Garrard AP75 and AP76 turntables (late 1960s/early 1970s)

Vinyl record playing equipment is of course still on sale today – from featherweight plastic tat to expensive audiophile decks, but sadly not much in between. It wasn’t always like this, and what we have here are two examples of lower- to mid-range hi-fi prior to the Japanese invasion.

Both are three-speed, idler wheel-drive ‘automatic single play’ units – in mechanical terms, essentially auto changers without the record stacking bit. However, the auto function is not completely universal because Garrard saw fit to combine the speed and record size controls into a single five-position selector. This has three positions for all sizes of 33⅓rpm discs plus 45rpm/7 inches and 78rpm/12 inches. Therefore, ten-inch 78s have to be played manually and, to be fair, twelve-inch 45s had yet to be invented.

The AP75 was introduced in the late 1960s and in terms of specification would appear to be similar to the then-ubiquitous SP25, but bigger with everything more spaced out. This one was donated to our hospital radio station for intended sale on the fundraising bric-a-brac stall, but somehow never got that far… It came fitted with an Audio-Technica AT66 cartridge; I’m unable to find the year when this was introduced, so I’m not sure if it’s contemporary with the turntable or a retro-fit.

The AP76, on the right, was purchased from the same secondhand shop as the Lenco deck (q.v.), but it cost rather more, maybe two or three times as much! It looks like a completely different model to its predecessor, but the basic mechanism is identical. The ‘tab’ controls have a much more positive action than the rotary selectors on the AP75 but feel a bit ‘plasticky’. The larger platter is in fact a two-part assembly; the inner platter is the same size as the one on the AP75 (it has to be, otherwise the speeds would be all wrong!), while the outer one simply bolts on top to bulk out the overall diameter to just under 12 inches, thereby offering improved support for 12 inch records.

The arm is completely different but has the same method of mounting the cartridge on a plastic slide-in carrier, which was also adopted by BSR on some of their models. There was absolutely no standardisation with these carriers, even within the same company (these two decks have different types), and the electrical contacts at the rear of them can be problematic, particularly with the tiny voltages generated by magnetic cartridges. This one has unfortunately broken, rendering the deck currently out of use. One of those ‘get around to it’ jobs. The fitted cartridge is a Goldring G800.

Things moved on just a few years later and the 78rpm speed was discontinued (it would appear that Garrard had already decided to drop the 16⅔rpm option). With just two speeds, vibration-free belt-drive decks could be manufactured economically and turntables of the type seen here became antiquated very quickly.