Thorens TD125 Restoration

[Jac Hawk]

You don't hear too much about this unloved beauty, the successor to the legendary TD124 it certainly had big boots to fill. Released for sale shortly after the TD150 which was more budget orientated the TD125 was the flagship of the Thorens range and with a price to match, it embraced the new solid state technology of the day with a Wein bridge oscillator controlled motor giving you 16, 33 & 45 at the touch of a button (no belt to manually move) and topped off with a Strobe for fine speed adjustment. Like the TD150 the top plate was sprung and the bearing and armboard where mounted to it. Built in the new state of the art German factory this deck should have been a sure thing, but it's price, the fact that Linn had launched the LP12 at about 2/3 of the price and it's complexity meant that it didn't sell.

Personally I love late 60's and 70's Thorens decks, my 1st deck was a hand me down TD160, so when I found a complete mk1 TD125 going for a very reasonable price on ebay I had to have it. I would have travelled to collect it but the seller was miles away and he assured me that he knew how to pack a turntable so it wouldn't get damaged, I must admit it was packed very very well, however the shear weight of the thing and the flimsiness / age of the plinth meant that the plinth broke at the joints. That didn't bother me too much, the seller refunded me some of my money which was great and I fully intended to re plinth it anyway. What struck me was how heavy it is in comparison to my TD160's, plus the quality and complexity of the construction, apart from the plinth it's on a different planet to the TD160.

So i've checked it over to make sure nothing is bent or broken and it's fine, i've plugged it in to see if it works and it's dead quiet at all speeds, as well as holding any given speed well, it looks like it's been recapped sometime in the past the nylon zip ties strapping one of the caps to the circuit board sort of give it away, but at some point through the restoration I intend to fully test the speed control board replacing any worn out components.

So here's what i'm going to do:

Disassemble and clean / lubricate
Re plinth with either a solid American oak or a Veneered Birch ply plinth
Spray paint the top plate, I think i'm going to go for a metallic black, the stock grey green RAL colour is a bit industrial for my liking.
remove the power cord and fit a figure of eight socket on the rear of the plinth
I'm toying with the idea of replacing the springs
replace the drive belt
polish the platter and sub platter
Replace the armboard with either a solid American oak or black Delrin
Fit my Audiomods Series 6 arm and Audio Technica Art9 cart

As I get into it I'll take some photos of the work, but for now here's what it was like when I was unpacking it:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51751130473_95615619ba_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2mR557e)IMG_0244 (https://flic.kr/p/2mR557e) by mike davis (https://www.flickr.com/photos/185433896@N07/), on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51750890026_cd2032df2d_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2mR3QCA)IMG_0245 (https://flic.kr/p/2mR3QCA) by mike davis (https://www.flickr.com/photos/185433896@N07/), on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51751537759_177523c819_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2mR7abp)IMG_0246 (https://flic.kr/p/2mR7abp) by mike davis (https://www.flickr.com/photos/185433896@N07/), on Flickr

[drSM]

Excellent !
I have a 'long wheel base' one waiting for me to muster the effort . The truth is i get distracted by other projects.
Mine is the mk1 comes with a 3012 but the plinth is destroyed by termites ! so i carefully binned that.
There are nice plinths made by a Spanish eBayer which are 'drop ins'. I hope the original cover that i have will fit that
Look forward to following your project

[Jac Hawk]

ok so as i've said there's a bit more to these than the TD160's I've worked on in the past, Vinyl Nirvana have done a load of videos showing how to correctly take one of these apart, my advice is if you're thinking about working on one watch these videos, a lot of stuff is obvious but they are useful non the less


https://youtu.be/7R5QvRCqGZ4

The 1st job for me is to paint the top plate a better colour than what it currently is, also while removing the residue left from a one of those record cleaning arms that were so popular in the 70's I've rubbed through the paint in a small but conspicuous area.

The original paint finish is a grey green colour with a speckled finish so as to cover up any blemishes or imperfections in the top plate casting, it's easily removed with a random orbit sander and a green scouring pad, as my turntable is the Mk1 version the bearing is held in place with 3 screws to the top plate, the Mk2 is a bit different but I think it can also be removed, to keep the screw holes clean i put the screws in place from the other side so they were flush with the top plate. As I've said the original paint finish is speckled to hide imperfections so i decided to go with a high build primer which would cover up little holes and casting lines.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51756243106_d140468ce8_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2mRwgV5)IMG_0250 (https://flic.kr/p/2mRwgV5) by mike davis (https://www.flickr.com/photos/185433896@N07/), on Flickr

After 3 coats of primer and paying special attention to the edges I gave the top plate a light sand with 1200 grade wet and dry, then a wipe over and clean with isopropyl alcohol before painting it Mercedes Obsidian Black

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51756894369_29d1b74ee4_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2mRzBvK)IMG_0253 (https://flic.kr/p/2mRzBvK) by mike davis (https://www.flickr.com/photos/185433896@N07/), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51757117090_80340480f7_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2mRAKHL)IMG_0254 (https://flic.kr/p/2mRAKHL) by mike davis (https://www.flickr.com/photos/185433896@N07/), on Flickr

Once completely dry I'll polish out the slight orange peel effect with 2500 grit wet and dry paper, then give it 3 coats of clear lacquer.

As I no longer have a wife to tell me that the kitchen is not a workshop and not the best place to spray paint anything I used my own judgement and decided it was warmer and closer to the kettle than the garage, so I covered everything up but the smell did track through the house a and linger for a bit.

Once i've lacquered it I'll post more pictures.

[WullieD20]

Love this kind of work, especially when done sympathetically to a high standard. Looking forward to following your progress Mike.

I remember the TD125 with great affection when they were the 'weapon of choice' at shows in the early 70s, along with the SME and Shure V15III. This combination was used by virtually all OEMs / retailers for demo purposes and was used in preference to the LP12 which I don't even recall at the time, despite them being available. ( I also remember the early LP12s were offered as a 'kit' for the hi-fi DIYer....LOL).

[mik_rik]

Enjoyed watching your work on the(familiar)looking '160 a while back.Will watch this one with interest also,looking a very good paint job so far
Mick

[Mikeandvan]

That's gonna look nice against the silver control panel. What sort of plinth you gonna go for?

[Jac Hawk]

That's gonna look nice against the silver control panel. What sort of plinth you gonna go for?

Well my speakers are light American oak with a black leather baffle, so i'm thinking i'll go for an American oak plinth

[Jac Hawk]

An update:

So the plinth is done, it was quite tricky to get the exact measurements for where the blocks that the sub chassis sits on need to be located and the bolt holes need to go, also the blocks need to be quite small so they don't obstruct anything, the plinth itself is white oak the same as my TD160 plinth and i've made the armboard out of white oak as well, 3 coats of clear satin varnish and it's all done:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51868071665_5788c3cb36_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2n2pqDF)IMG_0039 (https://flic.kr/p/2n2pqDF) by mike davis (https://www.flickr.com/photos/185433896@N07/), on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51866452672_850fcd4b27_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2n2g8o1)IMG_0038 (https://flic.kr/p/2n2g8o1) by mike davis (https://www.flickr.com/photos/185433896@N07/), on Flickr

[Jac Hawk]

The Next thing i tackled was the finishing off the top plate and marking the centre for the hole i needed to drill in the armboard for the arm. The top plate took 3 coats of lacquer and a machine polish with a foam pad, i attached the armboard and the bearing housing and then on a piece of paper drew a 222mm line and carefully made a 10mm hole at one end before i cut it out so i could get a better idea where i would need to mark on the armboard, luckily a plastic pen served as a make shift spindle.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51868071740_e3129337f6_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2n2pqEY)IMG_0040 (https://flic.kr/p/2n2pqEY) by mike davis (https://www.flickr.com/photos/185433896@N07/), on Flickr

Moving on, the TD125 is a heavy beast so rather than re attach the newly lacquered top plate i thought i'd fit the presses steel chassis into place 1st, this was a good call as it was a very tight fit and for a while i thought i'd measured up wrong and the plinth was too small, the bright work along the front edge which houses the controls meant that the chassis had to be lowered into place front edge 1st and the adjustment bars which run along the front and rear edges of the chassis needed to be pulled in, once in place though the finish was superb with the brightwork butting up along all the edges which touched the plinth, once in it was quite simple to locate the fixing bolts before i tightened up the adjustment bars and bolted the chassis firmly in place.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51867497888_da50d8b17f_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2n2mu5Y)IMG_0035 (https://flic.kr/p/2n2mu5Y) by mike davis (https://www.flickr.com/photos/185433896@N07/), on Flickr

With the chassis mounted the brightwork edges are protected and allows me to clean the motor and strobe unit, give the brightwork a clean with a damp cloth and mild detergent and then stand the unit on its side and get to work underneath 1st fitting a power socket which in my opinion are much tidier than trailing cables, then testing the capacitors on the PCB which i was banking on being within tolerance as they looked like they had been changed not too long ago, i'd downloaded a copy of the service manual which gave me the values of each component and thankfully all was fine, the next step was to trim the pots so that the fine adjustment wheel was bang in the centre on 33 and 45 rpm and again the manual gave all the instructions needed to do that and all you need is a decent multimeter and to know how to use one. i'd noticed while taking the deck apart, one of the suspension levelling cups was very tight, this seems to be quite common on the TD125 decks to have at least 1 of the cups tight, i remedied the problem by carefully removing them, lubricating with silicone grease and carefully re fitting, the cups themselves are made from what looks like a nylon material and the threads are quite fine so it's easy to cross thread them, but once lubed the problem was solved.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51867419561_3dabccb23c_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2n2m5Nv)IMG_0037 (https://flic.kr/p/2n2m5Nv) by mike davis (https://www.flickr.com/photos/185433896@N07/), on Flickr

[JohnJo]

Great thread Mike :popcorn:

[Jac Hawk]

So moving on, next up i cut a 24mm hole in the armboard, 1st of all by drilling a small 2mm pilot hole then using a hole saw to cut the actual hole. Before fitting the arm I figured out where the phono cable was going to go inside the plinth attached a cable clamp and cut a 12mm hole in the baseboard then attached the feet which are 40mm turned aluminium with a 3mm sorbothaine pad, these are the same type as i've used in the past on my TD160. Before buttoning it all up i removed the bearing and gave it a clean and re lube.

Then i looked to fit the springs back into the correct positions, this is quite important on these decks and is quite straightforward, each of the springs leans inwards a little bit, the idea is the inward slant is aimed towards the bearing this has the effect of centring the top plate in the plinth when it's mounted, the springs are stuck to the rubber mounting seats on the underside of the top plate with a little contact adhesive and stops the springs turning when the adjustment cups are rotated, once dry i re attached the top plate, fitted the arm, then balanced the top plate which is much easier on the TD125 than the TD160, there isn't as much travel but because you're not having to use sockets and wrenches and balance a sub chassis which has an arm poking through it which can catch or generally get in the way it didn't take more than a few minutes. Finally i polished the platter and sub platter using Duraglit which is an awful job and on this deck hasn't given me the results i was hoping for so i'll be taking the platter to a local blacksmith to polish.

Before plugging it in and giving it a spin i checked the tracking force and cartridge alignment.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51867497808_9792ccdce7_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2n2mu4A)IMG_0033 (https://flic.kr/p/2n2mu4A) by mike davis (https://www.flickr.com/photos/185433896@N07/), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51867497928_800a16e2f1_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2n2mu6E)IMG_0042 (https://flic.kr/p/2n2mu6E) by mike davis (https://www.flickr.com/photos/185433896@N07/), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51867419456_72de2a4991_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2n2m5LG)IMG_0321 (https://flic.kr/p/2n2m5LG) by mike davis (https://www.flickr.com/photos/185433896@N07/), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51867419496_97445c12b6_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2n2m5Mo)IMG_0331 (https://flic.kr/p/2n2m5Mo) by mike davis (https://www.flickr.com/photos/185433896@N07/), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51867419476_6d8bccba8c_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2n2m5M3)IMG_0329 (https://flic.kr/p/2n2m5M3) by mike davis (https://www.flickr.com/photos/185433896@N07/), on Flickr

[drSM]

Super job Mike. Bravo
The 2 thorenses look really good
Whats the model of that Project phonostage ?

[Jac Hawk]

Super job Mike. Bravo
The 2 thorenses look really good
Whats the model of that Project phonostage ?

Thanks Shahrin, but it's not a Project Phonostage, it's an EAT E-Glo Petite

[Wakefield Turntables]

Great thread, great read.

[drSM]

Thanks Shahrin, but it's not a Project Phonostage, it's an EAT E-Glo Petite

Ah ! the designs of the casing, the LEDs and tube covers are similar to my Project DS2 that i assumed it was a higher model....

On image below i have circled screws/bolts at bottom of your blocks .
do these go all the way thru and fasten onto the chassis ?
Cheers

[Jimbo]

Superb job Mike and the Audiomods arm looks great on that turntable. Your workmanship and finish are fantastic and I think you have produced a great modern upgrade to the original Thorens.

How does it sound?

[struth]

indeed, a lovely deck mike; well done.

[Jac Hawk]

Ah ! the designs of the casing, the LEDs and tube covers are similar to my Project DS2 that i assumed it was a higher model....

On image below i have circled screws/bolts at bottom of your blocks .
do these go all the way thru and fasten onto the chassis ?
Cheers
yes they do, they are actually M4 x 40mm bolts if my memory serves me correctly

[Jac Hawk]

Superb job Mike and the Audiomods arm looks great on that turntable. Your workmanship and finish are fantastic and I think you have produced a great modern upgrade to the original Thorens.

How does it sound?

Thanks for the kind words. I'm not one to put a lot of stock in a deck making much sonic difference to the music as most people hear a new deck with a different cartridge or arm on it in comparison and generally i would go down the avenue that it's the cartridge that makes the biggest difference, then the arm, and as long as the deck is quiet, spins at the right speed and can insulate from external noise then it shouldn't colour or alter the presentation in any way, well I was wrong the TD125 is in my opinion a big step up from my well fettled TD160, the deck gives tighter deeper bass and a slightly wider soundstage, overall it's a very musical deck and for the money is a steal in my opinion.

[Jac Hawk]

Great thread, great read.

Thanks Andrew

[Jac Hawk]

indeed, a lovely deck mike; well done.

Cheers Grant

[Barry]

I've been aware of this thread for a while now and thought I wouldn't like the look of the finished refurbishment. But I was wrong - matching the wood of the arm board with that of the plinth works well and with the new black finish of the top plate (I was particularly doubtful of the latter!). So well done Mike, you've done a splendid job. :)

BTW what is the arm you are using with the TD125?

[Jac Hawk]

I've been aware of this thread for a while now and thought I wouldn't like the look of the finished refurbishment. But I was wrong - matching the wood of the arm board with that of the plinth works well and with the new black finish of the top plate (I was particularly doubtful of the latter!). So well done Mike, you've done a splendid job. :)

BTW what is the arm you are using with the TD125?

Glad you approve Barry, i'm using my Audiomods Series 6, there's more room for a Rega geometry arm on the TD125 as opposed to the TD160, plus it sounds really good too

[Jimbo]

I think the Audiomods arm not only looks great with the TD125 I think these are very good arms indeed. I have heard one a while back on another deck and it lifted the performance of the turntable a fair ammount.

[Pigmy Pony]

Cheers Mike for an interesting and enjoyable couple of hours. TD125 looks good in the pics, looks great in the flesh :) A measure of how much I like the sound of a set up is when it "turns me on" to unfamiliar music, and I came away with a couple of albums to add to my wish list... even your barmy Westie seemed happy with the rather high SPLs, so it must be doing something right :)

[drSM]

hi Mike did you consider dampening the top plate at all?

[Jac Hawk]

Hi Shahrin, i did think about it but it's quite a casting and it's very heavy, the springs sit on rubber grommets too so i didn't think it would be necessary, i've never had any ringing from the platter or the top plate so don't think i'll be doing it in the future either

[drSM]

Thanks Mike

[Us-&-Them]

This thread is a great read!! Fantastic job on the deck............................ well done!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Jac Hawk]

Cheers Loz

[WOStantonCS100]

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51867419496_97445c12b6_b.jpg

Nice. and Nice.

I have a TD-150MKII A/B that I really should get around to restoring.

[Lawrence001]

And I'm hopefully finally picking up a TD126 MkIV on Monday from a kind PFM member who collected it for me and has been holding on to it for several months.

I'm not sure I want to do much to it except if the horrible nextel coating on top has gone sticky it's quite a task to get off.

[Jac Hawk]

I have a TD-150MKII A/B that I really should get around to restoring.

Old Thorens decks are dead easy to work on and parts generally are in plentiful supply, with one exception, the motors, which are on the most part bomb proof, but they like the decks they sit in are getting on for 50+ years old, if you get a problem it can be a nightmare

[WOStantonCS100]

...getting on for 50+ years old, if you get a problem it can be a nightmare

Are you talking about me or the turntable??? :lol:

[Jac Hawk]

Are you talking about me or the turntable??? :lol:

:rolleyes::rolleyes:The turntable :lol::lol: but i'm in the same boat buddy as my kids enjoy reminding me, seriously though the 150 and 160 are bomb proof with the exception of the motor unit, and they only cause problems that can't be easily fixed if they've been damaged and the spindle has been bent.

[WOStantonCS100]

:rolleyes::rolleyes:The turntable :lol::lol: but i'm in the same boat buddy as my kids enjoy reminding me, seriously though the 150 and 160 are bomb proof with the exception of the motor unit, and they only cause problems that can't be easily fixed if they've been damaged and the spindle has been bent.

Does anyone make bespoke and/or remanufactured subplatter/spindle/bearing assemblies for the TD150? Or for that matter, platters?

[Jac Hawk]

Does anyone make bespoke and/or remanufactured subplatter/spindle/bearing assemblies for the TD150? Or for that matter, platters?

Platters would be a no, but they don't go wrong, new replacement bearings can be made, i know of someone local to me that can make them or refurb an old one