Picked up a Thorens TD160 for $30 with Garrott P-77

[Markoneswift]

I had a call from a lady at work today. She saw my post on our intranet site for 'records and hifi equipment - wanted'. She is having a yard sale tomorrow and wanted to know if I would like to have a look before they put everything out. She tells me she has records and a turntable.

I went over to her place this evening, met her husband who's a cool guy and quite 'into' the hifi hobby himself. He's just replaced his TD160 with a Pro-ject RPM 1 Carbon. The TD160 is a little grimy, has a cover hinge pin missing, needs a stylus, but is complete. He hit me with a price to take it away - $30 !! I also snagged a nice Perreaux equaliser for $5 and his classic rock / prog rock / pop / indie record collection of around 150 titles for a buck each. Nice start to the weekend, pictures to follow !

 

[ZebraBlvd]

I could not have handed the money to him fast enough for that 160. As you probably did also. To help with your guilt feeling , either do 10 Hail Mary's (for theft) or get the sellers a $20 gift card. Just curious, which version is the TD160?

 

[Markoneswift]

I could not have handed the money to him fast enough for that 160. As you probably did also. To help with your guilt feeling , either do 10 Hail Mary's (for theft) or get the sellers a $20 gift card. Just curious, which version is the TD160?

Having just schooled myself a little, I have a standard TD160 but I'm unsure whether it's a Mk 1 or 2. Definitely not a Super but I see that some mods can be carried out to elevate it to that level. Those SME arms sure are pretty

 

[shelly_d]

You scored big time. The seller ended up moving sideways in performance in my opinion. He gained only 2 dB of noise but lost .09% in wow and flutter.

Thorens: -68dB rumble .06% Wow and Flutter
Pro-Ject -70dB rumble .15% Wow and Flutter

Hard to wee why he spent the money for the Pro-Ject but great deal for you. Good Luck with the clean up on it. You will enjoy it when done.

Shelly_D

 

[Markoneswift]

I'm a bit confused about my tone arm on the Thorens. It seems to be an ADC arm but I can't find any pictures online which match it. It looks to have a fixed headshell which has been repaired (and therefore out of alignment) and a bearing system that doesn't look like any I can find. Any help??

 

[shelly_d]

OK. I take it back. I think that tonearm needs to be replaced. That "repair" job on the headshell is, being nice and generous about it, poor. Just from the looks of it, I don't think that can be readily brought back into proper alignment. I think replacement is the only viable option for you.

Good Luck with that. The turntable is worth a good arm but at the cost of one, the turntable is not the awesome deal it first sounded like. Still, for $30, it is still a good price for that level of performance, no question about that.

Shelly_D

 

[olddude55]

You can still get new replacement styli for the Garrott (and Arcam) cartridges. The price list hasn't been updated since 2014, but I just got an email back from these folks and prices are current, styli available.

https://garrottbrothers.com/repairs-retipping

That arm looks an awful lot like a Grace 707. I wonder if somebody glued the "wrong" headshell to the Grace arm.

 

[ehoove]

Still $30 for a great TT platform is still a screaming deal. I run a Project 9CC arm on mine. The TD160 will support some very good arms, and perform admirably. Have fun, but dump that arm as it has been comprimized beyond salvage.
Regards,
Jim

 

[taskerc]

That Garrott cartridge is a deal in and of itself

 

[Markoneswift]

Still $30 for a great TT platform is still a screaming deal. I run a Project 9CC arm on mine. The TD160 will support some very good arms, and perform admirably. Have fun, but dump that arm as it has been comprimized beyond salvage.
Regards,
Jim

I don't think I'll be buying one of those arms in a hurry mate ! Nice, but out of my league sadly.

 

[Markoneswift]

You can still get new replacement styli for the Garrott (and Arcam) cartridges. The price list hasn't been updated since 2014, but I just got an email back from these folks and prices are current, styli available.

https://garrottbrothers.com/repairs-retipping

That arm looks an awful lot like a Grace 707. I wonder if somebody glued the "wrong" headshell to the Grace arm.

I sure does look like a Grace 707, I have to admit. I was thrown off by the hack job of gluing that ADC headshell on there - honestly, who does this kind of thing??

 

[GuyK]

With difficulty, one might be able to elongate the mounting holes on the headshell enough to get aligned, but it will always look like a hack job. Is there any what to tell what was used for glue? Knowing that, you might be able to remove the headshell again.

 

[Markoneswift]

With difficulty, one might be able to elongate the mounting holes on the headshell enough to get aligned, but it will always look like a hack job. Is there any what to tell what was used for glue? Knowing that, you might be able to remove the headshell again.

Well, I took my very small pliers to it last night, after finding out the arm is worth salvaging. A little twist and pull and the rotten tooth came right off ! I discovered the arm wires had been extended, badly, to reach into the ADC shell and those extensions fell off as soon as I touched them.

I'm now left with an arm tube that will hopefully accept a Hadcock shell, but the arm might need rewiring.

 

[bang4buck]

Probably the way to go. In case you haven’t checked yet, the last 707 with a broken headshell only fetched $100 in an open auction on the ‘bay.

I’d be tempted to copy the headshell design from the Funk F5:
https://www.audiophile.com/products/funk-firm-f5-tonearm-latest-version

While you’re at it, you could even add a sliding weight to achieve variable effective mass.

 

[Markoneswift]

Probably the way to go. In case you haven’t checked yet, the last 707 with a broken headshell only fetched $100 in an open auction on the ‘bay.

I’d be tempted to copy the headshell design from the Funk F5:
https://www.audiophile.com/products/funk-firm-f5-tonearm-latest-version

While you’re at it, you could even add a sliding weight to achieve variable effective mass.

Possibly a bit beyond my skill level but thanks for the link

 

[bang4buck]

It looks to be just a flat piece of aluminum stock with two holes and a slot, and I suppose a channel cut into the underside to keep it straight. I was going to make one for a parts ADC arm I have, but it turned out one of the bearing races was damaged.

By the way, if you don’t already have the Hadcock headshell, the interchangeable ADC style should work, for a lot less: https://www.turntableneedles.com/LMH-1-Headshell-for-ADC-Compatible-Straight-Tonearms_p_4344.html

Push out the connector and you’re in business. Outer diameter where it goes into the tube is just under 8mm, I guess it’s 5/16 in.

 

[Markoneswift]

It looks to be just a flat piece of aluminum stock with two holes and a slot, and I suppose a channel cut into the underside to keep it straight. I was going to make one for a parts ADC arm I have, but it turned out one of the bearing races was damaged.

By the way, if you don’t already have the Hadcock headshell, the interchangeable ADC style should work, for a lot less: https://www.turntableneedles.com/LMH-1-Headshell-for-ADC-Compatible-Straight-Tonearms_p_4344.html

Push out the connector and you’re in business. Outer diameter where it goes into the tube is just under 8mm, I guess it’s 5/16 in.

Thanks for the suggestions but it still goes along the lines of a bit of a hack job, doesn't it? Push out the connector from the shell isn't going to be easy and considering the cartridge connection wires are terminated at the connector, I will still have to splice them onto the Grace arm wiring which is where I am now and want to try and avoid doing that. I don't have any access to manufacturing or decent power tools, so working with pieces of aluminium stock is not really going to work either.

 

[bang4buck]

No question it wouldn't look factory original but neither does the parts arm you just bought, which also has been patched with epoxy already. It wouldn't take much in the way of skills or tools, either.

I guess you're now committed to the ebay arm and I hope it works out.

 

[Montycat]

Interesting Frankenarm. The table is certainly worth working with though and you still did well.

The hinge pin substitute that has worked for me pretty well is a pop rivet. I'll see if I can find that thread.

 

[Montycat]

Here that hinge thread is : https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...t-cover-hinge-repair-kit.707998/#post-9505167