most) who decided to use #14 screws in a stud, that he was told to pilot bore. Naturally in the name of haste & speed he didn't and it split. Another electrician who is not going to get further work here.

The only time I have seen extra stumps added, was a job by a cousin (builder) to reinforce the floor under a large library of books and the bench grinder here, mounted on a steel pole through the other sheds wooden floor.

That is the problem with ageing timbers and no matter whether it is oregon or cedar (hard or soft) it does the same thing when being screwed that way. Self-drilling screws don't always avoid splitting either, as once the drilling tip of the screw is buried in the material, there's nowhere for the shavings to go, so really dry timber will still split.

If the pilot hole is the same width as the shank of the screws being used, they'll drive straight home (sometimes they'll squeak but that's okay) and, depending on the length, they will even support my body weight (125kg) without tearing out. The oldest buildings I've worked on were back in my apprenticeship days, in big sandstone buildings dating back to 1838 with roofing frames made of red cedar and 20th century buildings with oregon as the timber of choice. All heritage-listed and all with a need for a measure twice, cut once approach.

I remember replacing a round light switch in the CEO's office of the hospital I was working at during that time, namely Gladesville Hospital, and rather than replace it with a standard pattern switch commonly seen today we opted to replace it with a modern look-a-like switch, which Clipsal still make. Old design, with a modern, safe mechanism.

https://www.restoreinstyle.com.au/__static/109e723e2bcadb57235874bee06facb0/chrome-fluted-switch-45-series.jpg

With beginners luck not on my side, yes, I did split the original mounting block, though with some forward planning, we did have the new Clipsal mounting blocks in stock, so the boss scored one of those too. The modern ones are still polished cedar but they are pre-drilled.

As for making a stylus jump - when I was young, the threat of mum getting the wooden spoon out stopped it from happening. If me and my sister danced to the Winnie the Pooh record in a certain part of the room it didn't happen.

One other thing that might work is simply replacing the springs that the turntable sits on with springs that bounce more. Bunnings and Jaycar sell such springs.

The oldest shed here is the chaff shed which was built somewhere after 1883 and definitely before 1930.

Most turntables have two main sets of springs: Viz the dampers under the turntable that have to be released to have any hope of working. and the spring in the tone arm, controlling the pressure it exerts on the record. If it is to low the arm will jump.