Hello you, it's me !

[tlscapital]

Hi everyone, I'm into vinyl collecting for 30 years and more since a teenager. But it's only since 5 years or a bit more that I ventured into the "vintage" phono bits and had to DIY work on my Thorens turntable and Leak 'Sandwich' speakers in order to keep them going first and to upgrade them in second. I love, collect and play in or out 6T's & 7T's USA 45's singles.

Got convinced then to start and invest into a proper phono set-up quest. I started with a Denon DL-102 (true MONO pick-up) that implied to switch from my dull "classic DJ turntable" into something "evolutive". Ideally I'd have bought a 'start-stop' turntable, like a Garrard 301 or 401. But, as an absolute beginner, I ventured with my little money into a Thorens TD160 'Super' (in disguise) fitted with an SME 3009 'improved' tonearm with fixed headshell.

I stayed "stupidly happy" with that phono set-up for almost 4 years. Woke up one morning with an itch and decided to convert my 'Improved' SME 3009 tonearm into a heavier with detachable headshell to give the Denon DL-102 pick-up a better fit. From then on, I ventured into my Thorens turntable and understood that it was a TD160 'Super' only from the outside !!! It was a '160 Super' for the top-plate only since the inside seems now to be from a 147 'Jubilee'. Both those models shared about everything on the outside (plinth and dust cover)...

From nature I'm no technician and even less of a geek. Still I went into discovering to my great surprise that all the tweaks I did do changes and really prove that all the financial and brain juice investments in there can have true meaning sound-wise. Anyway, after all that I'm fairly happy with the sound my old 45's dish out by now and the look of the whole phono set-up is almost "sexy" IMHO. It's a RI-FIdelity (right fidelity) set up for no HI-FI records. My phono-combo still has to rightfully sit in it's dedicated "music room" that is still in the making to conjugue itself with the whole sound proof and acoustic isolation I've done there.

I still intend to invest, when I'll have the money that is, into a PSU and tachometer (the Roadrunner & Eagle duo).

What I've got now is from needle to speakers;

- Denon DL-102 on a 'panga-panga' wood damping plate on an alloy mounting plate in a bakelite Ortofon SPU 'G' type headshell
- SME 3009 'Improved' converted into a heavier mass one with detachable headshell
- Thorens TD 147 'Jubilee' now 'Hybrid' to the bone sitting into a thick inside solid "beech-wood" (lasts step-pieces of an old dismantled stair) with ultra thick bottom on adjustable sorbothane feet
- Matts on platter are from top to bottom: leather, cork, felt & real 12" vinyl of Johnny Thunder
- Origin Live belt

This whole turntable now weight some fantastic 20 kilos !!!

- Pre-amp is a decent IMHO 'Modulis' (first generation) Isem that I've "adjust" to my ears and NOT by the book

- Amp is an 'Exampli' 2x40W from Etalon "2000 Generation"

- Speakers 12" Leak 'Sandwich' 15 OHMS

It's an old all odd, improvised and adjusted build up phono set-up that in the end do give some justice to my adored vintage USA soul 45's.

Cheers, Tim

[Spectral Morn]

Welcome to AoS Tim :)

[trio leo]

Hi Tim,
Welcome to the AoS from me, smashing introduction, I'm sure you will find many interesting posts on this friendly forum.

Enjoy your music :)

cheers Al

[walpurgis]

Hello Tim. Welcome to AOS.

Sounds like you're having fun with your system, which is what it's all about.

Keep us informed of any changes and progress you make. We like to hear what people are doing.

Have a look around the site. You'll find plenty to interest you. And join in any chat that appeals to you.


Enjoy the forum,
Geoff.

[Macca]

Hi Tim, welcome from me. Great intro and the sort of slightly madcap system we like here. Don't know if we have any other members using Leak Sandwich as a 'daily driver' speaker. If you could post a photo or two of your set up in 'The Gallery' section that would be great.

[tlscapital]

Thanks y'all, with little time I will learn how this forum works and use it ore fluently. See youZ around !

[tlscapital]

Hi Geoff, sometimes great fun indeed; when the tweak work succeeds. Sometimes a real pain, especially when "Murphis Law" invites itself into the game and you have to search for the "failure". Even when you work one tweak at a time, other factor might come into the "game".

Anyway, to my surprise every tweak I did but one had a real impact (not only IMHO) sound-wise that I was not "visualizing" prior to that. I did read about them and thought some might be over enthusiastic. The first one I did which was "mandatory" was to convert my SME tonearm into a heavy mass one with dampening and detachable headshell. Never before my Denon DL-102 MONO pick-up did read with such detail and accuracy.

Then changing the old original tonearm output cables (not the connections to RCA's though where only one review I read was argumenting "logically" against) really brought up the output volume and with it some clarity. At one time my 15 year old amp did let me down. It was "professionally" cleaned (the channel selector was out) and the power/dynamic after that not only it was fixed, it was also brought back to it's early days specs. Cleaning is also tweak work ! Now i know.

The making of the plinth and base in solid thick wood did damp and showed some more focus in the sound I did find. Plus it's 20 kilos weight in total of the turntable stabilizes the whole thing. Now dampening the sub-chassis of the Thorens turntable like hyped by many even by the manufacturer on the other hand did nothing for me... It's there now and considered by many an upgrade but I guess with all the other tweaks I did, this last one was rather point-less.

The matt dampening with different materials was also amazing. I never thought by trial I would find such difference in sound but I did ! Here again I went step by step and backward to keep it as it is now. Where the top leather mat has a double function, soft for dropping and picking up the 45's while the platter still spins, it's also a great antistatic material. Cork is a good dampener and anti-static. Felt and vinyl can capture the static and keep it down-below.

Finally, all those improvements brought to light the unevenness in sound on both my speakers and the necessity the renew them capacitors. I first went the "cheapest" way there, like many do advised me and was shocked by the poor sound I got out of them. So I followed a reputed dealer advice and bought his. I had to work 4 hours on them testing every option with the same 45 on and on to place them "our way" and not by the "scheme". Pleasure (listening) and satisfaction (brain & guts juice) after pain (failures) and waste (time & little money in the end) is at the end of the road.

Will let you know when I'll do others. Cheers, Tim


Hello Tim. Welcome to AOS.

Sounds like you're having fun with your system, which is what it's all about.

Keep us informed of any changes and progress you make. We like to hear what people are doing.

Have a look around the site. You'll find plenty to interest you. And join in any chat that appeals to you.


Enjoy the forum,
Geoff.

[tlscapital]

Hi Tim, welcome from me. Great intro and the sort of slightly madcap system we like here. Don't know if we have any other members using Leak Sandwich as a 'daily driver' speaker. If you could post a photo or two of your set up in 'The Gallery' section that would be great.


Hi Martin, cheers 4 that. Will post pics when my phono will be installed in it's right context (music room still in the making) and when I'll have a way to take descent pictures and transfer them back in my computer. Cheers, Tim

[Barry]

Welcome to AoS Tim,

Your odyssey with the Denon 102 and Thorens TT make fascinating reading. In many people's experience, Denons like to have additional mass at the headshell: I use a Denon 103 fitted in a Fidelity Research S-3 headshell, the whole weighing ~29g. It works very well with the SME 3009/II (non-improved).

Delighted to hear you are now enjoying your 45s - A la recherche a temps perdu?

Enjoy the Forum
Barry