Thorens in the house

[scott0527]

A bit more pieces taken off and the mirror can be put back on. Someone has obviously been in here before as you can tell from the fat black marker sketchings on the motot connections. Thorens didn't usually need these to tell them which wires went where[]

I like disassembling since you can really clean things well. It's looking pretty nice in this picture now.

[scott0527]

Here is the platen upside down. These 3 spings are what suspend the platter and the armboard from the plinth and motor.

[scott0527]

Again, upside down. Each spring rides in a white plastic cup that attaches to the plinth. As you can see from the little screw and nut, there is only about a 1/4" of free float before the platter/armobard either bottoms out or tops out, depending on if it's too tight or too loose. Michael's case, the spring near the platter was not stiff enough so instead of free floating, it was just resting on the motor plinth. All you do is screw the white cups one way or the other to move change the suspension.

[colterphoto1]

Here is the platen upside down. These 3 spings are what suspend the platter and the armboard from the plinth and motor.

That appears pretty heavy-duty! cool pix Scott, and thanks for your work, man you are the TT wizard!

[colterphoto1]

A bit more pieces taken off and the mirror can be put back on. Someone has obviously been in here before as you can tell from the fat black marker sketchings on the motot connections. Thorens didn't usually need these to tell them which wires went where[]

I like disassembling since you can really clean things well. It's looking pretty nice in this picture now.

EDIT Eric told me the only work that he knew of was the addition of the new interconnects. He purchased it from a dealer and I'd assumed that it was new. Perhaps a previous owner had some work done that Eric did not know about?

[colterphoto1]

A fellow Forum member (one of the good guys) has expressed interest in the B&O MMC 20EN cartridge that came with the Thorens. Any idea of it's worth? And how to tell condition of the stylus? What kind of magnifier do I need to periodically check mine?

Michael

[jacksonbart]

Use a few poison traps and you can kill those little bastards, then just keep the doors locked and no more of those marmits will come back in.

[colterphoto1]

Got Marshall Tucker band on now. For some reason I'm getting a lot more low end out of my Scalas although I have to crank the volume pretty hard. Is this normal with TT source vs CD?

I mean I put 7ch stereo on and it was way too much bass, listening to Genesis last night a like -6, the low end was just incredible in normal stereo with the LS- what gives?

M

[colterphoto1]

Scott, thanks for the AT8008, and I understand it's a kind of unique design, but would I get further improvement by upgrading cartridges already? This one sounds fine to me.

M

[dbflash]

Michael,

Glad that it worked out. Happy listening.

Scott,

You are the man. Great read for TT setup.

Danny

[scott0527]

The interconnects are some good quality Viper cables. Someone had added these on and changed the basic Thorens wiring scheme a bit as well as adding a separate ground cable. Nothing wrong with how it was wired, just different than original. I removed the separate ground wire and rewired the terminals more in line with the original Thorens set up.

This picture was before I did anything. Tonearm wires amaze me. Such big sound pumping through those tiny little things.

I mentioned some dirty sockets for the headshell. Also the white signal lead from the tonearm was tetering... connected by a thread more or less. These might have contributed to the scratchiness that Michael experienced when touching the tonearm.

[scott0527]

I spent some time with various used cartridges of mine trying to get some pictures of set up procedures. Here is an example of a perfectly balanced tonearm. Cartridge mounted, anti skate set to zero, tracking force set to zero. Now you move the counterweight back and forth until the tonearm balances on it's own right about level with the platter. Once this was set, the Thorens tracking force dial was very accurate when cross checked with the Shure tracking force guage.

The tonearm is floating, not resting on the record in case you can't tell.

[scott0527]

Using the allignment guage from Turntable Basics, here's an expample of a cartridge that is not alligned. Should be sitting square with the grid lines.

[scott0527]

The mirror is also helpful in checking the azimuth or perpendicularity to the groove. You can see in the mirror that this one is tilted a bit. The headshell on this arm can be rotated to straighten this out.

[scott0527]

VTA or verticle tracking angle is another thing. Most tonearms can be raised and lowered at their base in relation to the armboard. This Thorens arm cannot(as far I can tell). Per the manual, to adjust this angle, you can insert supplied spacers between the headshell and the cartridge. I pretty much try to start with a parallel to the record tonearm which get's it close enough to start with. You can tweak this forever but records are of varying thicknesses so this angle will always change a bit depending on what record you're playing.

[scott0527]

Here is a link to a decent one page primer on basic cartrige set up. It's probably been posted before but here it is again.

http://www.audiophilia.com/features/cartridge_setup.htm

Here is Michaels Thorens ready to go. Nice looking table.

[Clarence]

I am once again floored by the helpful folks on this board. Awesome job on the turntable, Scott. Congrats, Michael.

[thebes]

That's a terrific writeup Scott.

Tell me how do you manage to actually solder those tone-arm wires? Must be major PITA.

[Mike Lindsey]

Scott, I just want to say what a tremendous asset you are to this Forum! It is because of people like you that makes this the best audio forum on the internet, and that's the truth! It is so nice to know that we have people on here that do this stuff for not only the love of the gear, but also their love of mankind and the human spirit! We are blessed to have you my brother! []

Mike

PS... if I start to have problems with mine don't be surprised if it shows up on your doorstep. []

[scott0527]

Scott, thanks for the AT8008, and I understand it's a kind of unique design, but would I get further improvement by upgrading cartridges already? This one sounds fine to me.

M

Well I only picked that cartridge 'cause I had it[] I think they used to sell in the $150 range when new. I liked the way it sounded. Couldn't find any faults. I was playing it through some phat old tubes and shorthorns though. Could be a little harsh through the LaScalas? Just kidding, if you like, that's all that matters. I think AT's have a good RockNRoll reputation.

That's a terrific writeup Scott.

Tell me how do you manage to actually solder those tone-arm wires? Must be major PITA.

Well Thebes,

15 Watt pencil soldering iron, an awesome set of exacto knives, a maginfying glass, one of those third hand doo hickeys. Naahhh it's not a PITA, it's great fun!