Thorens td160hd upgrade

[PLINIUS]

Lars.

There is a general concencus that Rega based arms aren't the best match for Thorens. Certainly the original 160. In spite of the suspension unipivots did work well (Mayware). On that basis the Roksan Nima may be worth considering. I don't see why the Jelco 750D wouldn't work at not a lot more than the cost of upgrading the Rega or just save up for an SME M2.

Paul.

Hi Paul, the HD is more Basis than traditional Thorens in design.
With the right arm & cartridge it sounds more like a P9 on steroidsimage-td160hd-2.jpg
I have fitted a VPI JMW-9 Tonearm to the HD & with Benz Micro Ace, with excellent results.

[curry49]

Hello
I'd like some ideas for upgrading my Thorens td 160 hd turntable. I've had it about a year now and I'm fairly happy with it. It's set up with the standard oem Rega rb 250 and an Audio Note IQ-2 cartridge. Problem is it sounds a bit like a cd player to my ears. I'd like to add som tonal colour, depth and 'juice' to the sound.

How do I best proceed?

Thanks in advance!

best, Lars

Install Grado wood-body cart (e.g. Sonata)
Or...(cheap-trick)...
Install metal platter from original TD-160 series.

Sure... I know this is an old thread, and the OP may have moved on. But this could help others in a similar situation (or not).

To the best of my knowledge, the TD160HD is a 're-arranged' version of the original TD160 (not a completely different model, as someone implied) so the platters are interchangable - mating with the same bearings on several similar models. (I know of someone using one of these acrylic platters on a 125, BTW).

Having owned a 145 (the auto-stop version of the original 160) I can attest to the fact that they sound 'full' and warm in the mids with their 2-piece cast-alloy platters. Definitely NOT like a CD-P. It is a well-known fact that TTs with acrylic platters (as with the later 160HD) tend to be a bit lean - on the cooler side of neutral, with a CD-like tonality. [Nothing wrong there - some like it, some don't.]

So, for anyone with a similar issue, just simply swap the platter and bring back that 'full-toned' traditional Thorens tone (which errs slightly on the warmer side of mastertape-neutral). No prob there!

Cheers.