Just finished modifying my Thorens TD160.
This is what i've done:
1 - New plinth made of propper wood
2 - New bottomplate made of 15mm MDF
3 - Dampened the chassis
4 - Dampened the Subcahassis
5 - Placed seperate Ground connection
6 - Placed new cinch sockets
7 - Placed new power socket
8 - Placed new armsupport
9 - Cleaned all bearings and oiled them with teflon
10 - Made a stabilizer
11 - Placed dustbuster
12 - Set and adjusted everything
Anything else i can do?
This is what i've done:
1 - New plinth made of propper wood
2 - New bottomplate made of 15mm MDF
3 - Dampened the chassis
4 - Dampened the Subcahassis
5 - Placed seperate Ground connection
6 - Placed new cinch sockets
7 - Placed new power socket
8 - Placed new armsupport
9 - Cleaned all bearings and oiled them with teflon
10 - Made a stabilizer
11 - Placed dustbuster
12 - Set and adjusted everything
Anything else i can do?
Attachments
Beautifull work!
One mod that i have found to work good on Thorens decks from TD 150 and on is to fill inner platter wiyh a polyurethane potting compund. 3M has a good product sold in 250g pack. This works wonders for resolution in the bottom end as all ringing in the platter dissapeares. Do this in a well ventilated area!!!
One mod that i have found to work good on Thorens decks from TD 150 and on is to fill inner platter wiyh a polyurethane potting compund. 3M has a good product sold in 250g pack. This works wonders for resolution in the bottom end as all ringing in the platter dissapeares. Do this in a well ventilated area!!!
I only do the inner, then You only have to cover (tape) the three keyhole type holes and fill the platter up. One 250g pack is enough, leaves about 3mm to the bottom edge, take care not to get any polyurethane on the shaft. The outer dont have space for that much internal damping as You need the pulley etc to have free way. I tried to do an inner rim inside the outer platter from birch veneer, glued onto inside with 10mm clearing to inner edge of platter and filled space in between with polyurethane, took 2 packs, felt like i didnt get a really good balance and not better than only inner platter damped.
Is it possible to fill it with MDF, or a piece of Aluminium?
I can make a perfect fitting piece of material, and glue it in.
I can even make something for the outer platter.
What kind of material would you suggest?
There's only one question that keeps comin' up in my mind. Doesn't this all get a bit too heavy for the bearing?
The stabilizer allready weighs 500 grams.
I can make a perfect fitting piece of material, and glue it in.
I can even make something for the outer platter.
What kind of material would you suggest?
There's only one question that keeps comin' up in my mind. Doesn't this all get a bit too heavy for the bearing?
The stabilizer allready weighs 500 grams.
Careful with the outer platter or may lose the balance. The polyurethane idea seems very good.
Just curious: when doing the mods did you listen to each step separately? I am not so certain about damping the subchasis; it may easily get overdone and result very 'dead' sound.
The logical step now should be to do something about the arm. A diy arm drastically improving upon the original should not be difficult.
analog_sa said:
I first dampened the chassis, and then the subchassis. After that i placed the stabilizer. Then i putt in the new cinch sockets. The next step was more drastic, did it all in one go. Made a new plinth, bottom plate, seperate ground connection and power socket.
After the first step the sound had much improved. Step two, not much difference. Stabilizer improved the sound, made it more "pure" (for lack of better word). Cinch sockets allowed for a much better interlink (monster cable), which made the music realy come to life. For the last step i can't truly say if the sound has improved much, it took me about 2 months to complete (don't have that much spare time). All i can say about it is that looks have improved very much! And it still sounds great!
The tonearm is deffinetly the next thing i would like to modify, i'm thinking about a carbon fibre arm with a lighter headshell.
This will make the arm lighter, and thus improve the response of the tonearm. Maybe in time, i'll get another cartridge to.
Congratulations
You did a beautiful work here.
I also have a TD160, and like very much the aesthetics.
How did you damp the chassis and subchassis?
I'm thinking about modding mine, but not sure if I should change the chassis plate to an acrylic one and loose the looking, or just add some stuff to damp it.
And yes, changing the arm and building a power supply is worth the effort. I have a RB250 OL and the sumiko blue point, and I enjoy it. But a diy arm would be more enjoyable.
If so, you won't be buying 40 records each 15 days, you will be buying 40 records a day
BTW, about the outter platter, I bought a big rubber belt that goes aroung the outter edge. I haven't tried it yet, but the seller told me it's magic, so I suppose it is
Good trick this one about the potting compound.
You did a beautiful work here.
I also have a TD160, and like very much the aesthetics.
How did you damp the chassis and subchassis?
I'm thinking about modding mine, but not sure if I should change the chassis plate to an acrylic one and loose the looking, or just add some stuff to damp it.
And yes, changing the arm and building a power supply is worth the effort. I have a RB250 OL and the sumiko blue point, and I enjoy it. But a diy arm would be more enjoyable.
If so, you won't be buying 40 records each 15 days, you will be buying 40 records a day
BTW, about the outter platter, I bought a big rubber belt that goes aroung the outter edge. I haven't tried it yet, but the seller told me it's magic, so I suppose it is
Good trick this one about the potting compound.
Re: Congratulations
I've used leadbitumen for dampening the chassis and subchassis, you can get it any carparts dealer. There's an example of how to do it here. This site is in dutch, but the pictures give you an idea of what needs to be done.
What is the rubber band on the outer platter suposed to do?
Raka said:You did a beautiful work here.
I also have a TD160, and like very much the aesthetics.
How did you damp the chassis and subchassis?
I'm thinking about modding mine, but not sure if I should change the chassis plate to an acrylic one and loose the looking, or just add some stuff to damp it.
And yes, changing the arm and building a power supply is worth the effort. I have a RB250 OL and the sumiko blue point, and I enjoy it. But a diy arm would be more enjoyable.
If so, you won't be buying 40 records each 15 days, you will be buying 40 records a day
BTW, about the outter platter, I bought a big rubber belt that goes aroung the outter edge. I haven't tried it yet, but the seller told me it's magic, so I suppose it is
Good trick this one about the potting compound.
I've used leadbitumen for dampening the chassis and subchassis, you can get it any carparts dealer. There's an example of how to do it here. This site is in dutch, but the pictures give you an idea of what needs to be done.
What is the rubber band on the outer platter suposed to do?
It's supposed to damp the ringing of the outter platter, but I haven't tried it yet.
I don't speak dutch... but nice pictures.
I understand that you haven't put damping all over the chassis but at specific points, right?
I'll have to find another name for "leadbitumen" because here nobody knows what's this. What's the original application of this? Maybe if I'm able to describe it...
I don't speak dutch... but nice pictures.
I understand that you haven't put damping all over the chassis but at specific points, right?
I'll have to find another name for "leadbitumen" because here nobody knows what's this. What's the original application of this? Maybe if I'm able to describe it...
Just some suggestions :
1. Have you oiled the motor ? (as best you can).
2. Reinforcement of the main bearing :
something along the lines of :
Make a cardboard "well", triangular in shape, about 2cm high
and glue this around the main bearing. Fill the well with rigid
potting compound or thermosetting polyester resin or similar.
Other options are to extend this into a reinforcing rib towards
the arm mounting part of the subchassis. I haven't needed
to do this on turntables I've modified, but obviously there is
a lot of freedom with what you could do regarding height width
and shape. A reinforcing steel rod could also be incorporated.
3. Main platter damping. IMO easiest to achieve with the mat.
Consider using a multilayer mat with heavy rubber at the
bottom to damp both platter and subplatter.
Then experiment with material for record support on top.
sreten.
1. Have you oiled the motor ? (as best you can).
2. Reinforcement of the main bearing :
something along the lines of :
Make a cardboard "well", triangular in shape, about 2cm high
and glue this around the main bearing. Fill the well with rigid
potting compound or thermosetting polyester resin or similar.
Other options are to extend this into a reinforcing rib towards
the arm mounting part of the subchassis. I haven't needed
to do this on turntables I've modified, but obviously there is
a lot of freedom with what you could do regarding height width
and shape. A reinforcing steel rod could also be incorporated.
3. Main platter damping. IMO easiest to achieve with the mat.
Consider using a multilayer mat with heavy rubber at the
bottom to damp both platter and subplatter.
Then experiment with material for record support on top.
sreten.
Raka said:
Leadbitumen is used in the automobile industrie, it is used for acoustical isolation, usualy in the doors and bodyworks of a car.
I've put it on the weakest part of the chassis, or the parts that are most likely to be affected by acoustical resonance.
Oh, and by the way, the site is from an acquaintance, he inspired me to modify my TT. But as usual i had to show off and make a completely new plinth as well.
Hi Raka,
The principle is the flat subchassis with the arm mass will have
a resonance against the mass of the platter, bending around
the joint to the main bearing.
(This was a major problem with the Linn LP12 and the Rega
RB300 arm. Martin Colloms (of Stereophile) recommended
epoxying a perspex block around the bearing of the LP12
to address this.
Later Linn added a reinforcing rib to the subchassis)
The purpose of the reinforcement it to prevent this resonance,
and replace it with a higher frequency more damped coupling.
Similarly extending the reinforcement into a rib towards the arm
is to modify the resonant behaviour of the subchassis and reduce
any bending modes of the flat subchassis.
Try at your own risk of course............
I can't see why the resin wouldn't be suitable, though polyester
resin has various grades, from quite soft to hard and brittle.
sreten.
The principle is the flat subchassis with the arm mass will have
a resonance against the mass of the platter, bending around
the joint to the main bearing.
(This was a major problem with the Linn LP12 and the Rega
RB300 arm. Martin Colloms (of Stereophile) recommended
epoxying a perspex block around the bearing of the LP12
to address this.
Later Linn added a reinforcing rib to the subchassis)
The purpose of the reinforcement it to prevent this resonance,
and replace it with a higher frequency more damped coupling.
Similarly extending the reinforcement into a rib towards the arm
is to modify the resonant behaviour of the subchassis and reduce
any bending modes of the flat subchassis.
Try at your own risk of course............
I can't see why the resin wouldn't be suitable, though polyester
resin has various grades, from quite soft to hard and brittle.
sreten.- Status
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