Interconnect (rewire) for Thorens TD160 noise problem

[OscarEmmy]

I have a stock Thorens TD160, with Nagatron 185E cartridge on a TP16 tonearm. I was experiencing a lower level signal in the right channel, and found a fault within the old phono plug from the turntable. I removed the old interconnect cable and soldered in a much more hefty screened cable (AR brand); there is now a fair bit of electrical 'noise' from the turntable - I compare it with my SME III/Ariston RD11S/Shure V15 RS unit which is totally silent in terms of noise. I wonder if it isn't better to use a much thinner interconnect with the Thorens? Also, might it eliminate this kind of 'whistling' noise (not hum) if I installed a ground wire between the Thorens main chassis/sub-chassis and preamp? Anyone had similar experiences with this deck?

 

[pjsjr]

I suggest that you do an advanced search for AKer hakaplan's posts on what cables to use for interconnects. He put a lot of time and money in testing different cables and has listed several that are really good for this purpose. HTH, Preston

 

[Parnelly]

You can pretty much use any composite video cables with good shielding. There are threads about it.

 

[goldwax]

Yes. The one thing, though, is that you have to use a pretty thin component cable in order to have it fit in the small opening provided by the white plastic (with silver coating on the inside) box that shields the connection point of the RCAs and tonearm cables. If you use thick and/or stiff cables, then you can't use the box, and you won't be getting maximum shielding.

I used these ones on my TD 160 with excellent results--they are thin and flexible, and of course, low capacitance:

http://www.amazon.com/MONSTER-FLATSCREEN-CV-2M-COMPONENT-VIDEO/dp/B004UCXC5O/

Radio Shack blew them out some months ago, but you may be able to find some remaining stock (for only two bucks!) at your local stores: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2476527 (Ignore the useless one-star review on this page.)

A couple things: These are 2-meters long, so I'd recommend stripping off the green one and cutting it in half to created two 3-foot long cables with RCA connectors on one side and bare wire on the other. (Or you could cut them shorter, since it's generally a good idea to have shorter rather than longer cables coming out of your TT.) It's easy to break off one of the green rings to create a "white" cable, with the remaining green one standing in for "red." Then you still have the blue and red cables to use as RCAs for a CD player or something like that.

 

[OscarEmmy]

Yes. The one thing, though, is that you have to use a pretty thin component cable in order to have it fit in the small opening provided by the white plastic (with silver coating on the inside) box that shields the connection point of the RCAs and tonearm cables. If you use thick and/or stiff cables, then you can't use the box, and you won't be getting maximum shielding.

I used these ones on my TD 160 with excellent results--they are thin and flexible, and of course, low capacitance:

http://www.amazon.com/MONSTER-FLATSCREEN-CV-2M-COMPONENT-VIDEO/dp/B004UCXC5O/

Radio Shack blew them out some months ago, but you may be able to find some remaining stock (for only two bucks!) at your local stores: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2476527 (Ignore the useless one-star review on this page.)

A couple things: These are 2-meters long, so I'd recommend stripping off the green one and cutting it in half to created two 3-foot long cables with RCA connectors on one side and bare wire on the other. (Or you could cut them shorter, since it's generally a good idea to have shorter rather than longer cables coming out of your TT.) It's easy to break off one of the green rings to create a "white" cable, with the remaining green one standing in for "red." Then you still have the blue and red cables to use as RCAs for a CD player or something like that.

Excellent! I'll give that a whirl...I agree with your comment on the white plastic cable separator - it prevented my using it with the large interconnects, and that may well be the cause of these irritating noises.

 

[OscarEmmy]

I opted for a Belkin AV10034 6-foot video component cable; stripped back about 6 inches of the outer sheath and looped the resulting thin black inner cable through the Thorens' cable connector block. The Belkin was chosen because it was brand new, boxed, in a thrift store for under $15 and worth a punt. Now I am spinning Donald Fagen's The Nightfly (I always use this album for testing sound quality, as I am so familiar with it and it has great production).

The interference noise has completely disappeared, thanks to the screened coaxial design of this cable. I am unable to find the capacitance of this cable online, and don't possess anything other than my Fluke 8086A multimeter, which doesn't measure capacitance.

Subjectively, the sound is good - bass well defined, treble clear - not shrill, and percussion that jumps out almost 3-dimensionally. A cheap and effective upgrade to the stock Thorens cables which had reached the end of their very long service life!

Highly recommended. Thanks for all your help and advice.