Restoring a Thorens TD124 Mk II SME3009 Shure V15 Type III
- Thread starter Fox
- Start date
jimb0
Jelly Roll Soul
There is a tidy looking TD124 mk2 on the bay right now for £695 BIN.
Fox - not wanting to threadjack but have discussed your system set up with ADC elsewhere? I have been mulling a similar idea for a while but figurd that it was the sort of set up that would have the average PFMer in convulsions at the mere thought...
Jim
Fox - not wanting to threadjack but have discussed your system set up with ADC elsewhere? I have been mulling a similar idea for a while but figurd that it was the sort of set up that would have the average PFMer in convulsions at the mere thought...
Jim
Tony L
Administrator
It will be interesting to see if he gets it - condition wise it looks similar to mine. You have to look exceptionally closely at mine to see anything wrong with it, a couple of really light hairlines on the paint, but nothing close to going through to the metal and a little 'crazing' under the platter by the main bearing where I assume a long distant oil spill must have reacted slightly with the paint. I suspect I was the first to have a peep under there for decades as it was utterly filthy!
There seem to be a surprising number of 124/IIs coming to the surface at the moment, that's three on eBay UK at the moment. A disproportionately high number considering how rare the thing is - Thorens only made the II for three years, i.e. there are far less IIs than the original out there.
I'm looking forward to getting mine up and running. I really need to really work on the drive mechanism as it's remarkably low torque at the moment so something is obviously dirty / slipping / gunked up somewhere - it takes ages to reach speed and doesn't take much to slow it down again. I'll wait until my parts arrive before doing anything.
Tony.
The Captain
~~~~~~~~~~
Robert
Tapehead
I had the pleasure of seeing this deck last week and it is a stunner.
Loved the looks and engineering and I'm looking forward to hearing it once fully fettled.
i'm saving myself for the cart for the new year... Dec>Feb are deep dark months and I get a LOT of listening done then. But so far very happy with the DL103
Tony L
Administrator
I was just looking at that! It is just bewilderingly complex, to the point I can't figure out how it works at all. I suspect the winning bidder will have some fun restoring it to a working condition. It looks to be all there though, but the idlers both seem shot... and as to why it has two of the things is anyone's guess! Here's a site with a vid of a TD-224 doing what only a TD-224 can do.
Tony.
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Resolve crumbling already Fox? I thought this cart was supposed to be an investment
Please post thoughts and TT pron piccies if you do set up the Koetsu, your TT setup and the Koetsu are a mouthwatering proposition. I bet the Koetsu will have you spending even more of your hard earned on the black stuff, you may want to buy another flight case.....
Oh completely. It crumbles daily when I look at its little box on the bookcase next to the TT. My cold icy heart melts when I stroke it, caress it... its my precioussssss. Minsesssss!
But if you want teh pron, here's some I made when it arrived sans needle...
But if you want teh pron, here's some I made when it arrived sans needle...
Tony L
Administrator
Some progress. I did the complete motor strip, clean and relube last night, I'm just leaving it running for an hour or two now. All seems quiet and fairly cool running.
I managed to do the motor strip-down with the deck flipped over without actually desoldering the complex nest of wires, I just gently moving the frame and coils thingy out of the way whilst I drilled out the rivets on the top bearing. It all went remarkably smoothly and I had just the right size bolts & nuts knocking about too. The felt washers were in decent condition and cleaned up well in some thinners.
I ended up soaking the bushes in thinners for a couple of hours then deep-frying them in a wok of 80W GL-4 oil for 15 minutes as my oven appears to have broken so I couldn't heat them in that. I just followed this general oilite bearing advice:
Re-oiling:after machining of the bearing, or following oil loss during storage, immerse in high quality mineral oil to ISOVG 60 or ISO VG 150 (SAE30 or SAE40) at 80°C to 100°C for 10 to 15 minutes and then cool in cold oil. (source)
I'm waiting for my Schopper order before fully rebuilding as I'll swap out the rubber motor mounts, belt and most importantly the dubious looking cap. I actually have an upturned biscuit tin lid under the plinth to catch anything it might leak whilst it's running now!
Tony.
The Captain
~~~~~~~~~~
deep frying your washers in a wok! Id love t'have seen the look on the missus face..
'I'm.. erm.. shallow frying bits of my record-player'.
'of course you are dear'.
'I'm.. erm.. shallow frying bits of my record-player'.
'of course you are dear'.
audiogoose
pfm Member
Tony:
Just got up to date on this thread. I have a 124 II that I restored a couple of years back and use it almost on a daily basis.
A quick question: How much belt noise do you get? I can't seem to get rid of that last trace of noise that I hear with my ear next to the table. It improves a lot when I put a little talc on the belt, but this seems to wear off fairly quickly and the noise returns. Some days, it seems a little louder than others. Go figure. I have always assumed the noise can't be helped, but thought I would ask here for some other opinions.
Overall, my TT comes up to speed (from cold) within one revolution of the platter and is actually about 1% fast for at least 30 minutes, before settling down and being spot on. At turn off, runout is between 3 and 3.5 minutes, depending on ambient temperature. I use a teflon thrust plate at present.
Thanks for any insight.
Jerry
Just got up to date on this thread. I have a 124 II that I restored a couple of years back and use it almost on a daily basis.
A quick question: How much belt noise do you get? I can't seem to get rid of that last trace of noise that I hear with my ear next to the table. It improves a lot when I put a little talc on the belt, but this seems to wear off fairly quickly and the noise returns. Some days, it seems a little louder than others. Go figure. I have always assumed the noise can't be helped, but thought I would ask here for some other opinions.
Overall, my TT comes up to speed (from cold) within one revolution of the platter and is actually about 1% fast for at least 30 minutes, before settling down and being spot on. At turn off, runout is between 3 and 3.5 minutes, depending on ambient temperature. I use a teflon thrust plate at present.
Thanks for any insight.
Jerry
Tony L
Administrator
I'm getting very little noise indeed from the motor, belt or stepped pulley, but the idler itself makes some noise on it's bearing - I'm basing this on running with the platter off. It is noticeably quieter running if you hold the idler away from the step-pulley. I'm waiting for my order to arrive from Schopper (motor grommets, belt, capacitor) before finally rebuilding it, so I've no idea about stability / start up time yet. I think I've done a decent job with rebuilding the motor, it is certainly no noisier than either the Lenco or 301, so I assume I'm in the ballpark. It also runs cooler than both of those.
Tony.
PS on yours how much noise translates to rumble? That's the only thing that matters, i.e. what comes out of the speakers. Have you got the iron or alloy platter?
Tony.
PS on yours how much noise translates to rumble? That's the only thing that matters, i.e. what comes out of the speakers. Have you got the iron or alloy platter?
audiogoose
pfm Member
I have the alloy platter, as well as the new grey cast platter that Schopper offers (a little less surface noise).
I don't think it's the idler that is making the noise, because when I pull it away from the stepped pulley, there is no change in the sound.
However, applying the talc will reduce it significantly. I think I may try a new belt to see if that makes a difference. The one I have is 4 years old now. I don't seem to note any rumble, so maybe my expectations are just too high for a table this old.
Bottom line is it sounds fantastic. I once owned a Clearaudio Master Reference (mucho expensive) and the 124 sounds at least as good, for much less outlay.
Jerry
I don't think it's the idler that is making the noise, because when I pull it away from the stepped pulley, there is no change in the sound.
However, applying the talc will reduce it significantly. I think I may try a new belt to see if that makes a difference. The one I have is 4 years old now. I don't seem to note any rumble, so maybe my expectations are just too high for a table this old.
Bottom line is it sounds fantastic. I once owned a Clearaudio Master Reference (mucho expensive) and the 124 sounds at least as good, for much less outlay.
Jerry
Hi Audiogoose, my TD124 MKII is also suffering from belt noise at the moment and I think I am hearing it as increased noise in the silent bits between tracks. What I have noticed is that if I reduce the eddy current braking the noise reduces (with my ear to the turntable) but of course the platter spins too fast. This makes me think it may be that the motor pulley is slightly out of line or plane with the stepped pulley, causing the belt to creep a bit with the added strain of the brake. I can get rid of the noise by using a variac to control the speed rather than the brake but I'm not sure that's such a good idea as the motor looses torque which must affect dynamics, and the neon strobe lamp dims too much. My belt is a quite new Schopper item so should be of good quality but it is quite tight. I also suffered occasionally from the stepped pulley lifting up out of its bearing and rubbing against the little metal finger above it but managed to minimise that by careful alignment of the motor pulley height. I never had that problem with the old belt so think maybe the belt is too tight and stressing things a bit too much- maybe its really for the 60Hz pulley. I need to have a go at stretching it a bit to see if that helps. Actually I think I will write Schopper an email...
Mark
Mark