Thorens specific group please ?

[Dingdong]

I would disagree with DSJR n the mat. But from most of his recommendations he must have quite different ears from me.

Cable dressing is just fixing the arm cable so that it has little effect on the suspension.

Not sure if much will help with the warps tbh. The clamp will help if it is warped in a bell shape perhaps.

Invest in summat to clean yer vinyl as well.

Stick with the M75 for now.

Try Brasso for polishing the arm.

[Bazil]

Forgot to mention getting a better mat (Blue Horizon or summat) and a record clamp (Michell) will make big improvements too.

And if you really want to go mad then build or buy a power supply for it.

As long as you have a TD 160 with the long spindle, which I don't unfortunately.

[Dingdong]

Ah. I'm sure there are clamps that will take a short spindle, just can't think of one atm.

[Rare Bird]

Michell's old clamps should be fine..

[Dingdong]

Michell's old clamps should be fine..

I used to have one of them. Pretty thing, but the hinges on the brish thingy for my cartridge kept bouncing off it.

[Rare Bird]

Ah right ive heard this complaint before!! the later Michell clamps maybe better as they have a beveled edge

[Dingdong]

Ah right ive heard this complaint before!! the later Michell clamps maybe better as they have a beveled edge

Got one of them now. The old ones are good, but if you have a wide cart they can hit the edges of it.Most will be okay though.

[Rare Bird]

Yeh i can see why now.. still the early ones are real sexy but i can understand someting like a Shue V15 would be nay goowd.

[Floyddroid]

Blimey, you got off lightly Graham. You should have seen the fuss that was caused when i posted the fact that i thought there may have been a sub forum for Tube/valve users. I think you are only allowed a sun forum if you have a Technics 1210??????????????
Good little TT's the 160's though. I had hours of fun with mine. The best arm i ever heard on it though was a Mayware Formular 4. It sounded mint.

[ppat2]

Hi Graham,

I am going through the same process as you with a recently purchased TD160.

The only changes I have made so far are:

I kept the Shure M91ED cartridge, but replaced the stylus with a new Jico SAS 192-91ED stylus. This was a suggestion from DSJR, and a very good one. It really cleaned up the sound and smoothed out the highs and provided more detail, without any edginess or brightness.

I put on a new Thorens branded belt.

I am using an aftermarket felt mat on top of the rubber Thorens mat. The tonearm height as been adjusted for the extra thickness on the platter. I have compared this A/B many times, and every time it sounds better using both mats, than just the rubber one that comes with the 160. I can't remember the model of the mat I have, but it was about $50 CDN new.

With some blu tack, I placed 3 Black Diamond Racing cones under the plinth point side down, and the plinth on a stable shelf with some home made isolation, blu tack, mdf, etc.

I am using a clamp, and it is the Clearaudio Quadro clamp. Quite pricey, but works very well. I had a chance to bring home 4 different clamps to demo, and this was the best for my setup. Two of the other clamps were even more expensive, but did not improve any of the sonics. The Quadro proved t be very good in my setup. The Quadro was not purchased for the TD160. I have had it for some time for use with my other deck. I have compared A/B many times with clamp and without, and I prefer the tigther more stable imaging I get with the clamp on.

I am by no means an expert at any of this. I am new to the original TD160 and just starting to make a project of it.

For me, the next step will be to replace the bottom plate on the plinth and adjust the levelling screws at the same time and pull the foam out from the springs as others have suggested.

You can read some of the other suggestions I received at this AOS thread:
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=22301