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First vintage table - issues with Thorens TD 150 MKII

J

jlalor

New Member
Hi, while I'm not completely clueless, this new Thorens is my first vintage table and I feel a little lost again. I've previously owned SL1200 imitations which thankfully never gave much trouble. I bought the Thorens yesterday for £150, and basically want to determine whether it's worth persisting with or whether I should try to return it. Happy to put time and effort in as I've been planning on learning basic repairs etc. anyway. The following are the issues (or potentially non-issues) I've identified so far.

  1. I only get sound from one speaker at a time. When I swap the RCA cables, the speaker which is playing swaps also. I believe this may be a problem with the headshell connectors, or maybe I will need to solder new RCAs, as the current ones seem ancient.

  2. The antiskate mechanism is missing.

  3. The auto lower mechanism doesn't work properly, it doesn't raise high enough to be useful.

  4. The tonearm wobbles from side to side even when held in place. When playing a record it leans inward, so that the left side of the cartride comes very close to scraping the record.
Any help or advice whatsoever would be hugely appreciated, cheers. I can provide pictures/videos if that helps too.
 
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Hi and welcome to AK.

The TP13a tonearm is known to have rather crude (but sturdy) horizontal bearing and passable (but fragile) vertical bearings. It sounds like one of your vertical bearings is shot and not supporting the tonearm properly. The pin has probably lost its pointy tip.

Frankly, for 150 quid, I would simply junk the stock tonearm (it is somewhat agricultural anyway) and use a high quality tonearm on it - this deck is very worthy of a good tonearm and cartridge!
 
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stratokaster said:
this deck is very worthy of a good tonearm and cartridge!
Click to expand...

You can find some very valuable information on the Thorens line of tables by clicking on the link below. The TD150 is a superb table when setup correctly. But please do yourself a favor and DO NOT return the table until you have put a little time in on setting the table up 1st. I speak from my experiences with the 150 and other Thorens tables. Good luck!

https://www.theanalogdept.com/
 
stratokaster said:
Hi and welcome to AK.

The TP13a tonearm is known to have rather crude (but sturdy) horizontal bearing and passable (but fragile) vertical bearings. It sounds like one of your vertical bearings is shot and not supporting the tonearm properly. The pin has probably lost its pointy tip.

Frankly, for 150 quid, I would simply junk the stock tonearm (it is somewhat agricultural anyway) and use a high quality tonearm on it - this deck is very worthy of a good tonearm and cartridge!
Click to expand...

Thank you, and thank you for your reply. Do you have any ideas of suitable replacements? I see the SME 3009 is popular but a bit pricey for me. Although I could probably mitigate the cost by selling the TP13a as I believe it will still have some value, even just for the headshell.
 
ZebraBlvd said:
You can find some very valuable information on the Thorens line of tables by clicking on the link below. The TD150 is a superb table when setup correctly. But please do yourself a favor and DO NOT return the table until you have put a little time in on setting the table up 1st. I speak from my experiences with the 150 and other Thorens tables. Good luck!

https://www.theanalogdept.com/
Click to expand...

Thank you this looks great, I have been finding it hard to find good resources. I'll definitely put some time in, first priority is to solve the connection issues.
 
Many inexpensive, used tonearms can fit a TD-150. I would buy an inexpensive S shape arm, with replaceable standard headshell. But, having the mounting nut underneath is important for an easy conversion. The usual Japanese brands are all candidates, if you can easily mount them. In fact, the original TD-150 arm is a much better choice than the MkII version, IMHO.

Best of luck with your resto !
 
I installed a Rega RB300 when I did my TD150 rebuild. Also splurged for the Michell Tecnoweight to replace the standard end weight. Just remember though. I knew I was going to keep my TD150, so that made spending the money on it a little less of a concern.

MS_001jpg.jpg
 
I believe changing tonearms is easier on the 150 than on my 160. I would have to cut some metal off the plate to get a Rega arm in, for instance.

Because of this, the 150 is a desirable table.
 
tubeactive said:
Many inexpensive, used tonearms can fit a TD-150. I would buy an inexpensive S shape arm, with replaceable standard headshell. But, having the mounting nut underneath is important for an easy conversion. The usual Japanese brands are all candidates, if you can easily mount them. In fact, the original TD-150 arm is a much better choice than the MkII version, IMHO.

Best of luck with your resto !
Click to expand...

Thank you! Is there a particular reason to go for an S shape tonearm with this turntable, or is it your personal preference?
 
Can anyone offer any input as to whether a Denon DA-305 would be a good match for this turntable? My local shop has offered a Michell T2 for £230 but I can't find much info on them, I assume there's more value to be found on the vintage market.
 
@jlalor , I recommended S or J type arms because they are more likely to fit the TD-150, usually have standard, removable headshells, plus they can be easy to mount and can come reasonably priced.

You have choices, though. Consider what type of cartridges you will want. Some of the straight arms are designed with fixed headshells and low mass in mind. That can limit your cart choices and ease of mounting carts.

Research before you splurge...You might want to check the forums to see which arms other folks chose.

On one of mine, I mounted a B&O TA-12 from the 1960s, restricted to the B&O Stereodyne I and II plug-in carts. A friend mounted a Lenco L-70/Bogen B-62 spring loaded arm on his. We both had vintage in mind. Your needs are yours to decide. Many common S arms with standard headshells are a good entry point. Then again, some S arms digress from a 9 inch pivot to stylus length. Thus, some more research could be the key...Enjoy the audio journeys...
 
tubeactive said:
@jlalor , I recommended S or J type arms because they are more likely to fit the TD-150, usually have standard, removable headshells, plus they can be easy to mount and can come reasonably priced.

You have choices, though. Consider what type of cartridges you will want. Some of the straight arms are designed with fixed headshells and low mass in mind. That can limit your cart choices and ease of mounting carts.

Research before you splurge...You might want to check the forums to see which arms other folks chose.

On one of mine, I mounted a B&O TA-12 from the 1960s, restricted to the B&O Stereodyne I and II plug-in carts. A friend mounted a Lenco L-70/Bogen B-62 spring loaded arm on his. We both had vintage in mind. Your needs are yours to decide. Many common S arms with standard headshells are a good entry point. Then again, some S arms digress from a 9 inch pivot to stylus length. Thus, some more research could be the key...Enjoy the audio journeys...
Click to expand...

Thanks for elaborating, I'll largely be bound by what I can find on ebay/elsewhere. I see the SME 3009 is a popular choice and there's a few for sale, just need to try get one at a decent price.
 
More stupid questions incoming... So I've opened it up, everything seems to look as it should. I've unscrewed the armboard and now just need to remove the tonearm, only thing is I can't find any info on how to do this anywhere! I've never seen these connections before and wouldn't know where to begin trying to unscrew/disconnect them.
 
My last TD150 table modification used the std. arm board and I mounted a Jelco SA750D arm on it with no issues other than adding weight to the other side of the sub structure to accommodate the weight of the arm. Any Linn mount type arm will work fine.
Regards,
Jim
 
Ilikevinyl said:
Installed a brand new Jelco TS-550S MKII tonearm on my Thorens TD-160. Mounting spindle to pivot is 214 mm. Prefer the S-shaped arm because of the different cartridges that can be mounted fast. Arm sounds awesome! :music:
Click to expand...

Any cutting of the metal [sub?] chassis on your 160, for that arm? I have heard it needs to be cut to make room for the 1" thread on a Rega RB300.
 
doctor fuse said:
Any cutting of the metal [sub?] chassis on your 160, for that arm? I have heard it needs to be cut to make room for the 1" thread on a Rega RB300.
Click to expand...

No. No cutting at all with a Jelco or SME 3009 arms. The Rega you have to cut some off because of the 222 mm mounting distance. Bought both mounting arm plates for the Jelco & SME bought at Vinyl Nirvana. So easy to mount! No measuring at all!

https://vinylnirvana.com/product-category/thorens-part
 
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