Thorens td160 , info please

[The Vinyl Adventure]

A good mate of mine has given me this today.

not to keep unfortunatly, its on loan for me to have a play with and he wants me to sell it/give him some money when im done with it










can anyone share any info on it, i have looked about a bit on google but i cant find much... value is the most important bit of info i need at this stage, but a general idea of its quality ie if its worth spending a bit of money on, and its history would be nice

i guess im also open to offers if anyone would really like to buy it off me

i have got it plugged through the onboard stage on my yam ss amp and i havent even atempted to set it up properly (i wouldnt know how) but it sounds a lot better than i was expecting it too.. not great, but not awfull

....

notice also my unkle - never, never land picture disk

[Beechwoods]

Nice I won't try to put a value on it - others are far more qualified than I - but I've always had a soft spot for the Thorens TD160. Nice looking decks.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

it bloody is inst it?! - understated but cool looking i recon


also if anyone cant make it out, the cart is a ortofon 510

[The Vinyl Adventure]

anyone else got any thoughts on it.. i cant belive that not one of you analoge fiends has had experience of one of these decks

[hifi_dave]

Yes, had lots of experience of Thorens back in the dark ages. It was popular amongst enthusiasts who couldn't afford an LP12 and was endlessly mod'd. Value now is around £100 or so.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Listening to medle on it now, I'm actuay quite impressed!

[DSJR]

What do you want to know???? I've set up "one or two" in my different times.......

Quick summary - If tackling the suspension, use a 2BA (8mm?) socket spanner to hold the levelling nut still, as there are eccentric cam-washers used to center the suspension. This is achieved by aligning one of the outer platter "keyholes" with a convenient hole on the left hand side of the top plate (may not be there on the earliest ones) and gently waggling the spindle from side to side and back and forth. You can easily tell if there's equal movement in all planes. properly done, the sub-chassis should bounce perfectly vertically with no "shimmer." To check the belt alignment, turn the outer platter upside down and run the deck. if the sub-chassis and plinth are level with each other, the belt should settle in the middle of its guide without rubbing and no motor adjustment should be necessary.

Use EP80 gear oil to lubricate the main bearing - EP90 if the bearing has double bronze bushes and exhibits rock as some early 160's did (slightly later ones had a thinner spindle and a single deep bushing).

The Ortofon 510 tracks at 1.5 - 1.75 as I remember and the mk2 styli were reduced in compliance to allow for 1.5 gramme tracking, so a 520 or 530 stylus would be fine and, I suspect, little different to the current mm range in performance, if not as sexy looking. The arm can be adjusted in height, but you have to make sure the cueing lift can be set lower to suit. Thorens headshell screw kits wigth spacers can be got on eBay if not. The arm bearings can be adjusted for minimal slop with care. The arm also looks too massive, but works well with many cartridges - even Shure V15 III's with the HE stylus sounded really good with it, tracking at 1.25 grammes. Get a half decent stylus balance, as the Thorens adjustment isn't that great as I remember. Can't find the sentence I typed, but this old arm can also be re-wired. look on Vinyl Engine (.com) to see if the articles are there..

Things may be different now, but after market belts "for Thorens" weren't always as flexible as the originals. "Proper" Thorens belts can now be got and you should be able to read the writing on the back of them when they're the correct way round.

SRM Tech seem to do some sensible tweaks for the 160, the sub-chassis damping being the last one to tackle. The platter damping ring may tidy up a tatty looking platter edge if nothing else and a Notts Analogue Spacemat may be similar to the one Dave Cawley sells for the Techie - a very light but dense foam type material which stays "squidged" for ages if crushed.

As supplied, the springs had sponge inners which "damped" the bounce and removed music in the process I found. Removing these plugs with fine, long nosed pliers (leaving the springs undisturbed) made a bigger improvement than damping the sub-chassis I found personally).

The four screws at the corners of the top plate (under black caps) should be checked and carefully tightened. better still, heavy duty plinths are available on ebay and elsewhere.

Try this -

http://www.theanalogdept.com

Plenty to read and keep you out of trouble.

Hopefully, this is a starter for you. I still think a Rega Planar 3 with original R200 arm could sound more "musical" but times have moved on and cartridges are rather better today. the TD160 may just be transformed with a fettling, new belt and replacement mat and a modern well damped cartridge.

Good luck. It may not be a direct drive, but it has other good qualities to it, given an understanding setup..

[The Vinyl Adventure]

blimey!

since im petrified of touching my xerxes and cant afford a techie at the mo this could be a good place for me to start working out exactly how turntables do thier thing!

i have just agreed to swop this deck for a nikon fm with a 50mm ai ... so im now the proud owner of a thorens td160.... WOOOO

ok.. so i know nothing of what to do, so... in its basic state how do i get the best out of it? i need a little set of scales right? what else?

i have always just got someone else to do everything to get my xerces sounding good, so i know absolutly sod all so can we start literally at the begining

[The Vinyl Adventure]

hmm im gonna make a new thread for this

[DSJR]

In the absense of a Linn setup jig (the 160 fits, as well as a Rega), use four coffee jars or large tins to space the underside of the deck enough for you to get underneath. make sure the deck is unplugged from the mains when twiddling, as the mains/motor wiring isn't shielded and when you pull your arm back, you'll have the deck on the floor in pieces (seen it done with an LP12 and nearly did this myself...).