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Revisiting the Zeta

Interesting comparison with the *Sumiko, I've got Mechanics and the only arm I hear as competitor is *Brinkman 12.1. If only he Mechanics were a bit longer, guess the next nearest thing about now is the Kuzma?

*Both based on the Breuer?
 
I think the Brinkmann 10.5 would easily better the Mechanic, though I've never heard the 12.1. The Brinkmann and TW arms are, AFAIA, based on the classic Breuers as is the Sumiko. Given the improvements implemented in the Brinkmann and TW arms I expect these to outperform the Breuer and Sumiko, if only in terms of adjustability and ease of use, (magnetic antiskate, adustable azimuth, more accommodating effective mass etc).
 
nmtjb said:
I think the Brinkmann 10.5 would easily better the Mechanic, though I've never heard the 12.1. The Brinkmann and TW arms are, AFAIA, based on the classic Breuers as is the Sumiko. Given the improvements implemented in the Brinkmann and TW arms I expect these to outperform the Breuer and Sumiko, if only in terms of adjustability and ease of use, (magnetic antiskate, adustable azimuth, more accommodating effective mass etc).
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The zeta and mechanic were inspired by the original Breuer Dynamic. Mick Gray is my uncle, now long retired, but I will, when I have time detail a history of GB Tools and Mick ( with his blessing) , thanks all.
 
That would be very interesting to see. I do recall a page detailing the GB Tools products and some history, and also including images of a prototype TT with very heavy looking arm. I'm sure if the arms had continued in production and development they would be every bit as good, if not better than the german brands developed from the Breuer. As it is I would never part with mine, as despite using it infrequenty these days, (with the Troika on an LP12) it is also a very good arm for Decca's, of which I have a few.
 
Hi



Some notes –



Mick Gray , an engineer by trade worked at GB Tools in the early 70’s to late 80’s, as a toolmaker and eventually as a partner in the business.



As a side line, GB tools manufactured Mick’s designs – Decca FFSS mounts (very rare now -although one appeared on ebay recently), The ‘GB Clamp’ for Deccas, a record weight/clamp (also rare…) and the Zeta and Mission 774SM and Mechanic tonearms.


I’ll add here that the Clamps, Zeta and Mechanic are all Mick’s designs. The 774SM ‘was a collaboration’ AFAIK.

From Mick’s memory, ‘maybe we made 200, 300 or so Zeta’s and couple of gold and chrome specials – how many sold in total, no idea and cant remember the split of old to new bearings and VdH wiring. Not sure about the 774SM, not many built. Mechanics we did 230 serial numbered, some specials, at least two titanium versions and the few made post GB Tools closure’

There is a long, interesting story surrounding these historic audio items and their creation and development. There’s also a tale of early – mid 80’s HIFI thinking, and manufacturer / dealer/ reviewer politics …


Some quotes from Mick (many many more of course) – just a bit of fun:



‘Unipivots are the easy way out’



‘I designed the Zeta and Mechanic with Deccas, Denon 103 and Ortofons in mind’



‘Mass’



‘Mission weren’t interested at the time really, it was CD and speakers’



‘5 Zetas and I got the SP8’



Will post more as time allows , thanks all.
 
What deck did Mick use himself? Curious as to what the Zeta was designed to partner. They seemed very popular on the LP12, Gyro and Oracle as I recall. Think I’ve seen one on a Source too.

Very interesting to know he was a 103 fan, I expected the Decca as I knew about the Clamp. I ran a 103 in mine most of the time.
 
Tony L said:
What deck did Mick use himself? Curious as to what the Zeta was designed to partner. They seemed very popular on the LP12, Gyro and Oracle as I recall. Think I’ve seen one on a Source too.

Very interesting to know he was a 103 fan, I expected the Decca as I knew about the Clamp. I ran a 103 in mine most of the time.
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Well, its a story !

The inspiration to do tonearms in Micks words were - 'proper engineering, the Breuer was 'it', so I had to try....'

To develop the Zeta, Mick started out with his LP12 (He also used a TD124 originally) , but quickly found the Linn to be 'not up to it' and the weight of the Zeta was not ideal for the LP12, so he gave it to his daughter (she still uses it, with a Mechanic!) . He moved onto a Tom Fletcher Dais (gold version , locked suspension). The Zeta went through many iterations (as did the mechanic), listening tests etc , using 103s, deccas.

In his words ' 103 is music, Decca is music' - the Zeta / Mechanic were designed for (ideally), non suspended decks and low compliance cartridges

Long story short, Mick eventually built his own TT to develop the Mechanic.

Before his retirement and hearing loss issues, he was running another turntable - the Dark Energy, magnetic bearing, heavyweight. Tonearms were prototypes. One of which I have- the Zeta 'S' . Sadly nothing will come of it as Mick is 75 and long out of HiFi....
 
Huss said:
Well, its a story !

The inspiration to do tonearms in Micks words were - 'proper engineering, the Breuer was 'it', so I had to try....'

To develop the Zeta, Mick started out with his LP12 (He also used a TD124 originally) , but quickly found the Linn to be 'not up to it' and the weight of the Zeta was not ideal for the LP12, so he gave it to his daughter (she still uses it, with a Mechanic!) . He moved onto a Tom Fletcher Dais (gold version , locked suspension). The Zeta went through many iterations (as did the mechanic), listening tests etc , using 103s, deccas.

In his words ' 103 is music, Decca is music' - the Zeta / Mechanic were designed for (ideally), non suspended decks and low compliance cartridges

Long story short, Mick eventually built his own TT to develop the Mechanic.

Before his retirement and hearing loss issues, he was running another turntable - the Dark Energy, magnetic bearing, heavyweight. Tonearms were prototypes. One of which I have- the Zeta 'S' . Sadly nothing will come of it as Mick is 75 and long out of HiFi....
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By the way , nothing wrong with using Lp12, gyros etc
 
Great to get some more background, thanks for posting!

I assume you have these somewhere in better resolution but heres some pics of the protos I had in an old word doc: (hope thats OK to post here?):

Dark Energy TT:

Big Gray by Neil Tully, on Flickr

Prototype Arm (cf. Continuum cobra which must have followed?):

Dark Energy Arm 1 by Neil Tully, on Flickr

Proto new generation Mechanic / Zeta?:

New Mechanic by Neil Tully, on Flickr

Gray Arm:

Gray Arm by Neil Tully, on Flickr
 
I have had both the GB Decca clamp and the disc stabilizer in the past. Wish I'd hung onto them:(
 
I no longer have any of those photos , but all were prototype arms from late 90s to around 2005 ish

The cobra clone was mick doing his version , easy to do apparently, sounded ok. The new generation mechanic zeta is the zeta s prototype , tool steel and aluminium , sounded promising . The dark energy arm was refined and is in use occasionally.
 
By the way, I used to run a voyd turntable with a zeta, excellent combination with a 103r, then had a NA mentor with a graphite platter with Mechanic and deccas. Also a great deck .

Mick considered building a direct drive motor ! Alas, not to be
 
I’ve got the Decca pod and record clamp, while the Decca does sound good on a unipivot I’ve had good results on the Mechanic ( Tabriz too)

Serial numbers are interesting, I know where the recent sale went and that was 282. Mines 208
 
divedeepdog said:
I’ve got the Decca pod and record clamp, while the Decca does sound good on a unipivot I’ve had good results on the Mechanic ( Tabriz too)

Serial numbers are interesting, I know where the recent sale went and that was 282. Mines 208
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Those cheap mechanic s/n stickers on the base … was supposed to be engraved but mission weren’t bothered . I can’t be sure but serial numbers may be a red herring as Mick told me that quite a few zetas and mechanics were lobbed (his words) as ‘crap’ !
 
Tony L said:
What deck did Mick use himself? Curious as to what the Zeta was designed to partner. They seemed very popular on the LP12, Gyro and Oracle as I recall. Think I’ve seen one on a Source too.

Very interesting to know he was a 103 fan, I expected the Decca as I knew about the Clamp. I ran a 103 in mine most of the time.
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I’ve got one on my Source. Would love to see the gold one that was matched with them in early promo shots though.
 
mjkelshaw said:
Ian,
What an interesting T/table, despite my 'ancient' status, it's one I've actually never seen before, and my curiosity prompted me to find https://thesourceturntable.blogspot.com/p/home.html.
Regards
Mike K
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Thanks... it sure is a great object never mind anything else, and John's website is full of lots of interesting history on them as you say.

Although my main deck is an LP12, I'd always wanted a Source as I liked them a lot when I heard them back in the day. I managed to snag this one on eBay on the historically rather inauspicious date of 31/12/2019... cleaned it up a bit and listened to it *a lot* during the lockdown that was the outcome of that day's event. I now have three of them in varying states of repair and have started restoration of another of them...
 
I used the Source/Zeta for many years. The best it ever sounded was with the Koetsu Black Gold Line. This combination just DESTROYED the LP12/Ittok/Karma I had at the time. I got the Source/Zeta from the Music Room in Manchester. I think the salesman was Geoff Coleman.

The Zeta however came with a tilted headsheel resulting in an azimuth error. This required shimming, which should not be the case for a tonearm that cost 400+UKP in 1985.

I significantly improved the Zeta by getting rid of the resonant arm rest and hacksawing off the flange it was attached to. I even tried snipping of the finger lift in small increments and I swear I heard an improvement every time I snipped a bit more off it. This was all inspired by the improvements wrought by removing the cueing mechanism in the Ittok.

I also had the Zeta rewired with monofiliament silver wire internally.

I sold the Source/Zeta combo for peanuts a few years ago as my custom built DC supply for the Source (yes, it ran on a DC motor) had failed and my Zeta had irreversible hacksaw modifications.
 
Tony L said:
The 774SM was a more affordable variant. It is a very good arm IMO, not as good as the Zeta, though certainly Ittok-level, albeit with slightly different strengths and weaknesses. My LP12 trajectory was Ittok, 774SM, Zeta, so I know them all pretty well. The 774SM is around the same weight as an Ittok too, maybe a hair lighter, so very easy to get a nice even bounce out of the LP12. The weight of the Zeta makes this much harder as the rear spring ends up more compressed than is ideal. It is doable though and I’d not let that aspect deter. Some of the best sounding LP12s I’ve heard have had Zetas.

Never heard a Mechanic, though it was as I recall the final GB Tools design and I suspect brought the experience from the other two and took it further. As I remember the Zeta was first, by a long while, then the two Mission appeared around the same time at different price points.

As always with tonearms, especially from the dreaded ‘Linn tight’ era, I’d buy on condition over and above anything else. That and be wary of sticky bearings in the Zeta, they have a reputation for it which implies a lubricant drying out. My old one is still working fine though (a friend has it on my old LP12 with a DL-103, might even be one of my old 103s! Nice to hear it now and again via his Gale 401s or LS5/8s).
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I have managed to find a really nice, carefully used late example Linn base / Din socket) so will move my 774SM to my second LP12.

Now begins the hunt for suitable carts. I have an AT0C9/III which I don't think is an ideal match, (Higher compliance and resonance, too low on the Zeta) so that will stay on the 774SM as it sounds fine with that arm.

As a Temporary measure, I have an Ortofon MC25E, lower compliance than the AT, which from investigation, could be is a better match with the Zeta.

Wil investigate other carts later, Dynavector, Hana, Lyra? Up to £1.3K.

I would love to be able to stretch to a Koetsu RS, an ideal partner, but the Zeta is also an ideal match for the Denon 103 I gather with Deccas as used during design of the arm.
Though cheaper than I envision going for, is the 103 still good enough these days?
 
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