helma
19-09-2015, 15:24
http://i.imgur.com/W3P5JrZ.jpg
First off there's a bad and really unforgiving picture, in real life it's actually a quite beautiful table in it's 70s high-tech way. I have spray painted the platter on mine off-white, because I didn't like the stock black look with it's metallic strobe markings, it was a bit too much of 70s mainland Europe evil futurism :D The antique white platter adds a touch of warmth into the overall appearance.
I recall when I posted my introductory thread someone was curious about this table so I thought I'd write something about it. It's a really interesting turntable that's most famous for having a version of the Ortofon AS-212 tonearm, and sadly you see a lot of Telefunkens around stripped of the arm, because it's almost a drop in replacement for the Lencos. The unfortunate thing is it's really a very good turntable in it's own right and IMO it would be wise to leave it as it is and get an arm for your TT project elsewhere - the world is full of tonearms.
The virtually identical but silver colored sister model S-500 was released in 1975 - I'm not sure if the black S-600 was released simultaneously or a couple years later, but the only differences I'm aware of between the models are the added cueing light on the S-600 and the fact it came bundled with Shure V-15III preinstalled. This is really high tech stuff for the time and somewhat innovative I think - the TT features suspended subchassis, but it's not the type you find in most Thorens, Linn, AR etc. tables where the springs are compressed, but instead the subchassis is freely hanging from the top plate using 3 springs. There's no adjustments available for the springs, but it doesn't seem to need any since it's still working just fine after 40 years of service. Because the springs are extended it's not at all bouncy compared to my TD-160 for example, but it does a pretty good job of isolating. There's a DC motor, which I think was also somewhat unusual for the time, speed control pots for both speeds and touch controls. The cueing mechanism is such it won't lock into down position if the power is off and likewise will instantly rise the arm if power is turned off during operation. It features optically triggered auto shut-off at the end of side, but other than that the TT is full manual.
The plinth is made of some very hard and acoustically dead plastic composite, the platter is dynamically balanced and made by Hella more known for their automotive parts (it has their stamped logo on the underside), it weighs about 2.5kg I think. The subplatter is plastic and the bearing is the usual affair, but with some kind of seemingly high-tech hard plasticky material for thrust plate at the bottom, maybe Delrin or something like it. In any case, it's very silent and well made, the platter spins for something like 2 minutes without the belt, coming to halt from 33rpm.
Despite the compact size and fairly light plinth the unit weighs around 10kgs, maybe a bit over - the top plate and subchassis are quite heavy and seem very rigid. There's a powersupply / speedcontrol PCB under the touch controls and typical German overengineering for the cueing mechanism and what not. Build quality and materials seem really good and I'd say above those of Thorens TD-160 for example. It's not a very tweakable table, there's no simple VTA adjustment for example and the first version of the original headshell wasn't even adjustable for overhang, but was designed for use with the supplied Shure V-15 - with the convenience of auto-stop it seems like this was intended as some kind of true hifi for the (rich) common man, who's not into hifi but into listening music and doing it with fidelity and style :D I recall reading somewhere this was priced similarly to Linn LP12 at the time, the difference being the Telefunken came with an arm and a cartridge, while those would've been added expenses with the Linn. I don't know how correct this information is, but I know the Telefunken wasn't cheap by any standard back in the day.
So how does it sound? Very good actually, but it's been a while since I had the table in my (since upgraded) main system, so I'm thinking maybe I need to give it another listen some day. I've been using it in the bedroom setup because of the auto-stop is really convenient for late night listening. Currently it has a Glanz MFG-31EX mounted which is a really nice cartridge and works well with the arm. It doesn't do the same kind of magic some conventional suspended tables have a knack for doing, but the upside of that is I also think it sounds a tad more natural, but like I said it's been a while the TT was in my main system.
First off there's a bad and really unforgiving picture, in real life it's actually a quite beautiful table in it's 70s high-tech way. I have spray painted the platter on mine off-white, because I didn't like the stock black look with it's metallic strobe markings, it was a bit too much of 70s mainland Europe evil futurism :D The antique white platter adds a touch of warmth into the overall appearance.
I recall when I posted my introductory thread someone was curious about this table so I thought I'd write something about it. It's a really interesting turntable that's most famous for having a version of the Ortofon AS-212 tonearm, and sadly you see a lot of Telefunkens around stripped of the arm, because it's almost a drop in replacement for the Lencos. The unfortunate thing is it's really a very good turntable in it's own right and IMO it would be wise to leave it as it is and get an arm for your TT project elsewhere - the world is full of tonearms.
The virtually identical but silver colored sister model S-500 was released in 1975 - I'm not sure if the black S-600 was released simultaneously or a couple years later, but the only differences I'm aware of between the models are the added cueing light on the S-600 and the fact it came bundled with Shure V-15III preinstalled. This is really high tech stuff for the time and somewhat innovative I think - the TT features suspended subchassis, but it's not the type you find in most Thorens, Linn, AR etc. tables where the springs are compressed, but instead the subchassis is freely hanging from the top plate using 3 springs. There's no adjustments available for the springs, but it doesn't seem to need any since it's still working just fine after 40 years of service. Because the springs are extended it's not at all bouncy compared to my TD-160 for example, but it does a pretty good job of isolating. There's a DC motor, which I think was also somewhat unusual for the time, speed control pots for both speeds and touch controls. The cueing mechanism is such it won't lock into down position if the power is off and likewise will instantly rise the arm if power is turned off during operation. It features optically triggered auto shut-off at the end of side, but other than that the TT is full manual.
The plinth is made of some very hard and acoustically dead plastic composite, the platter is dynamically balanced and made by Hella more known for their automotive parts (it has their stamped logo on the underside), it weighs about 2.5kg I think. The subplatter is plastic and the bearing is the usual affair, but with some kind of seemingly high-tech hard plasticky material for thrust plate at the bottom, maybe Delrin or something like it. In any case, it's very silent and well made, the platter spins for something like 2 minutes without the belt, coming to halt from 33rpm.
Despite the compact size and fairly light plinth the unit weighs around 10kgs, maybe a bit over - the top plate and subchassis are quite heavy and seem very rigid. There's a powersupply / speedcontrol PCB under the touch controls and typical German overengineering for the cueing mechanism and what not. Build quality and materials seem really good and I'd say above those of Thorens TD-160 for example. It's not a very tweakable table, there's no simple VTA adjustment for example and the first version of the original headshell wasn't even adjustable for overhang, but was designed for use with the supplied Shure V-15 - with the convenience of auto-stop it seems like this was intended as some kind of true hifi for the (rich) common man, who's not into hifi but into listening music and doing it with fidelity and style :D I recall reading somewhere this was priced similarly to Linn LP12 at the time, the difference being the Telefunken came with an arm and a cartridge, while those would've been added expenses with the Linn. I don't know how correct this information is, but I know the Telefunken wasn't cheap by any standard back in the day.
So how does it sound? Very good actually, but it's been a while since I had the table in my (since upgraded) main system, so I'm thinking maybe I need to give it another listen some day. I've been using it in the bedroom setup because of the auto-stop is really convenient for late night listening. Currently it has a Glanz MFG-31EX mounted which is a really nice cartridge and works well with the arm. It doesn't do the same kind of magic some conventional suspended tables have a knack for doing, but the upside of that is I also think it sounds a tad more natural, but like I said it's been a while the TT was in my main system.