advertisement


Thorens TD124 project

kwmason

kwmason

Won Ton On
Hi All,
my first post on the classic thread but i thought its about time i started a project rather than collecting them and never making a start (long story but i had a fire at work and lost my collection of turntables to build).
One of the turntables was a TD124 - 2 days after the fire a new plinth arrived that i'd previously ordered and despite the TT being destroyed I thought, ah it's an omen. At least i should get another - so i did
So here i am about to assemble a TD124.

irst question.

The plinth i have bought is a deep ply construction with long holes for the mounting bolts. the rubbers with the mounting bolts fit snuggly but I'm assuming i need the appropriate nuts to tighten these up? But based on the design of plinth i have it would just we squeezing the rubber tight to grip the hole - is that correct?
 
No need, if using the rubber ‘mushrooms’ the deck just sits on them via its own considerable weight. It is not bolted down to the plinth. I always think of it as a ‘stand’ for the TD-124 rather than a ‘plinth’ in the Linn or whatever sense. If you pick my TD-124 up by the chassis the plinth stays on the table, it is not bolted to it at all.

By saying that there is a school of thought that chooses not to use the ‘mushrooms’ atvall and to ‘hard-couple’ the turntable to the plinth. In this scenario, which I have never personally tried, I guess bolting is the way to do it. I assume in your case you’d just need to source threaded rods of the right size, which is easy enough to do (they are M5 thread IIRC).
 
Thanks Tony - yes it is the "mushrooms" i guess - that jobs done then :)
Now to look at this 3009 i purchased
 
2 schools of thought re 124 plinths.
Hollow plinths - as Tony mentioned, it sits on the 4 mushrooms.
Solid heavier plinths - some feel that this is the preferred way - no mushrooms. Bolt the thing to the plinth. Apparently the 'energy' from all the moving bits (idler and stepped pulley etc) gets 'dissipated' in the heavy plinth.

I have a 124 in a hollow plinth w a 9" Jelco and it looks compact and cute that way.
I have another bolted in a big heavy plinth with big arm board and a 3012. Alternatively some have 12 " arms bolted to the plinth and dispense with armboard altogether ( and would use a dummy 9 "armboard to cover the 'hole').
 
highcut28 said:
I have a 124 in a hollow plinth w a 9" Jelco and it looks compact and cute that way.
I have another bolted in a big heavy plinth with big arm board and a 3012. Alternatively some have 12 " arms bolted to the plinth and dispense with armboard altogether ( and would use a dummy 9 "armboard to cover the 'hole').
Click to expand...

Have you come to any conclusions regarding the differences in sound between light/heavy plinth approaches?
 
simple question but are standard 6mm wood screws fine for attaching my 3009 to the armboard? - seen people claiming to have the correct ones online on fleabay for £9 for 4 - what a con
 
They are just nice little chrome-plated screws; as long as you use ones that pass through the rubber grommets ok and don’t go right through the armboard they will be fine.

There is a school of thought that discarding the grommets is a good idea. I’ve tried it, and it does sound a bit different, but after a while I couldn’t decide which was better so just stuck everything back how it was. Who am I to argue with A R-A?!
 
Tony L said:
Have you come to any conclusions regarding the differences in sound between light/heavy plinth approaches?
Click to expand...
Difficult Tony, different arms, and some quite different replacement parts in each (eg Hanze springs in one , not in the other ; and different idlers - one has the metal O ring)
TBH I cant draw any meaningful conclusions.
 
I noticed in another thread Tony you don’t recommend just powering it with the 2 ply cable- mine only has this so might have to rewrite and Earth it
 
kwmason said:
I noticed in another thread Tony you don’t recommend just powering it with the 2 ply cable- mine only has this so might have to rewrite and Earth it
Click to expand...

Yes, definitely earth it! It makes it safer and is better from a vinyl static discharge perspective too. I have mains earth attached to one of the main chassis bolts and from there a thinner wire takes it to one of the four motor case screws. This way I get electrical continuity from the mains plug earth to the centre spindle which means I never have any issue with static etc.
 
6544150091_18fc2bab22_c.jpg


Here’s a pic, sadly not a good one as I have the bottom shell of the motor removed, but you can see the mains coming in and how I’ve done the earthing. The smaller earth strap to the motor is visible but partly out of shot as the motor is open. It just links to the nearest motor case bolt with plenty of slack so it doesn’t impede the suspension at all.

PS I’ve since redone it all with a lighter and thinner mains lead, but the location hasn’t changed.
 
My TD125 runs the original 2 core power cable but then there's a separate earth wire bolted to the TT chassis which runs to the chassis of the phono stage, which is itself properly earthed with a 3 core mains cable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top