Recently set up the TD-125MkII I picked-up a few years ago. Need source for suspension parts and technical manual. Noticed that front suspension points have no "bounce" while rear ones do.
Anyone have any experience with eliminating the suspension of a 125? I remember being recommended to freeze the suspension of my Maplenoll Athena and getting good results. Worked so well Maplenoll eliminated springs/suspension from their turnables. People have also done it to their Versas.
Also - armboard source?
Any help greatly appreciated.
Anyone have any experience with eliminating the suspension of a 125? I remember being recommended to freeze the suspension of my Maplenoll Athena and getting good results. Worked so well Maplenoll eliminated springs/suspension from their turnables. People have also done it to their Versas.
Also - armboard source?
Any help greatly appreciated.
Have a look at Steve's site.
http://www.theanalogdept.com/td125_dept.htm
He's got a very detailed website about these old turntables.
He's also a member here at the forum.
Look for 'user510'.
Personally I don't think it's recommended to eliminate the suspension. They are a crucial part of the turntable.
/Hugo
http://www.theanalogdept.com/td125_dept.htm
He's got a very detailed website about these old turntables.
He's also a member here at the forum.
Look for 'user510'.
Personally I don't think it's recommended to eliminate the suspension. They are a crucial part of the turntable.
/Hugo
For the armboard - go to your local cabinetmaker.
Springs can be sourced from ebay, they are the same afaik that are used for the linn. There is a guy who regularly offers them.
Same holds for belt etc.
For the sake of reducing resonances inside the plinth when playing loud, i have removed the bottom cover, replaced it with an aluminum frame - sheet of 1/8 alum. that i cut out so only a two inch rim following the perimeter was left.
Clean the spindle and shaft . I used a few drops of synthetic motor oil. Works great.
Overall - an excellent tt when brought uo to snuff.
Springs can be sourced from ebay, they are the same afaik that are used for the linn. There is a guy who regularly offers them.
Same holds for belt etc.
For the sake of reducing resonances inside the plinth when playing loud, i have removed the bottom cover, replaced it with an aluminum frame - sheet of 1/8 alum. that i cut out so only a two inch rim following the perimeter was left.
Clean the spindle and shaft . I used a few drops of synthetic motor oil. Works great.
Overall - an excellent tt when brought uo to snuff.
The TD-125 is a killer, superior to the Sondek in my opinion. (They are perhaps equally coloured.)
Floating suspension, I would say, comes down to taste. This may be a bit controversial (I don't know), but my limited experience says that Thorens decks excel with classical music. If you mostly listen to rock music, like I do, I would say hard suspension is preferred. Why not get a couple of thick rubber, perhaps even hard plastic, washers and try? Thorens were built to be tweaked.
I use to see arm boards on eBay all the time, and cheap.
Floating suspension, I would say, comes down to taste. This may be a bit controversial (I don't know), but my limited experience says that Thorens decks excel with classical music. If you mostly listen to rock music, like I do, I would say hard suspension is preferred. Why not get a couple of thick rubber, perhaps even hard plastic, washers and try? Thorens were built to be tweaked.
I use to see arm boards on eBay all the time, and cheap.
The classical part in your comment is just a rumour imo. Mine came with a rabco sl 8e arm. Cleaned up this ebay garage find and it outperforms - with an installed shure 500 ultra - my transcriptor hydraulik with a rega origin live modded arm and a shure v15v xmr.
The systems sound fairly identical, with a little bit more bass from the ultra, but the thorens runs smoother with less rumble.
I solely use the thorens now for any kind of music, and there is no lack of anything.
The systems sound fairly identical, with a little bit more bass from the ultra, but the thorens runs smoother with less rumble.
I solely use the thorens now for any kind of music, and there is no lack of anything.
Thinking about it, it may actually be TD-124 boards that are common on eBay.
My experience of colourization does primarily come from the smaller Thorens decks. If we would talk the smaller decks I probably wouldn't have written "perhaps." I used to have a TD-320. Before that I had a TD-166. But when I had a TD-160 (I think) here for a while recently, it sounded completely different from the 320. They did have different arms and carts.
And I wouldn't have written that the TD-160 is superior to the Sondek. It's not. But the bigger TD-125/126, 300 series and 2001/3001 are in my opinion. And I would attribute it to the bigger, heavier decks. They have calmer, fuller, more mature sound.
My experience of colourization does primarily come from the smaller Thorens decks. If we would talk the smaller decks I probably wouldn't have written "perhaps." I used to have a TD-320. Before that I had a TD-166. But when I had a TD-160 (I think) here for a while recently, it sounded completely different from the 320. They did have different arms and carts.
And I wouldn't have written that the TD-160 is superior to the Sondek. It's not. But the bigger TD-125/126, 300 series and 2001/3001 are in my opinion. And I would attribute it to the bigger, heavier decks. They have calmer, fuller, more mature sound.
The 125 MKII is a real killer. I finished restauring and tweaking mine one month ago and since then I am keeping on listening to LPs. No time any more for DIY.
According to me that is the best Thorens ever built (better than the 124 and I listened to the latter quite often). I even compared it to a Michell Gyrodeck and I still prefer the 125
For the suspension you can replace the springs by a brand new Linn LP12 suspension kit : http://www.hifi-repairs.com/
It will cost you 20$ and it is worth the buy. The springs are identical to the 125's ones (That is amazing how the 125 and the LP12 look alike it is almost commercial spying).
I also bought TD 124 mushrooms as you can see on Dr Pasini website (to make an EMT928 alike) but I had no time to try it for the moment (listening to LPs you know )
I will also recommend you changing all the capacitors, resistors and transistors of you motor controller board by brand new ones (MKP preferred). Your motor will behave even better for a 10$ investment. In fact the controller recreate a sinus wave from DC but with the old components the result is not very tidy (much better with the new components)
The worse part of the restauration is setting the springs and level the table. It took me almost 3 long hours !
But it was really worth the investment
A last very good tweak : restauring the bearing with a kit you can find on ebay. Before that the platter was turning almost 55 seconds with a good punch now now this lasts more than 2 minutes.
According to me that is the best Thorens ever built (better than the 124 and I listened to the latter quite often). I even compared it to a Michell Gyrodeck and I still prefer the 125
For the suspension you can replace the springs by a brand new Linn LP12 suspension kit : http://www.hifi-repairs.com/
It will cost you 20$ and it is worth the buy. The springs are identical to the 125's ones (That is amazing how the 125 and the LP12 look alike it is almost commercial spying).
I also bought TD 124 mushrooms as you can see on Dr Pasini website (to make an EMT928 alike) but I had no time to try it for the moment (listening to LPs you know
)I will also recommend you changing all the capacitors, resistors and transistors of you motor controller board by brand new ones (MKP preferred). Your motor will behave even better for a 10$ investment. In fact the controller recreate a sinus wave from DC but with the old components the result is not very tidy (much better with the new components)
The worse part of the restauration is setting the springs and level the table. It took me almost 3 long hours !
But it was really worth the investment
A last very good tweak : restauring the bearing with a kit you can find on ebay. Before that the platter was turning almost 55 seconds with a good punch now now this lasts more than 2 minutes.
Hi everybody,
Just a few thoughts about the Thorens 125,
at the time it was current in the early 70s the choice at the time was between the 150, 125 and the D/D Garrard 401 which was getting a very bad press, so the choice was easy the 125 won hands down, and belt drive was the way to go,
but there was no British belt drive t/t, so along comes the LP12 the press went mad for it and the poor old 125 died a death,
this is very sad, the 125 is a much better deck, better built, heavier, and when you consider the amount of upgrades you have to do to the LP12 to make it sound good the 125 is a far superior deck,
then you have the cost of upgrading the LP12,
most 125s are standard and are nearly 30 years old, not bad,
sorry to rant.
vibbles
Just a few thoughts about the Thorens 125,
at the time it was current in the early 70s the choice at the time was between the 150, 125 and the D/D Garrard 401 which was getting a very bad press, so the choice was easy the 125 won hands down, and belt drive was the way to go,
but there was no British belt drive t/t, so along comes the LP12 the press went mad for it and the poor old 125 died a death,
this is very sad, the 125 is a much better deck, better built, heavier, and when you consider the amount of upgrades you have to do to the LP12 to make it sound good the 125 is a far superior deck,
then you have the cost of upgrading the LP12,
most 125s are standard and are nearly 30 years old, not bad,
sorry to rant.
vibbles
TD125 RESTORATION
Hi all. A pair of months ago a friend of mine gave me as a present an old TD125 mkI that was once Buenos Aires EMI´s records reference TT.
The poor old lady wasn´t working at all, and was in poor condition. Sadly, It´s destiny would be the trash bin...
But the spindle was fine, and the armboard came attached with a vintage SME3009... That day I considered myself a real lucky guy.
Netlist´s suggestion concerning TD125 info is excellent.
Thanks to the Steve´s site -thank you very much, Steve!- I was able to obtain the service manual with detailed circuit description -www.theanalogdept.com/td125_svc_man.html -, component values and oscillator set up procedures.
As Cedus suggested I changed all the caps and transistors -including the 2 power ones attached to the chassis-; restored some broken or corroded circuit traces, and with previous adjustments and measurements using only a LC meter, the TT was spinning again!. Then I crafted some fine mahoganny cabinetry and some tweaking and cosmetic treatments... Now the old lady is beautiful than ever! And how she sings!
Me and my fiancee are listening to vinyl everyday: from eigthies power pop to exotic disco music, dinner jazz, everything...
Hi all. A pair of months ago a friend of mine gave me as a present an old TD125 mkI that was once Buenos Aires EMI´s records reference TT.
The poor old lady wasn´t working at all, and was in poor condition. Sadly, It´s destiny would be the trash bin...
But the spindle was fine, and the armboard came attached with a vintage SME3009... That day I considered myself a real lucky guy.
Netlist´s suggestion concerning TD125 info is excellent.
Thanks to the Steve´s site -thank you very much, Steve!- I was able to obtain the service manual with detailed circuit description -www.theanalogdept.com/td125_svc_man.html -, component values and oscillator set up procedures.
As Cedus suggested I changed all the caps and transistors -including the 2 power ones attached to the chassis-; restored some broken or corroded circuit traces, and with previous adjustments and measurements using only a LC meter, the TT was spinning again!. Then I crafted some fine mahoganny cabinetry and some tweaking and cosmetic treatments... Now the old lady is beautiful than ever! And how she sings!
Me and my fiancee are listening to vinyl everyday: from eigthies power pop to exotic disco music, dinner jazz, everything...
Thanks for helping me out.
I'm going to replace the springs, and dampen the subchasis and platter. My next thread will be asking for help in this area.
The bearing and motor are working fine. I cleaned the bearing before using and it spins a good long time on its own.
My 125 had never been used and was the model w/o the Thorens arm. The oil in the bearing had been sitting so long it had turned to gunk.
I mounted an MDC-800 and am thinking of having it rewired. Don't feel up to doing that myself.
I am really pleased with how the record player is sounding. The 125 MKII was the turntable I lusted for when I caught the audio nerd virus. I couldn't afford it and settled for a 160C.
I'm going to replace the springs, and dampen the subchasis and platter. My next thread will be asking for help in this area.
The bearing and motor are working fine. I cleaned the bearing before using and it spins a good long time on its own.
My 125 had never been used and was the model w/o the Thorens arm. The oil in the bearing had been sitting so long it had turned to gunk.
I mounted an MDC-800 and am thinking of having it rewired. Don't feel up to doing that myself.
I am really pleased with how the record player is sounding. The 125 MKII was the turntable I lusted for when I caught the audio nerd virus. I couldn't afford it and settled for a 160C.
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