How good IS a Thorens 160?

[Mr Kipling]

Years ago it used to be suggested that a Rega 3 was better. Never being able to compare the two, I've always wondered.

Kind Regards,
Stephen

[hifi_dave]

Back in the 70-80's we always kept a selection of 'popular' turntables to demonstrate against the Planar-3, as it was then. Amongst these was the TD160 and a mod'd TD160 with beefed up plinth, damped platter and damping mat. We didn't sell many because customers preferred the Planar-3 and were prepared to wait up to 6 months for one.

Having said that, the TD160 is a good turntable and worth considering.

[Mr Kipling]

Back in the 70-80's we always kept a selection of 'popular' turntables to demonstrate against the Planar-3, as it was then. Amongst these was the TD160 and a mod'd TD160 with beefed up plinth, damped platter and damping mat. We didn't sell many because customers preferred the Planar-3 and were prepared to wait up to 6 months for one.

Having said that, the TD160 is a good turntable and worth considering.

Thanks, Dave. I've always wondered.

[YNWaN]

The TD160 was the first turntable I ever cannibalised for bits. It's limitations rest in the absolute quality of its main bearing and drive pulley - the drive pulley is injection moulded plastic and the bearing isn't particularly highly toleranced. It is also well worth replacing the plastic armboard with an aluminium one. The suspension needs careful adjustment and the compliance of the springs isn't as well judged as it could be (a popular mod is to replace them with LP12 springs). There are a lot of mods on the Internet that involve sticking bitumen damping to pretty much every bit of the deck - I wouldn't though.

[DSJR]

I agree with hifi dave here, because back in the day, before I joined a large Rega dealer, we sold loads of Thorens TD160's (I set up most of the "Wigmore St" ones) and every time we traded in a Rega against an LP12, the Rega out-performed the THorens in musical terms if nothing else and the trade-ins were snapped up in a matter of a day or two. The R200 arm had a lot to do with it and this sounded good on a TD160 too.

Andr'e (Rare Bird) will confirm, but the TD160 went through some variation during its long life. By the time I came to it in the mid 70's, the main bearing slop had been dealt with, the ones I dealt with most having a thinner spindle with a deep bronzed sleeve. I think even later, during the 80's, the bearing reverted back to the old pattern of thicker spindle with twin sleeves for support.

Many people criticise the plastic pulley with start-up clutch, but whether there's any hard evidence to suport this over the fixed metal pulley, I don't know.

The TD150 is now dearer on the used market than the 160 for some reason. I'm rather fond of the TD160 and, with modern mat and cartridge, a decent sample should perform well I reckon. The original TP16 tonearm is perfect for modern 1.5g trackers by Ortofon and others and the later clumsy low mass "wand" version is perfect for a Shure V15 SAS, which sounds incredibly good (my mastering engineer friend used a TD147 Jubilee with a V15 VMR to fantastic effect).

[YNWaN]

Well, the manufacturing tolerances of the 150 were certainly no better than the 160 (the one I have isn't any way). My problem with the plastic pulley is that it isn't desperately concentric, but then the one on the Rega isn't either.

[PLINIUS]

Well, the manufacturing tolerances of the 150 were certainly no better than the 160 (the one I have isn't any way). My problem with the plastic pulley is that it isn't desperately concentric, but then the one on the Rega isn't either.
There were many TD160 variants, only 2 of the 6 I have owned had synthetic pulleys & sub platters. Many were sold without tonearm, eliminating the weak link. A good example, properly set-up is/was a more capable turntable than a Rega 3 when using the same arm IME.