Getting a tonearm rewired

[Milo]

I have a Thorens td160 mk2 which has a partly detachable tonearm if that makes any sense. There is a manual here. http://www.theanalogdept.com/td160mk2_manual.htm Now being cack handed I managed to break one of the cables changing a cartridge and thus the turntable is now useless. Anywhere i have found online that does tonearm rewiring seems to only offer the option of replacing with unicorn hair cabling and tend to charge £200 plus which is way more than I payed for the turntable and more than I can afford anyway.Is there anywhere I can get this work done for a more sensible price i.e nice friendly old bloke in a shop that smells of old books, or is it a case of having a crack at it myself? I'm rather crap at fiddly work due to suffering from shaky hands. I know this may not be the right place to ask such a question but I tend to shy away from hifi forums these days. I have a spare turntable thankfully but would love to get the Thorens going again as it was lovely when it worked. Edited to add if anyone here has the know how I am more than willing to pay or swap some of my excess hifi for getting it done.

 

[pubrunner]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune with the tonearm. If it is semi-detachable, how are you going to remove it for a refurb ? (IIRC, it will be an Isotrack tone arm)

What I would do, is contact Johnnie at Audio Origami; he is a very friendly guy and really knows his stuff re. turntables and tonearms. He did some mods for me and the price was less than quoted on his website. He does produce work to the very highest standards.

http://www.audioorigami.co.uk/AO_Rewires/AORewires.htm

 

[Milo]

The bit that's busted are the bits that plug into the cartridge the red cable iirc. I can literally just unscrew half the tonearm and chuck it in the post I don't need to remove the whole thing or anything as far as I can tell. This is the tonearm detached with a differing head shell to my own

it is called tp16 not sure what version but essentially the same as what is detailed here. http://hifihobby.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/thorens-tp16-mkiii-tonearm.html Apologies if a bit garbled christmas eve booze etc.

 

[rusty bearing]

Has it come apart at the wire/connector point? If so I can fettle it for you if you want.
PM me if you like

 

[Milo]

Yea that is what has happened but i also pulled a fair old chunk of the cable as it pulled off leaving it a bit short.
I have bodged it and it actually seems to work. just have a somewhat short and delicate cartridge connector and it is looking a touch Heath Robinson. No humming or anything and it seems to sound ok for now. To be honest I might as well just buy a replacement arm wand from ebay if I get anymore problems I am missing a cosmetic part of the head shell as well. Would cost about the same as getting it rewired. Next thing that needs doing is the suspension springs need adjusting. The platter spins with a small wobble but finding a idiot proof guide is proving tricky. Thanks for the offer though very kind of you.

 

[rusty bearing]

No worries, I love building turntables.
Hmmm. Curious about the wobble, that sounds more like a spindle/bearing problem. Is it an up/down or side to side wobble and how big/small?

Generally to reset the springs it means taking off the bottom panel and propping the deck up on baked bean tins or something like then, working underneath, gently tighten or slacken the nuts(10mm?) compressing the springs until the platter is about 5mm above the main surface and bounces vertically when you press and release the spindle.
The aim is to get it to bounce for @10-15 seconds.
If you feel confident the first thing I would do is remove the springs and the rubber bits at either end. Discard the internal foam bits.Put the rubber bits in a bag with some talc and shake. Check the spring mounting posts for tightness and rebuild it.
You can use the same method as the Linn LP12 or Thorens TD150 if you have trouble finding a guide.

Do check the platter bearing hasn't run dry (clean out with cotton bud). If it has, a bit of EP80 gearbox oil is ok.

It ain't hard, my own TD150 bounces beautifully.

The best source for info I think is
http://www.theanalogdept.com/thorens_dept_.htm
and specifically
http://www.theanalogdept.com/susp_tim_bailey.htm

 

[Milo]

I changed the oil recently. The wobble is about 2mm or so maybe less and not audible in any way as far as I can hear anyhoo. Not sure if it is an up and down wobble or a side to side how would I tell that? I just thought it might be a suspension issue due to my mum not taking the platter of it when she moved it here from London leaving it to wobble around on the way here. Nothing more than a guess though. I am using a non official belt and am currently waiting for a new official Thorens one to come in the post though I doubt that would cause the wobble? It has made the speed change a bit flaky though. Thanks for those links useful though somewhat daunting, I might have a trawl through youtube and see if anyone has any videos up showing the process.

 

[Milo]

By the way I don't suppose anybody knows were I can get silicone damping fluid to sort out the queuing mechanism which is dried out and thus useless. Lots of vinyl specific places seem to charge rather a lot for what I presume is nothing special and could be found cheaper than a tenner for a small bottle.

 

[rusty bearing]

If you can't hear it then I imagine the relationship between stylus and disc is constant so yes it may well be bouncing on the springs. That brings us back to the belt. I did have a similar problem but only at the initial start up when it would bounce around for a few seconds. Cured that by putting the belt into the bag with talc and shaking it up.
The 'flaky' speed change may also mean the belt ain't quite running in its correct place, check by turning the outer platter over and starting up, see whats happening.

Model shops are reputed to sell silicone damping fluid, what the price might be I've no idea , sorry.