TD150 Converts Vinyl Sufferer
Now then,
My son had given me a TD 150 he'd acquired as a basket case. Only fair really as he had dismantled my LP12 and made all manner of things from it. He had fitted a Rega RB251 to the old Thorens and had tried to get me interested in vinyl once again, after a three year hiatus. Getting hold of Nick Gorham's non-functioning WAD phono clone and restoring it to working order had given another boost to my interest in the black stuff.
The turntable had sounded good on first acquaintance, since it had been a long time since I had last heard vinyl. This did not last I'm afraid. Over the few weeks I've had the TT the things that really piss me off big style about vinyl had begun slowly to reassert themselves and once again my interest interest was on the wane. Nick's phono stage did provide a measure of relief from this, but being a revealing sort of phono stage after a while it was beginning to get me really hacked off with vinyl again, I'm sorry but my SB3 wiped the floor with vinyl in terms of not possessing the characteristics that drove me mad about the black stuff.
You see the thing that really pisses me off with records is not the scratches etc as a good deck makes these relatively unobtrusive. No; it's the insidious fuzz that starts to overlay everything, as the arm traverses the last couple of tracks on a side. Worse even than that is spitting on sibilants and cymbals that go Tfffffffffff. This is, in a way, worse than end-of-side distortion, as it can appear anywhere and is not dependent on how far the arm is from the centre spindle. I CANT STAND IT! Once I know it's there I sit waiting for it and bang goes the musical enjoyment. Digital simply does not suffer from this and because of this one overriding fact, I can forgive digital all of its other alleged sins. With the Squeezebox I listen to music not the sound of records. yesterday I stuck it on random play and had hours of music playing with not a smidge of listening fatigue.
I've had all manner of stylus tips during my vinyl career, from Shibatas to Fritz Gyger profiles and Garrott Bros tips. I've had Shure V15s, Goldring 1042s, Nagaokas, Glanz MFGs, more Audio Technicas than you could shake a stick at, ADCs, Sonus Blues, Ortofons, Corals, Regas, A&R P77s, E77s and C77s...on and on we go. The rush of hearing an "improvement" with one of these cartridges quickly gave way to the realisation that we were, at the end of the day, still left with the same old vinyl problems, just presented differently.
Despite all this frustration I have persevered with vinyl, God knows why but there is something about it that would be capable of satisfying my every musical desire if it weren't for that damnable fuzz and "sssspit". That's the deal breaker every time!
You see, much of the vinyl I have heard at the various fests had, whatever the deck arm or cartridge, spoiled itself at some point with the self-same fuzziness and has reinforced my liking for the digital style of presentation. Nicks SP10/Hadcock and Will's 401 have come closest to not tripping up. The only TTs I have heard that have not tripped up at all have been the various air bearing parallel trackers, so there is hope. But as Greg for instance, on the whole prefers pp amps I still, on balance, have much preferred digital in the form of computer audio. Until now that is
So to the turntable,
Getting the earthing sorted was the first step to noise-free playback but the problems that plagued my enjoyment still remained.
Today I finally got around to making up a new armboard for the Thorens.
I think the original board had been made for a Rega RB250 and as such, it would have been fine; except that the Origin Live Option 1 version of the Rega arm I had was actually the new RB251 with the three point plastic mounting.
This meant that the rear hole for the arm mount overhung the back of the armboard by a quarter of an inch, meaning that the arm could only be mounted by two screws, which is how it had come from our Anthony.
So in order to give the Thorens a fighting chance of changing 30 years of simmering hostility to the vinyl LP, I thought I'd better sort out the armboard. I fashioned a replacement board out of a piece of MDF and moved the Rega mounting hole further round the mounting radius toward the edge and further forward. The rear mounting hole was now well away from the rear of the armboard and the fouling problem was eliminated.
Here are a few pics:
Here's the controversial Rega three point mounting in close up. Personally I can't see what the problem is with it but it has certainly raised a few hackles in cyberspace.
Here we see the deck in a full shot. Note how the Rega arm is placed over to the right of the armboard. It cannot be mounted on the centre line due to it being a ten inch arm. Centre line mounting puts the hole too far back on the armboard, which was the problem with the original one.
The business end of the arm is a Stanton club cartridge from the 680EL series. I have also a Stanton 890SA club cart but with Nick's phono it had a bit too high an output, which restricted the volume control range on the amp. This lower output 680EL mkII gives a bit more flexibility with the amp volume.
Well after setting the suspension again, fitting the cart and firing up the deck we now have a turntable that can compete and beat the sound of my SB3. The record you see on the platter is an old Jazz Juice Latin set from the 1980s. This was a record I could never get to play without the dreaded ssssssth sound, even on the second track in, a shame as the music is superb.
Well the Thorens Stanton Rega combo sailed through the whole of the first side with not a whimper of protest, sounding secure, rhythmic and detailed. To be honest I was gobsmacked!
I pulled out "The Raw and the Cooked" by Fine Young Cannibals and proceeded to cue up "Ever Fallen in Love" I was fully expecting something horrible, but again the combo sailed through this loud, compressed end-of -side track without a hint of spit or sizzle.
For me this is revelatory. For the first time I am getting a sound from vinyl that I can live with. It does not need excuses making for it. I don't feel that I have to like it because the connoisseurs say I ought to. It is simply doing what it should have been doing all along and playing music without accompanying it with fizzy noises.
Reading a few snippets on the Interweb some folks reckon that the Rega arm is one of the worst arms you could possibly fit to a suspended subchassis deck. It does not work. I have never read such bollocks in my life! The combination of the new Rega RB251 and a Thorens TD150 is quite magical. Maybe it is the new mounting arrangement, who knows? Roy Gandy might actually know what he is doing by changing the arm mounting, after all it is his product when all is said and done.
In terms of cartridges, the Stanton 680EL with its gull-wing mounting brackets and replaceable stylus should be a mediocre performer, but again it sings in this company and tracks superbly, better than the 890SA, which fizzed and spat on a few records, much as the Shure M3D can do. Looking at a few DJ sites, the 680EL appears to have a formidable reputation on the club circuit for its clean, clear and secure sound when playing through a big PA rig. It is not made any more so is highly prized by the DJ set. Genuine NOS styli are still available however. I'm having a couple of spares as I'd hate to lose something that has actually managed to convince me that vinyl can be better than digital.
Quite where this crap about the Rega arms not working on LP12s Thorens decks and other subchassis types originated from, I don't know. I can't help thinking that had I fitted one of these to my LP12, instead of the Akito maybe my vinyl experience would have been more positive.
Steve
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), but communicative and great fun!. Old LP's may even prefer a conical tip for all I know..
Originally Posted by SteveTheShadow
