bhundu
Addicted Member
I was just sharing some info with a fellow AKer and thought the following copy and paste could be helpful for those that will need to use spacer/shims to correctly adjust VTA on their Thorens tables.
The spacers. There were a lot of Thorens models that included an original spacer kit and screw set. I found mine from a TD-147 Jubilee. They are all 1/2" mount headshells and metric 2mm screws so any "Thorens" set will work. They are however as rare as hens teeth. Keep a regular eye out and patience will reward. Mine took eight months of daily searching.
In the mean time you are going to have to make some. Find some plastic of different thicknesses and cut to shape. Drill the screw holes. Drill out some more holes to reduce weight. When I first mounted my AT-440MLa I needed a 2mm spacer. I searched the house and shed for days looking for a plastic of the right thickness. The answer had been staring me in the face in the form of a non-working pedestle fan. It's plastic housing was exactly 2mm thick. Although since then I have aquired the original spacer set, I still use my home made spacer on my main headshell. If you can't find the right thickness in a plastic that is required you can always use 2,3,4 thickness of a thinner plastic. I spaced out a tonearm lift on the BFU-121 with 3 sections of plastic from an ice cream container that added to 2mm just recently.
Screws. These you can't make and what I found to be very hard to get locally. There are sets that you can buy on ebay from Europe. You need a range of about 6 or more different lengths from about 6mm - 20mm. Of all the screws I've scrounged, some are magnetic and other aren't (aluminium). A quick test with a small magnet will confirm. The original Thoren screw set is magnetic and should be avoided with the use of MC carts.
The spacers. There were a lot of Thorens models that included an original spacer kit and screw set. I found mine from a TD-147 Jubilee. They are all 1/2" mount headshells and metric 2mm screws so any "Thorens" set will work. They are however as rare as hens teeth. Keep a regular eye out and patience will reward. Mine took eight months of daily searching.
In the mean time you are going to have to make some. Find some plastic of different thicknesses and cut to shape. Drill the screw holes. Drill out some more holes to reduce weight. When I first mounted my AT-440MLa I needed a 2mm spacer. I searched the house and shed for days looking for a plastic of the right thickness. The answer had been staring me in the face in the form of a non-working pedestle fan. It's plastic housing was exactly 2mm thick. Although since then I have aquired the original spacer set, I still use my home made spacer on my main headshell. If you can't find the right thickness in a plastic that is required you can always use 2,3,4 thickness of a thinner plastic. I spaced out a tonearm lift on the BFU-121 with 3 sections of plastic from an ice cream container that added to 2mm just recently.
Screws. These you can't make and what I found to be very hard to get locally. There are sets that you can buy on ebay from Europe. You need a range of about 6 or more different lengths from about 6mm - 20mm. Of all the screws I've scrounged, some are magnetic and other aren't (aluminium). A quick test with a small magnet will confirm. The original Thoren screw set is magnetic and should be avoided with the use of MC carts.
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