MM or MC?
I would go with the most expensive AT MC cartridge you can afford. The AT33 models are excellent at all price levels. Shop around. If you call rather than purchase on-line you can negotiate. Even with the big on-line retailers. Also, check with Ivan over on AudioAficionado. He occasionally has a great deal on a cartridge. If I had a spare $4-5K I would give their ART a try (maybe in the next life-time).
Whoah love it!Here's my finished TD150 MKII AB (attached). This project took two months and a lot of learning. Here's what I did:
(1) New plinth (wooden frame) ordered from woodoosound (https://www.etsy.com/shop/woodoosound) in Wenge wood (African rosewood) with matching armboard (http://www.wood-database.com/wenge/).
(2) Tonearm rewire; using a straight-through wire modification. Removed pluggable/removable front tonearm and wired directly from terminals to cartridge using CARDAS AWG 34 Clear Tonearm wire (http://www.cardas.com/34awg_clear_tonearm.php). New Rhodium/Sliver plated cartridge clips (http://www.cardas.com/cartridge_clips.php). Re-installed the Grado Prestige Gold1 cartridge.
(3) New re-wire under the deck. New terminal strip for connections. FYI: Previous wiring/hook-up was totally WRONG (ground and hot intermixed) and probably contributed to my buzz/hum issues.
(4) Installed RCA chassis jacks for removable interconnects.
(5) Installed a Banana Plug connection for removable separate GROUND wire to amplifier.
(6) Thorens motor was sent to Hanze Hi-Fi (Netherlands) for rebuild, lubrication, as well as custom tuning/installation of capacitors to eliminate noise, hum and vibration associated with 60 Hz AC in-phase motors.
(7) Inspection, cleaning and re-lubrication of the main drive bearing.
(8) Installed new spring kit from VinylNirvana (mine were 45 years old).
(9) Re-applied 300,000 CTS weight silicon fluid to the tonearm lift damping mechanism.
(10) Re-balanced the the springs for a new weight (250 grams).
(11) New interconnects from AudioAdvisor [Pangea Audio Premier RCA to RCA 0.6 metres; http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PGICCARR&variation=.6P] with CARDAS ONE copper - these really do make a difference.
(12) Installed a C17 power receptacle for two prong non-polarised power cable; using a $10 power cable currently.
The whole unit (TT) is now about three times the initial weight. The MDF bottom board (included) is a really nice addition; and I'm really glad I went with the lamented Wenge wood armboard. The sound difference is near night and day, even on my system, which is not very audiophile, but it's what can be negotiated (DENON AVR-900 Receiver; DENON DCM-340 CD Player; DENON DRW-840 Dual Cassette Deck; PSB300 Speakers; 18 G RadioShack speaker wire). The TT really shines - the soundstage is HUGE and the detail in the sounds is fantastic; especially the mid-ranges.
Yeah, sorry - I tried to link via GoogleDrive and that doesn't work. Is there another photo hosting service?Looks great but only one of your photos is showing for me.
Here's my finished TD150 MKII AB (attached). This project took two months and a lot of learning. Here's what I did:
(1) New plinth (wooden frame) ordered from woodoosound (https://www.etsy.com/shop/woodoosound) in Wenge wood (African rosewood) with matching armboard (http://www.wood-database.com/wenge/).
(2) Tonearm rewire; using a straight-through wire modification. Removed pluggable/removable front tonearm and wired directly from terminals to cartridge using CARDAS AWG 34 Clear Tonearm wire (http://www.cardas.com/34awg_clear_tonearm.php). New Rhodium/Sliver plated cartridge clips (http://www.cardas.com/cartridge_clips.php). Re-installed the Grado Prestige Gold1 cartridge.
(3) New re-wire under the deck. New terminal strip for connections. FYI: Previous wiring/hook-up was totally WRONG (ground and hot intermixed) and probably contributed to my buzz/hum issues.
(4) Installed RCA chassis jacks for removable interconnects.
(5) Installed a Banana Plug connection for removable separate GROUND wire to amplifier.
(6) Thorens motor was sent to Hanze Hi-Fi (Netherlands) for rebuild, lubrication, as well as custom tuning/installation of capacitors to eliminate noise, hum and vibration associated with 60 Hz AC in-phase motors.
(7) Inspection, cleaning and re-lubrication of the main drive bearing.
(8) Installed new spring kit from VinylNirvana (mine were 45 years old).
(9) Re-applied 300,000 CTS weight silicon fluid to the tonearm lift damping mechanism.
(10) Re-balanced the the springs for a new weight (250 grams).
(11) New interconnects from AudioAdvisor [Pangea Audio Premier RCA to RCA 0.6 metres; http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PGICCARR&variation=.6P] with CARDAS ONE copper - these really do make a difference.
(12) Installed a C17 power receptacle for two prong non-polarised power cable; using a $10 power cable currently.
The whole unit (TT) is now about three times the initial weight. The MDF bottom board (included) is a really nice addition; and I'm really glad I went with the lamented Wenge wood armboard. The sound difference is near night and day, even on my system, which is not very audiophile, but it's what can be negotiated (DENON AVR-900 Receiver; DENON DCM-340 CD Player; DENON DRW-840 Dual Cassette Deck; PSB300 Speakers; 18 G RadioShack speaker wire). The TT really shines - the soundstage is HUGE and the detail in the sounds is fantastic; especially the mid-ranges.
Good catch! I bought the table as part of a lot from the University of Western Ontario School of Music when they switched to CDs for their music students. The auction lot included this table and about 10 plasticy junk student tables; which I promptly pitched into the trash. I paid $80 for the lot - only bidder. The Thorens came with the stock arm, that was missing pieces. A friend of mine, who's father had owned a high-end stereo store in Toronto, had a customer who's house had been broken into and his Thorens TD147 Jubilee with the TP16MKIII 100th anniversary tonearm was knocked over by thieves in their mad rush to steal his CD collection and other components. Not realising that the Thorens they (the thieves) knocked over was far more valuable, they left it for trash. The table plinth was severely damaged and considered a write off by the insurance company. Anyway, after insurance paid out, the stereo shop rescued/recovered the broken components for parts, of which this TP16MKIII tonearm was one. Years later, right after I acquired the Thorens TD150MKIIAB, he sold it to me for $100, and in order to properly mount it, I had the Instrumentation Lab (machine shop) at UWO custom make this aluminum collar (with allen set screws to adjust the VTA) to mount the arm onto/into the TD150MKIIAB armboard. They charged $400 for the job. So, yeah, it's a pretty sweet arm and total cost (initially) was about $580.Awesome. So it came to you with the TP16 tonearm already installed? I've never seen that bright mounting collar before, I don't think it's a Thorens part. Did somebody machine that for you (or the previous owner)?
An external power supply is a big upgrade for the suspended belt drive Thorens. I'm rocking the Music Hall Cruise Control 2.0 which made a tremendous difference. Highly recommended. I had Vinyl Nirvana take out as much of the internal power stuff as possible to rely on the Cruise Control and haven't looked back since. This rendered the power/speed selector knobs as vestigial, but the performance increase was highly noticeable.