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GW Thorens TD 165

pjsjr

pjsjr

Playing Around
While not having much 'luck' lately at the thrift stores around my area I still stop in and look around.

Yesterday it paid off...I was just make the last round through an area where they(the help) had been putting speakers(like I need another pair) and just glanced at this standard, run of the mill, glass doored stereo cabinet.

There was a turntable sitting in it:scratch2:...expecting a cheapy TT like usual...I did a double take when I saw the Thorens logo on the headshell:tresbon:.

The rest is easy to guess...all came home with my...the cabinet, a Yamaha CD player that was in the bottom and the TD 165 with its Grado Black.:thmbsp:

Just got through with a cursory check and clean up. The help had used a rubber band, yes a rubber band to check it out but, had left the 'correct' belt on the side! All seems good to go and sounds very nice. Even the anti-skate weight was there.

With my senoir discount the total came to $36.47. Preston

 
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A nice find. You will need to get the antiskate counterweight for it, I don't see it on the rear of the arm.
 
Thanks, for the acknowledgements.

A few months ago I found its younger brother, TD 166 MKII(for about three times as much and not as nice a cartridge).

I bought it with the intent of following Mel's(Divot Dog) and some others threads about building a plinth and tweaking. This one has a nice wood plinth so I'll add some other tweaks mentioned to it and save the 166 for a later project. Preston
 
dr*audio said:
A nice find. You will need to get the antiskate counterweight for it, I don't see it on the rear of the arm.
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You can also jerry-rig one with fishing line and bolts. There are instructions on the Internet someplace of you google it.

Very nice looking unit, by the way! I bought one on eBay about a year ago but the post office "lost" it. (It was packaged in a modern A/V receiver box with tracking that says it made it to my local post office, so I think someone there liberated it.) Luckily I got a partial refund from the seller and a partial refund from the post office, with the end result that i got two of the rare headshells (which he had shipped separately) for free plus $20 in my pocket! Still would have rather had the tt, though.
 
cactuscowboy said:
Great example of how the deals are still out there for those willing to look.
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.....and look, and look, and...
I think sometimes people forget that to find deals like this you really need to be persistent. I come up empty handed more often than not, but I found a couple of turntable deals that I'm really happy with last year. It took a lot of looking at a bunch of places, but the deals are out there. The place I got my $75 Sony PS-X70 with Shure V15III from was the kind of place most people would walk into once, see the towering piles of BPC and run away from.
I haven't found a Thorens like pjsjr has yet. But I will some day. That table is a beauty.
 
pjsjr said:
Thanks, for the acknowledgements.

A few months ago I found its younger brother, TD 166 MKII(for about three times as much and not as nice a cartridge).

I bought it with the intent of following Mel's(Divot Dog) and some others threads about building a plinth and tweaking. This one has a nice wood plinth so I'll add some other tweaks mentioned to it and save the 166 for a later project. Preston
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You located in Denver or the Springs? If Springs then we probably frequent the same thrifts. Great find by the way, most of my GW finds are overpriced for GW.

Next thrift search is speaker stands.
 
Hajidub said:
You located in Denver or the Springs?
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I'm on the high plains east of Parker...this was at the GW in Parker.

Really, this was just luck:yes:, it, the GW, and most others around get a lot of traffic.

You have to be there at the right time and with some luck...this was not in the electronics section 'cause it was in a stereo cabinet and in with other furniture/stuff. I'm sure it would have been snapped up if in with the electronic/BPC. Preston
 
The stuff that dreams are made of, and why I rarely miss a day checking the local thrifts. Sometimes little treasures, sometimes big ones, but have yet to have a find that sweet.. Enjoy (See I fought back the urge to say I HATE YOU!!!) Ooops did I say that out loud? No really happy.. What was the first vinyl you listened to on it?
 
Shackman55 said:
What was the first vinyl you listened to on it?
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I have a beater, well really several, that I used to set up a the TT.

The first one that I listened to after that was either DSOTM or Aqualung can't remember which was first.

Thanks for your comments, Preston
 
I found the same table at a local record store for 60 last year.

I put a grado green on mine, and it sounds awesome!

I bought a belt from www.acousticsounds.com and I added a thicker board on the bottom.


I just went to lowes and bought some 3/4" marine birch plywood, and got them to cut it to the dimensions I measured. I then added some cone feet

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=240-668

to the bottom and replaced the rca cables with these:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=181-652

I just cut off the ends on one side, and soldered them in.

I feel that most audiophile types are half crazy, but these mods really doubled how good this thing sounded.

The bottom plate mod really focuses the bass and makes the whole thing sound more solid.

The rca cables made a drastic improvement. The thin original ones have no shielding, and after you replace them, will see that you are losing about 50% of the sound from the cables

100_3615.jpg
 
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