Bought a Thorens TD147 with new Thakker belt. Checked speed and realized it was running a little fast. Ordered Thorens belt and just installed it today. The speed was dead on 33.33 rpm down from 33.52 (before adjusting azimuth I was in the 33.65 range). So if you’re having speed issues with your Thorens TT and don’t have a Thorens belt, you may want to consider getting the OG belt.
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tnsilver
Stereo Puppy
Thorens belts matter for the precision of Thorens belt drive turntables performance. Period. That's a well known fact - and they matter a lot! There's more than a few aftermarket suppliers that sell utter junk - and only about a handful that are reliable. In my experience Thakker is one of the best of them.
I'm always hesitant in accepting reported RPM measurements with two decimal point precision posted on the internet by home users - as opposed to labs. To me it implies usage of this or that smart phone RPM app - and all of them, without exception, still needs to bridge the hardware/software gap. In other words - they all depend on a specific device hardware - and these are all suspect to me.
In addition, I'm not clear (unfortunately to this day) why Thorens, a resurrected and reborn manufacturer that operated over the years under more than one licensee (i.e Fahrenbacher and etc...) would bother maintaining the tooling and assembly lines to produce the standard p/n 6800574 drive belt for turntable models that were discontinued over three decades ago.
What I think is a more likely scenario, is that various reincarnations of Thorens licensees order this (and other) drive belts from a third party OEM manufacturer (likely in Germany), which they provide with their desired specs. Over the years I've seen many poor productions, wrong dimensions bad belts, but occasionally I had some that were indistinguishable from the originals (other than the logo print) and performed just as well. The "Thakker original" belt - was one of them. I'm not sure how it compares to the original Thorens belt price wise (even on the Thakker website) but in the past the difference was marginal. I've always speculated Thakker orders these belts from the exact same supplier as did all the rest of the reliable distributors - and except for the "Thakker" logo - it is the exact same belt as the "Thorens". The extra price for a genuine belt is, IMO, royalties to the brand.
I'm not encouraging anyone to prefer aftermarket over genuine belts in this case - but I'm pretty sure even the 'genuine' belts aren't 'genuine' per se. In any case, I've ordered a lot of gear from Thakker - it was always 100% as described, and always 100% genuine when they said it is. If they say their "Thakker original" Thoren belt is the same specs and the same material as the "Thorens original" - I believe it is. I had never gotten the impression it isn't.
I'm always hesitant in accepting reported RPM measurements with two decimal point precision posted on the internet by home users - as opposed to labs. To me it implies usage of this or that smart phone RPM app - and all of them, without exception, still needs to bridge the hardware/software gap. In other words - they all depend on a specific device hardware - and these are all suspect to me.
In addition, I'm not clear (unfortunately to this day) why Thorens, a resurrected and reborn manufacturer that operated over the years under more than one licensee (i.e Fahrenbacher and etc...) would bother maintaining the tooling and assembly lines to produce the standard p/n 6800574 drive belt for turntable models that were discontinued over three decades ago.
What I think is a more likely scenario, is that various reincarnations of Thorens licensees order this (and other) drive belts from a third party OEM manufacturer (likely in Germany), which they provide with their desired specs. Over the years I've seen many poor productions, wrong dimensions bad belts, but occasionally I had some that were indistinguishable from the originals (other than the logo print) and performed just as well. The "Thakker original" belt - was one of them. I'm not sure how it compares to the original Thorens belt price wise (even on the Thakker website) but in the past the difference was marginal. I've always speculated Thakker orders these belts from the exact same supplier as did all the rest of the reliable distributors - and except for the "Thakker" logo - it is the exact same belt as the "Thorens". The extra price for a genuine belt is, IMO, royalties to the brand.
I'm not encouraging anyone to prefer aftermarket over genuine belts in this case - but I'm pretty sure even the 'genuine' belts aren't 'genuine' per se. In any case, I've ordered a lot of gear from Thakker - it was always 100% as described, and always 100% genuine when they said it is. If they say their "Thakker original" Thoren belt is the same specs and the same material as the "Thorens original" - I believe it is. I had never gotten the impression it isn't.
So, I actually have been using the RPM app. LOL. However, it’s just kind of crazy that the first reading I took after the belt swap was dead on 33.33. I haven’t got that reading since I got the TT home.
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It should be mentioned that the right belt is extremely important for Thorens models without pitch control (160, 165, 145, ect.). The TD 125, 126 which have pitch control can use a lesser belt, but I wouldn't recommend it.