Thorens Td150 Mkii Replinth

[alternativeroute]

I have two Thorens TD150's turntables that I have been meaning to give new plinths to and a complete service.

I have just mounted the first and am very happy with the results. The second will have to wait as one of the bearings has sheared. Luckily a fellow forumite on my local AVforum has offered to turn a new bearing for me...

This site has been MASSIVELY useful. I searched the site a lot during the build...

I have kept everything stock on the first table (except the RCA and power cable). The plinth is made from a local wood called Kiaat.

The bottom board is 16mm MDF and is bonded to the plinth with cut-outs to access the suspension for fine tuning...

The feet are for aesthetic and practical purposes (to level the table) and do not in my view add isolation (I am trusting the Thorens suspension designers for that)...

Here are some pictures:


Therens TD150 PLINTHS by arclients, on Flickr


Thorens TD150 replinth - bottom-board by arclients, on Flickr

I added some more hollows below the tonaearm board for the lift mechanism and the bottom of the tonearm...


Thorens TD150 replinth - dryfit by arclients, on Flickr


Thorens TD150 MkII Plinth - Danish Oiled by arclients, on Flickr

The extra black armboards are to facilitate tonearm experimentation in the future. They are 12mm MDF... This is the one part where i got conflicting information. My original Thorens armboard measures 12mm thick (more like 11.25mm). Information on the forum suggest that the board is 10mm thick... Maybe the plastic one was 10mm thick


Thorens TD150 MkII Plinth - setup and cleaning jig by arclients, on Flickr


Thorens Td150 MkII re-plinth - Fitting wires by arclients, on Flickr


Thorens Td150 MkII re-plinth - 15 second bounce by arclients, on Flickr


Thorens TD150 MkII replinth - #1 by arclients, on Flickr


Thorens TD150 MkII replinth - #1 by arclients, on Flickr

There are a few more things on the todo list:

- finish polishing the platter + add protective lacquer
- make dustcover
- buff the plinth a bit more

#2 is on hold for now. I am thinking of getting adventurous and rewiring the arm with a cartridge to phono stage length...[/list]

[ddarch]

VERY nice!

Can you tell me how you separated the metal top from the old plinth?

D

[alternativeroute]

VERY nice!

Can you tell me how you separated the metal top from the old plinth?

D

Badly!!! I managed to buckle it using mechanical methods to remove it...

With #2 and a Thorens TD150 MkI that I sold earlier this year I have discovered that the best way is with a heat gun...

I always knew of the heat gun method I just did not have one at my disposal...

[kelvinMunson]

Great job..... looks fantastic; nice to see you kept the TP13A.

I have 2 TD150s, still in original plinths...... one has the original TP13A tonearm and I fitted an SME 3009 to the other about 40 years ago......... Love 'em

[alternativeroute]

Great job..... looks fantastic; nice to see you kept the TP13A.

I have 2 TD150s, still in original plinths...... one has the original TP13A tonearm and I fitted an SME 3009 to the other about 40 years ago......... Love 'em

I really like the TP13a arm... Now that I have taken one apart, I am even more amazed at the arm... Compared to the SME3009 the design and construction is positively agricultural, yet the sound from the arm (to my ears) is not bad at all!

I have read of a few users that have had good results with the Denon 103 on the arm... I would like to try that.

For now the arm has a Shure M75b cart with a N70ej stylus...

I did try a vintage budget grado (MC+ / tan colour) but it suffers the Grado hummmmmmmmmm as the arm nears the last tracks and run-out groove.

[ddarch]

Regarding the heat gun, do you just point it at each of those wooden "shims" that are beneath the table?

Does it just magically release once heat is applied?

Dave

[alternativeroute]

Regarding the heat gun, do you just point it at each of those wooden "shims" that are beneath the table?

Does it just magically release once heat is applied?

Dave

I apply the heat gun from the top around the edges (that is where they put the glue)... You will see the plate lifting slightly and then you just get your fingers under and slowly/gently let the heat from the heat-gun let you lift the plate without the plate bending...

Once the plate if off I found that the glue residue can be cleaned off with a bit of elbow grease and mineral turpentine on a rag (don't put the rag into a container afterwards as it can spontaneously combust - I hang it out till the turpentine has flashed off)...

The TD150 MkI is a whole lot easier as they used two sided tape on plate...

[dean man jim]

Brilliant work, just beautiful!

Was there a particular turn of events that led you to make the new cases a little less tall than the stock ones?

Jim

[alternativeroute]

Brilliant work, just beautiful!

Was there a particular turn of events that led you to make the new cases a little less tall than the stock ones?

Jim

Hi Jim, they are exactly the same height as the original. The dimension that I did change was that of the armboard. The original was 80mm wide and I made the new armboard 95mm wide. The extra 15 mm together with the extra 12mm width on the plinth will make it possible to play a record through with the dustcover closed without having to provide a cut-out as on the original dustcover...

I have bought some Linn hinges (actually NAD 5020 hinges that are the same except cheaper) and am going to try get a dustcover made up using the vacuum forming process. I need to first make a mould though to take to the company that has the machine. I am going to make the mould from MDF.

[dean man jim]

Hi Jim, they are exactly the same height as the original. The dimension that I did change was that of the armboard. The original was 80mm wide and I made the new armboard 95mm wide.....

Very interesting, perhaps the larger footprint of the new plinth combined with the stock height created an optical illusion for me?



Thorens TD150 MkII replinth - #1 by arclients, on Flickr

[album]9271[/album]

No matter, the work is beautiful. I can't tell you how many times I've almost attempted what you have done!

Jim

[alternativeroute]

Those weights that you had machined, did you machine them to the same weight as the Kugelballs? Also, how is the main weight held onto the tonearm? Is it with a grubscrew?

For the future I would really like to replace the brass looking piece at the top of the tonearm pillar (where the bearings screw in) as years of usage has pushed the holes out of spec.

With the right tools the plinth is not too difficult to make at all.

[dean man jim]

The smaller stainless steel weight was machined to be the same weight as the stock painted lead one and is held in place with a grub screw. The larger stainless steel weight is a little heavier than stock, but I can't recall how much I asked him to have the final thing weigh... It has a grub screw in it that I've never used. The machinist made an insert for the weight out of delrin, to take the place of the plastic sleeve on the stock lead weight, and the delrin sleeve is snug enough to not be concerned with the grub screw.

[alternativeroute]

Thanks for the info! How would you rate the improvement?

- Slight/Cosmetic/I feel better about it (which depending on cost can be good enough reason for me)
- Medium/minor sonic improvements
- Major/Big sonic differences that would befit the dance of the seven veils...

[dean man jim]

Well...after a handful of experiments that demonstrated to me that the TP13A was very good and would stay on the table, I decided to hire the machinist so that I might update the appearance. That was accomplished to my eye, but I was surprised when I also experienced a performance increase. Not a night and day increase, but a noticable one in bass transients and bass tone, and at that time (a little more than four years ago) I posted about it in the vinyl asylum.

One response, from a turntable designer, thought that the standing wave pattern in the arm changed (positively) due to the lead being acoustically "dead" and the stainless steel less so. He also believed that the machined delrin inside of the counterweight would be more effective than the previous plastic at decoupling the weight from the arm tube. Another, from a math-whiz-member showed that because the stainless counterweight is slightly larger than the lead (due to lower density), the weight is now positioned more favorably with respect to the location of the stylus. And then the vocabulary went right over my head!

Consequently I've had two more arm experiments and while I found a better "technical" performance from much more expensive arms the TP13A went back each time. I am now exhausted with arm changes and happy to simply enjoy the musicality of the table!