Thorens TD-160 upgrade

[Junknewbian]

I am restoring a Thorens TD-160 that my brother purchased new, and gave to me. The power cable and phono cables (including ground) need to be replaced.

I have a very small budget for this repair. Please give suggestions for replacement wires - the best bang for the buck.

I will probably have the work done by a professional tech - I was quoted $40 to do the soldering.

What wires should I bring into the shop?

Thanks for any suggestion you can offer.

 

[tnsilver]

If you're on a tight budget, my suggestion is don't replace the stock phono cables. Just trim them (by default they are too long anyway) to remove any tarnished ends, replace the stock RCA jacks and re-solder the other end back to the hub. The stock cables are very good quality shielded RCA cables. For $40 you can buy a good quality soldering iron and learn how to do the soldering your self. It's fairly easy and it will pay off if you're getting into vintage turntables.

 

[malden]

I did just as tnsilver suggested to my Thorens TD 160 several years ago. It's a much better solution than replacing the original cables.

 

[bang4buck]

Could you be more specific? What exactly is wrong with the cables? Tarnished plugs, cut off, chewed by mice? Also, do you have the factory tonearm or an upgraded one?

If the stock cables can't be saved for some reason, the cheapest replacement would be a basic component video cable with the connectors on one end cut off, and the extra yellow lead removed. These have lower capacitance than audio interconnects, which makes them better suited for this application. You'd still want to keep it reasonably short, like 3 or 4 feet, not the full 6 feet of most interconnects.

The ground wire can be any thin wire that fits under the ground screw on your amp. Or you could leave the third lead and use it for ground, with a spade instead of the yellow plug.

 

[Ilikevinyl]

Here's some info on how to tweak a TD-160.

http://www.theanalogdept.com/thorens_td_160_dept_.htm

 

[grottyash]

Just do as tnsilver says. The benefits of tweaking tend to be in the mind of the tweaker That said, I'd check level and bounce.

Oh, and drill holes in the bottom board because it makes it easier to adjust the springs.