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Is thorens td160 easily prone to skipping due to movement in room?

NJguy

NJguy

Super Member
I picked up a thorens td160 at an estate sale and the way it came setup and movement in the room and the tonearm skips. I tried balancing it again but same result. Its my first thorens and i notice the platter is very bouncy, is that normal and when the platter bounces (if i move it by hand for example) the tone arm structure also moves, is this also normal? Just trying to understand if this is all normal and these particular turntables need a very sturdy table to be on more sp than others. (I have other tts that on this table do not skip).

Thanks.
 
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Mine never has had that problem except one time when I had a very bouncy floor and poorly damped shelf.
 
NJguy said:
I picked up a thorens td160 at an estate sale and the way it came setup and movement in the room and the tonearm skips. I tried balancing it again but same result. Its my first thorens and i notice the platter is very bouncy, is that normal and when the platter bounces (if i move it by hand for example) the tone arm structure also moves, is this also normal? Just trying to understand if this is all normal and these particular turntables need a very sturdy table to be on more sp than others. (I have other tts that on this table do not skip).

Thanks.
Click to expand...

NJ, yes, it prone to skip, it does need to be very stable. Platter is bouncy. It is normal to move with the tone arm, as thats the way it is built as it moves and floats together.

There are several threads on here where folks have installed wall mounts.

For instance in my case, I have a bench 16' long, with a very small refrigerator on one end and whenever it cycles on or turns off, it would cause my Thorens to skip, so to fix it, I had to cut tennis balls and put them under the refrigerator for isolation. I have a Technics SL1300 4' from the frig, and it does not bother it. The Thorens is about 8' from the frig. This bench is on a cement floor.

Hope this helps.

George.
 
Yes this is a normal thing with this TT. Like stated, build a simple wall shelf and your problem will be resolved most likely. Here are a couple pics of mine. the first one is an old pic, then I moved things around a bit to get my amp away from the TT, but you can see where all I did was use two wall brackets from Home Depot (like $6/each) and a square piece of glass that came out of an old end table that broke. Mounted the brackets into two studs and leveled it up good. I can jump up and down in front of it now with no issues while record playing. This sucker is as sturdy as can be.


ry%3D400


ry%3D400
 
The platter and the tone arm are connected to a floating sub chassis. The sub chassis is isolated from the motor and the plinth by the spring suspension. It is normal that the platter and tone arm are "bouncy", but the suspension should be properly tuned to provide best performance. There can be too much, or not enough bounce.

If you have a floor suspended on wooden joists then you will experience skipping (footfalls) and other issues. This is easy to fix by building a solid wall shelf, brackets mounted into wall studs, for your table. There are lots of other isolation techniques and most of them do not get you there in my experience.

This table can sound quite good when properly set up.
 
Thanks everyone! Cj i saw your oost from a few years ago asking the same thing and your building of that shelf!
 
NJguy said:
Thanks everyone! Cj i saw your oost from a few years ago asking the same thing and your building of that shelf!
Click to expand...


This forum has proved to be extremely helpful over last couple years, many very helpful people on this forum that are quick to offer help, advice, tips, and reviews.
 
cjj2d said:
This forum has proved to be extremely helpful over last couple years, many very helpful people on this forum that are quick to offer help, advice, tips, and reviews.
Click to expand...

I agree with the others about a wall shelf as this is what I did with mine and the results were very pleasing.....

picture.php

The TD160 is on the left.....

picture.php
 
Scientifically/numerically/engeneeringly speaking how much vibration does the wall studs get from people walking around? I imagine numerically the vibration is reduced drastically as the wall studs are fairly independent from the floor. So are we talking a. 75% reduction? 99%? Just curious to see.
 
now is said wall shelf is on a wall that has say a front/back door to house along same wall, when shut hard can cause an issue, etc.
 
cjj2d said:
now is said wall shelf is on a wall that has say a front/back door to house along same wall, when shut hard can cause an issue, etc.
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Hm. Good point. So even if the door is in another room...but if its on the same wall side it could be a problem?


Kind like a " T " where the front door is to the right of the vertical leg of the T and the turntable on the left. Does the vertical leg of the T (the wall that seperates the rooms) somehow protect that? Or the fact that tt and door are on same side be a problem.
 
Yesss! they ARE easily affected by less than rock solid floors.
My Thorens lived in bookcase/shelving unit a room with a concrete floor for Decades.
Never ! any issues from bounce Or bass and my speakers go very low.
Moved my TT to a different floor in my house . Structure is 2 x 12's @16" centres, 3/4" plywood subfloor screwed and glued to the joists.
A more rigid construction than in most homes, barring those with Concrete subfloors.
TT is on a small table about 4 feet out from nearest supporting structure below.
I cannot walk accross the room without the needle bouncing.
Nature of the beast .. Adapt.. is the only genuine recourse.
IMO As an Architect. wall mounting a TT is seriously sketchy as a cantilvered shelf will experience large vibration waves via the levered moment.
BUT theory is often at variance with reality One can always try.
 
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Re footfalls, the service manual advices to place the turntable in a corner in case of problems, where the issues are usually less pronounced. They also advice on adding "cotton wadding" into the coils of the springs for damping, until satisfactory results are obtained. Besides a wallshelf, sounds like good advice. Damping the springs at some point acoustic isolation starts to get worse I believe, but not sure at which point it starts to make any real difference. I'm not educated on the physics and resonances related.
 
Brick wall and diy-ed shelve/cabinet made from IKEA kitchen cabinets. :-)

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I can jump around, slam with doors and turn up the bass and it never moves!
 
Thanks, it's 3 small cabinets wrapped in glossy side panel all around.
It can hold the tv and turntable on top and room for all my other gear inside. Only downside is that my amps cannot be deeper than 34 cm.
 
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