Meeting a High Priest of the world of hi-fi BS.

[Profpointy]

Thorens TD-160 (Mark 1?) up for auction tomorrow at local auction house, estimate £40-£60.
Will it sell cheaply? Would it be an improvement on my Garrard 401with Acos Lustre arm? Am I bovvered?

Those Garrard 401s are well regarded I believe with lots of folks doing exotic upgrades and so on. I doubt the Thorens is going to be much if any jmprovement. I disagree that the Thorens is remotely as good as an LP12 - I did audition one back in the day and Rega 2 and 3, Logic 7 as well as the Lin. were miles better. Not done a direct comparison with the 401 but my Uncle had one and it was good

 

[dodgy]

Those Garrard 401s are well regarded I believe with lots of folks doing exotic upgrades and so on. I doubt the Thorens is going to be much if any jmprovement. I disagree that the Thorens is remotely as good as an LP12 - I did audition one back in the day and Rega 2 and 3, Logic 7 as well as the Lin. were miles better. Not done a direct comparison with the 401 but my Uncle had one and it was good

When you say audition, do you mean you listened to it play music?

 

[Grant Fondo]

You guys know your stuff so any advice on upgrading the Rega cartridge in my Rega P3. I had an Ortofon Red on my Goldring GR3 before and it was 'livelier' which i liked

 

[Profpointy]

When you say audition, do you mean you listened to it play music?

Yes, played a selection of rock and classical in the hi fi shop. Candidates were the Thorens, rega 2 & 3 and the (i think?) Logic 7 which isn't spoken of much these days. Both Regas were better on classical and the logic on rock music. The thorens whilst OK didn't sound as nice. All three were the same money near enough. I bought a Linn in the end as it was clearly better than all of them and did live up to the hype, albeit cost twice as much.

<more> thinking about your "listening to music" point, when I got the Linn home after a bit of playing about I stuck on some very old and scratchy mono records I was planning to replace which were cast offs from my uncle in any case. On the Linn they sounded amazing

 

[raleighnut]

Those Garrard 401s are well regarded I believe with lots of folks doing exotic upgrades and so on. I doubt the Thorens is going to be much if any jmprovement. I disagree that the Thorens is remotely as good as an LP12 - I did audition one back in the day and Rega 2 and 3, Logic 7 as well as the Lin. were miles better. Not done a direct comparison with the 401 but my Uncle had one and it was good

The standard arm lets the Thorens down, using the armboard kit that allows any Rega arm to fit improves matters no end, mine actually has a Thorens badged RB 250 fitted (as on the new TD160)

 

[dodgy]

Interesting to see how this thread has turned.

 

[Profpointy]

The standard arm lets the Thorens down, using the armboard kit that allows any Rega arm to fit improves matters no end, mine actually has a Thorens badged RB 250 fitted (as on the new TD160)

I recall that each unit had it's standard arm on it. Mind you, If I'd bought the Thorens and added the Rega arm I must have been close to the Linn price.

I really must get the Linn down and fire it up again, as it was pretty amazing when I had it going

 

[raleighnut]

I recall that each unit had it's standard arm on it. Mind you, If I'd bought the Thorens and added the Rega arm I must have been close to the Linn price.

I really must get the Linn down and fire it up again, as it was pretty amazing when I had it going

Yep, the LP12 is probably the best ever turntable but then it is based on a Thorens design

 

[Profpointy]

Yep, the LP12 is probably the best ever turntable but then it is based on a Thorens design

Sad thing is, it sounded most amazing when I got it home, despite being on a wobbly dressing table in my room, with merely Ok other components, I've never since got it sounding as good, despite being better set up and with various upgrades. Basically all digital now, with music on my PC played via a pro spec studio sound card

 

[slowmotion]

Somewhere in one of my brother-in-law's leaky barns there might still be a Garrard 301 turntable.

It was a cast-off from a friend in the late 1970's. Today, people pay north of £2000 for them depending on the bearing type, oil or grease. They seem to have a faintly obsessive following.

£127 for a tube of grease?????

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Garrard-...169032?hash=item1f033ac3c8:g:eioAAOSwwghdnoz9

 

[Fab Foodie]

Hmmm. I'm as dubious about hi-fi esoterica as the next fellow, but even at knocking on twice your 30 limit, I can most certainly tell the difference between a good system and a mediocre one. And the benefits are considerable - for me at least.

Agreed.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Probably not with the standard arm but you can get a replacement arm board kit to fit a Rega arm to those (and the 166 like mine) then it'll give an LP12 a run for it's money.

Absolutely. Next upgrade for mine will be to swap the benerable SME 309 for a Rega arm. TD160’s are very tweakable even for the ham-fisted like me. Easy to set-up unlike an LP12...
TD150s would take a Linn armboard and arm without modification such were the core similarities...

 

[raleighnut]

Absolutely. Next upgrade for mine will be to swap the benerable SME 309 for a Rega arm. TD160’s are very tweakable even for the ham-fisted like me. Easy to set-up unlike an LP12...
TD150s would take a Linn armboard and arm without modification such were the core similarities...

I dunno whether the Rega would be better than the SME, the guy who got me into HiFi had a 3009 S2 Fixed on his turntable and that sounded really good, it would be nice to compare the 2 but he's changed to an Acoustic Research.

 

[Globalti]

Interesting to see how this thread has turned.

Yeah, weird. It's almost turned into a willy-waving contest. I'll think about it when I get home tonight and audition my Denon setup.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I dunno whether the Rega would be better than the SME, the guy who got me into HiFi had a 3009 S2 Fixed on his turntable and that sounded really good, it would be nice to compare the 2 but he's changed to an Acoustic Research.

One of the issues with the SME is that you are limited in tracking weight aa it was designed to compliment the Shure M75 and its ilk. I have a lovely Denon DL110 moving iron cartridge which is just too heavy as are most MC cartridges too.
It’s a clasic combo, a bit fiddly and delicate however....