Back to my restoration... I started on the tonearm tonight. The wires disintegrated when I tried to disconnect the pickering cartridge so I ordered some kab superflex tonearm wire. The arm was full of spray foam or something which had to be removed. I'm a little worried it will change the damping or balance but didnt see a choice. Once clear it was pretty easy to pull through the new wire. I debated whether I should twist them or braid them but the wire is so flexy it wouldnt hold a twist. I decided to try them loose. Leaving the solder work for a clear head tomorrow.
New (to me) Thorens td-124
- Thread starter jkvw
- Start date
adnick
Addicted Member
To mimic the foam, you can slide the appropriate size shrink tube into the arm, it works well….
Cool thanks for the idea. Would you run the wires through the shrink tube or just slide it in next to the wires. I guess i could use two small tubes to hold the wires apart for each channel.
I also see on the web that people dampen the tube with heat shrink on the outside of the tube. I sort of like that idea as the plating on mine has worn off and looks crappy. I was going to spray it with a silver and try to match the rest of the arm. Not sure it is worth sending out to have re-plated. I could spray it with plasti-dip. Plasti-dip or heat shrink tube on the outside would be easy to remove if I wanted to go back to non-hacky "stock" look.
adnick
Addicted Member
I’d recommend running the wires through a single tube inside the arm…won’t get into the debate about tonearm wires, will leave that to the experts
The outside of that tube can be sanded and polished, not very difficult even by hand, and look fantastic. I’ve done this with many old arms that the plating is flaking off or scratched up.
VR
Andy
twiiii
Lunatic Member
I owned them I didn't say I hated them. I enjoyed them very much at the time. I just said there was much better out there. Just like todays phono cartridges with advanced stylus shapes are better than yesterdys cartridges, Newer turn tables are better and especially the arms.
You might come off better by simply stating that you ‘prefer’ certain gear over other gear rather than making your opinion the ‘correct’ one.
Peace
I’d recommend running the wires through a single tube inside the arm…won’t get into the debate about tonearm wires, will leave that to the experts
The outside of that tube can be sanded and polished, not very difficult even by hand, and look fantastic. I’ve done this with many old arms that the plating is flaking off or scratched up.
VR
Andy
I guess that also has the benefit of keeping the wires away from whatever remains of the foam. I couldnt remove 100% of it so will have to see if I could fit any heat shrink in there. A 1/8th inch drill bit just barely fit in the tube so there isnt much room.
I think you need to state a "Price" tier before making a statement like that.
When I restored my TD-124 it was that or a new VPI. Problem for me was that (at the time) the VPI I was interested in came with a Unipivot Arm, which I thought had its detractions.
I also wanted the ability to swap arms easily. Can't get much easier than the TD-124... 3 screws and pop in a new armboard.
The TD-124 is my no means "The Ideal" turntable, but what is?
All that matters to me is that I like it and that it keeps speed "Rock Steady".
I also greatly admire my SME 3009 II (Unimproved) tonearm. I think my setup was a bargain when I put it together.
My 2 cents
Yeah, would be a fun skill to pickup. The cheap $60 ones say they're only good for small items like rings. The nicer kits are $400 to $1000 which is probably too much to invest. But there is one kit for $100 that might be cheap enough to experiment.
adnick
Addicted Member
Rich,
The thing was extremely quite to begin with, just on occasion the idler would make a slight noise like it lost it’s balance. It might not happen for several albums and it took me a while to discover what was causing it…
However the new idler is certainly smoother running, it’s not detectable by ear, noticeable visually and I’d bet the oscilloscope will display it also, but haven’t tested it yet.
I’m going to send the original idler to my friend Abe who has made many Delrin idlers for me so he can make one for the Thorens. This is just for my own testing and has nothing to do with the Audiosilente, it’s a fantastic idler.
VR
Andy
The thing was extremely quite to begin with, just on occasion the idler would make a slight noise like it lost it’s balance. It might not happen for several albums and it took me a while to discover what was causing it…
However the new idler is certainly smoother running, it’s not detectable by ear, noticeable visually and I’d bet the oscilloscope will display it also, but haven’t tested it yet.
I’m going to send the original idler to my friend Abe who has made many Delrin idlers for me so he can make one for the Thorens. This is just for my own testing and has nothing to do with the Audiosilente, it’s a fantastic idler.
VR
Andy
Polished the tonearm a bit, looks ok though i had to be careful around the bearings etc so not perfect. Also managed to get heat shrink in the tube, it would only fit after shrinking. Couldnt find a way to twist and hold the wires meaningfully so decided there wasnt much roi on further efforts.
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adnick
Addicted Member
Looking GoodThat cartridge looks like a XV15 625?
1200e? dont know much about them, worth replacing the stylus?
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adnick
Addicted Member
Spent some time wondering if I can / should re-use this nifty disconnecting cartridge holder. To use it I'd have to replace the pins and it seems like just another opportunity for contact issues. On the other hand I guess it allows for easy cartidge swaps. If I had another holder (which is probably impossible to find).
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adnick
Addicted Member
My approach is to do away with them unless they require no intervention
in other words, if they don’t need fixing…