Thorens owners group

[bhundu]

OK. I use the thrust plate in the two TD-160 I have permanently as spinning options. I also have all the other usual mods. Inner platter disc, 3/4 MDY bottom, Dynamat on top plate, cork on sub. etc.

They are dead silent. Black.

Was it the thrust plate that deadened the sound?

FWIW I did read the material of the plate was the lesser wearing of the material between the plate and the shaft point, and therefore had replacement/cost disadvantages. Need to see some evidence before it's believed however.

Essentially it was argued that the dimple in the bottom of the original was a sign of the weaker vs stronger metal in action. Or good design factors wearing parts and makes them the smallest/cheapest/easiest to replace.

A synthetic plate was suggested. Teflon perhaps? It all made sense to me but I continue to use Joel's. Time for an oil change.

 

[bobins08]

I use the trust plate on my 160 Super and my 147. It's not just for the ball spindle. They all have the dimple from years off use. I would recommend the trust plate.

Thanks for the response. I suppose I could take it out if I don't care for it.

cheers, Bob

 

[bobins08]

OK. I use the thrust plate in the two TD-160 I have permanently as spinning options. I also have all the other usual mods. Inner platter disc, 3/4 MDY bottom, Dynamat on top plate, cork on sub. etc.

They are dead silent. Black.

Was it the thrust plate that deadened the sound?

FWIW I did read the material of the plate was the lesser wearing of the material between the plate and the shaft point, and therefore had replacement/cost disadvantages. Need to see some evidence before it's believed however.

Essentially it was argued that the dimple in the bottom of the original was a sign of the weaker vs stronger metal in action. Or good design factors wearing parts and makes them the smallest/cheapest/easiest to replace.

A synthetic plate was suggested. Teflon perhaps? It all made sense to me but I continue to use Joel's. Time for an oil change.

Thanks for the response.

I doubt the trust plate is big contributor to the sound improvement, seems like the damping mods are most important for that.

I see the advantage to the thrust plate being that it puts the wear on a replaceable part instead of on the bottom of the bearing well.

I ordered a thrust plate and the inner platter disk.

thanks, Bob

 

[Bob Clobber]

It's a goal of mine to load a TP-16 with a DL-103. What SUT are you using? I had been planning on doing a DIY Cinemag.

SUT? WASSUT?

I've heard the term before, but drawing a blank on what it means.

Thanks Barncat.

I guess the SUT is built into my NAD 1240 preamp. It has switches on the back to select either MC or MM cartridges.

 

[jancumps]

I removed the Empire 880p that has been on this turntable since forever, and replaced it with a Pickering XV-15 borrowed from a Dual that I'm restoring. It's running a Pickering D200 stylus.
You can't see the cartridge under the headshell, but still reason enough to take a new picture

 

[bob06]

I removed the Empire 880p that has been on this turntable since forever, and replaced it with a Pickering XV-15 borrowed from a Dual that I'm restoring. It's running a Pickering D200 stylus.
You can't see the cartridge under the headshell, but still reason enough to take a new picture

Looking Good! :thmbsp:

 

[80daytripper]

Time to give this thread a bump.

Just thought I'll post a pic of TD 160 Super, that I purchased recently. Lots of tweaking/modding/polishing etc. done, and this is how it looks now.

I have replaced the original wooden arm base plate with a Soundsupports' SME solid base plate, also gone is Ortofon VMS 30Mk2, AT-440 Mla now doing a terrific job. This seems to be a perfect match for SME Imp, superb tracker and a slightly brighter sound suits my old records perfectly well. Thanks for this forum and all posters for the advice to buy it.

I have been mad enough to purchase two Thorens 160's during this year.

MK1 and SME S2 Imp (fixed headshell) still has a Shure M97xE, and I am planning to get a Jico SAS one day. Anyone tested both Shure & Jico and AT-440 Mla - I would be curious to learn which one is a winner in that race? I have a spare SME headshell for Super, so there is a chance of quick changing of carts if needed. Perhaps a AT vs Shure/Jico comparision will be done in there soon, as it is my #1 deck now.

 

[Sanc]

OK. I use the thrust plate in the two TD-160 I have permanently as spinning options. I also have all the other usual mods. Inner platter disc, 3/4 MDY bottom, Dynamat on top plate, cork on sub. etc.

They are dead silent. Black.

Was it the thrust plate that deadened the sound?

FWIW I did read the material of the plate was the lesser wearing of the material between the plate and the shaft point, and therefore had replacement/cost disadvantages. Need to see some evidence before it's believed however.

Essentially it was argued that the dimple in the bottom of the original was a sign of the weaker vs stronger metal in action. Or good design factors wearing parts and makes them the smallest/cheapest/easiest to replace.

A synthetic plate was suggested. Teflon perhaps? It all made sense to me but I continue to use Joel's. Time for an oil change.

This is a really good point. If the material is very cheap it would definitely be counter-intuitive. It would probably develop its own dimple and if its very cheap it may even bend a little over time. I can't imagine its that severe though.

Out of curiosity, you hear of people, like marcmorin, setting up thrust plates made from really cool materials (sapphire maybe?) for AR tables. Does anyone use stuff like that for Thorens tables? That could be a really cool upgrade.

Something else that I was surprised that didn't catch on was that Vinyl Nirvana was selling acrylic outer platters for the Thorens belt decks. Essentially the same exact Merrill acrylic platter for the AR. I picked one up for 160 and it absolutely has made a large difference. The one negative thing about it is that it weighs far less than the original platter so it throws off the stock weight of the sub chassis + sub platter + outer platter weight. But this can be mitigated in a few ways. Heavier record weight, Dynomat/other dampening materials on the sub chassis, etc. The good thing about the less weight is that it is less stress on the motor, perhaps quieting it down as it doesn't need to work as hard.

Another cool little upgrade Dave offered was this little nylon/delrin (or something) block that is glued to the bottom of your motor. Inside this little block is a tiny tiny pin that is pushed upwards by a tiny spring. The pin pushes your spindle bearing upwards just enough so it doesn't rest on and rub against the innards of the motor itself.

 

[nerpissad]

Recently I swapped out the original TP16 tonearm for an SME3009 imp. with detachable headshell on my TD160.
I'm looking for ideas as to what other people use on the holes of the arm rest and arm lift switch. What's the size of the two small holes where the arm rest used to be, i.e. what type of screws would I need?
I'd love to hear what others have done to tidy up the hole of the arm lift switch.

 

[Sanc]

Recently I swapped out the original TP16 tonearm for an SME3009 imp. with detachable headshell on my TD160.
I'm looking for ideas as to what other people use on the holes of the arm rest and arm lift switch. What's the size of the two small holes where the arm rest used to be, i.e. what type of screws would I need?
I'd love to hear what others have done to tidy up the hole of the arm lift switch.

Bubble level for arm rest. Cue knob left in place.

 

[bob06]

Nice looking Super daytripper. :thmbsp:

 

[nerpissad]

Bubble level for arm rest. Cue knob left in place.

Wonderfully looking TD160 you have!
I already have a spare bubble level, albeit not as pretty as yours, so I think I'll go with that for the arm rest position.
The arm lift mechanism has been removed completely when I put in the SME so I'd prefer a decorative screw or something of that nature.

 

[Sanc]

Nice looking Super daytripper. :thmbsp:

+1. Very nice looking table. Love the tonearm :thmbsp:

Wonderfully looking TD160 you have!
I already have a spare bubble level, albeit not as pretty as yours, so I think I'll go with that for the arm rest position.
The arm lift mechanism has been removed completely when I put in the SME so I'd prefer a decorative screw or something of that nature.

Thanks! Speaking of Vinyl Nirvana in this thread, Dave built this deck. I bought the arm and armboard separately and he set it up for me. The plinth is a Padauk which he also built and finished. It is easily my favorite part of the table. Very hard to take pictures to give the work justice that went into it.

You can find the chrome bubble levels online pretty easily. For the holidays I plan on getting a Mose Hercules PSU. When I do that I'm going to have as much of the underparts removed as possible. That includes the big plastic pieces needed for the cueing and power functionality. The trick is I want to keep the knobs for the vestigial look, even if they are completely stationary.

Close up of the bubble level and some others.

 

[4johng]

Hi ,

To fill the hole for the arm lift ,go to the hardware stall and get a rubber gromit

it looks neat and tidy. They will sell them in all different sizes and are very cheap.
Look to the left where the on off speed control should be , I have an internal Speed box on my deck, so I took it out.

Regards,
4JohnG.

 

[80daytripper]

Anyone of you Thorens/SME owners tested both AT-440 Mla and Shure M97xE & Jico SAS?

Also, another thing I am pondering. I haven't tested a record clamp before with any table. How much a difference can it make?

Great looking tables sanc and 4johng! Keep posting them pictures folks, there's no better looking stuff than vintage Thorens decks. :thmbsp:

 

[MrTie]

 

[bob06]

NICE! :thmbsp:

 

[nerpissad]

pretty sure I posted in here before, but a new arm is enough a reason to do it again:

overview:

 

[bob06]

Love the looks of the SME's. :yes:

 

[80daytripper]

Love the looks of the SME's. :yes:

Agreed!

By the way, have you enjoyed AT 440 Mla? For me it is doing a brilliant job with detachable SME s2 Improved.