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Thorens TD-147 Platter Wobble Help

G

GR3GRS

Member
Hey all, I just purchased a Thorens TD-147 and the thing looks mint. However, one flaw that I’ve noticed is the platter is a little wobbly. Maybe 1-1.5mm of play. I was wondering if anyone had any insight on solving this problem. I really don’t want to mess up my turntable in the process. I noticed there are the two shipping screws underneath and then 3 access points to nuts which I believe adjusts the suspension. Is adjusting those nuts a good place to start for trying to level out the inner platter? If so, is there any kind of guidelines or tips to follow on tuning the suspension? Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
 
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What type of wobble, vertical or horizontal? Suspended tables such as Thorens are very very sensitive to wobble and bounce because that's the nature of suspended tables. My TD 145 is very bouncy, they key is to adjust the suspension so that it has more vertical bounce than horizontal. Also when ideally tuned it should reduce environmental vibrations.
 
It kind of appears to be a little of both. The platter tilts side to side and I also can see the tone arm moving up and down on the surface of the record.
 
Without a record playing, if you push down on the platter, does the tonearm move up down as well? Is this your first suspended table?
 
That's suspended turntables for ya! It took me a while to get used to it. In fact I still prefer heavy non-suspended plinth turntables because they are less prone to bouncing and what not.
 
Back to the original post, make sure the shipping screws are loosened. There are some threads on optimizing suspension adjustments too.
 
Well, thanks for the insight! Do you think I should bother adjusting the suspension screws or leave it alone?
 
I have loosened shipping screws. I also read some forums on the matter and it doesn’t seem very straight forward. I think I might put this thing up on some paint cans and take a wrench to it. Thanks again!
 
I would try and get it so the bounce is more vertical than horizontal. If anything just keep in mind the adjustments you make in case you decide to go back to the way it was. There isn't really anything you can mess up with adjustments, it just takes some fiddling to get it right.
 
I actually have it open now. I’ve been tinkering with the suspension screws for the past hour. So much for remembering my starting point. Lol. It looks like I have it in a bit of a better place. The back spring was a little tight. Left spring looks a little seized up. I think the foam is stuck in it. I’ve seen on some forums that others have had issues with this. I might remove the foam or just replace the springs here soon. Thanks for your help.
 
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