Michael’s original Thorens TD 160 had never been touched and was almost completely out of oil. The bearing reservoir was full of abrasive material however after a good clean the bearing and thrust plate were in great condition making it perfect for a complete rebuild.
We picked up the turntable from Michael’s home and inspected the working parts to gauge the level of complexity of rebuild and the performance we could achieve.
Michael was given several options and associated prices along with an indication of priority and expected performance from each upgrade. These options were:
Sub chassis structural upgrade for resistance to torsion and flex whilst maintaining correct compliance between critical tone arm and spindle locations.
Resonance control to key components
Bearing strip clean and rebuild
Potential tonearm upgrades, 3 options offered
Motor and power supply upgrade
Cartridge upgrade
Professional alignment
Selecting a plinth
The next step was to allow the customer to select a plinth from our hand made hardwood selection. Since no two pieces of timber are alike we wanted to give Michael some examples to choose from. See some of those below.
Michael chose a Jarrah oversized hardwood plinth with the angled base.
Thorens TD 160 Lemon Scented Gum hardwood plinth Linn LP12 Tasmanian Blackwood hardwood plinth Thorens Turkish Oak hardwood plinth Thorens TD 160 Africal Wenge hardwood plinth Linn LP12 Walnut hardwood plinth Thorens TD 160 Turkish Oak hardwood plinth Linn LP12 100 year old responsibly sourced Jarrah hardwood plinth
Building the plinth
Our plinths are hand-made using seasoned Jarrah hardwood. Before the plinth is made we measure the existing turntable to ensure the perfect fit. The Thorens TD 160 can vary in top plate size and we have to want the plinth to fit perfectly to improve resonance control and to have precise framing of the plate.