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£300 to improve my system

M

Margin_walker

pfm Member
Hi all,

I have approx £300 available to improve my current set up...

- Thorens TD160 , all stock with the exception of a hardwood plinth, thicker MDF baseboard and replacement RCA cables
- Nagaoka Stilton MP11 boron cartridge
- Rega Brio R
- Rega RS1 speakers
- Audiolab Q DAC (sources for this are laptop and chromecast audio)

My first thoughts were either a new arm for the turntable, a new cart, new speakers or a record cleaning machine to improve upon the spin clean i currently use.

For the speakers I need standmounts that can be used close to a rear wall.

All suggestions and recommendations welcome!

Phil
 
I wouldn't be adverse to it but i already have heavy curtains, carpets, rugs, pictures on the walls etc so I'm not sure how much it would add.
 
I'm thinking speakers. If the cart isn't worn out then the deck and setup is good stuff, Get speakers that work in the room, job done.
 
It depends on your main listening & what you think are existing weaknesses (if any) as £300 is a fairly tight budget, particularly for a speaker or amp upgrade, so as options they would very much depend on what you think you could get from selling the kit being replaced. You could also consider spending your money on some new music.
 
Rega Brio R would probably sell for around £300 ish, but i would then need an integrated with a phono stage or to allow for a separate one.
 
Personally I am not a fan of the Brio R. To me it had a rolled off top end and a bloom in the bass which made me fall asleep after 1 or 2 tracks. A Croft integrated was a massive step up in sound quality
 
I bet that’s a really nice set up, hard to see £300 buying a better deck, amp or speakers. So, arm? Is the 160 a mk1?

Achromat makes a useful difference on a Thorens.
 
Nobody ever wants to hear it when they have an upgrade in mind but I'd blow it on vinyl. I can almost guarantee you'll get more enjoyment out of your £300 that way...

In fact save £50 for a couple of bottles of single malt and it'll sound even better, double guaranteed!
 
bit left field but worth phoning Johny at Audio Origami and asking him what he can do to a £160 arm and for how much. I don't think £300 will buy you anything used that is very much better, but if he knows how to tune a 160 arm, then you will certainly hear the difference and the arm will make more of any better cartridges in the future.
 
Margin_walker said:
I guess the RS1 might achieve £150ish so i could probably spend £450/500 on new speakers
Click to expand...

The Brio/R - RS1 is great pairing into smaller rooms
Imo risky to find better match outside Rega range, RS3 perhaps within budget ?

Not a fan of Thorens tonearm, wouldn't a recent Planar be a better TT option ?
 
Rockmeister is spot on.
I have had my spacearm rewired and serviced by Johny at Audio Origami. Great results!
He is definitely worth talking too.
He is also very very funny
 
I'd agree that the arm would be worth looking at. It's not my old 160 is it? That had an MP11 Stilton on it...

The Brio-R/RS1 combo is great. I have RS3's that I've tried with it (currently running Dali Suite 2.8s) and the Brio isn't short of punch or detail with either speaker. Cracking amp.
 
Thorens arms are fiddly to rewire, if you want to keep the headshell plug. J7 fixed mine when a wire came loose but he wasn’t confident in the job (it’s still working fine as it happens), and he didn’t think much of the arm: he advised selling it and putting the cash towards an RB250 that he’d soup up. I probably would have done that but wanted to keep the auto-stop function on my TD147.

I picked up an old school Planar 3 for my sister recently (£150) and it’s probably better than the 147, although not by much - more a matter of taste than anything else I’d have thought. But if the OP just wants to spend some cash and try something new then a Rega would be worth a try. Possibilities for further experimentation by transplanting the arm, although the chassis of the 160 would need some minor surgery.
 
Which do you listen to most - TT or digital?

Actually, ether way, I’d say speakers - if you can look out for a s/h pair that suits your taste/room.
 
If vinyl's where it's at for you I'd say arm and cart but that you would be pushed to get a really satisfying level of improvement for that money. SH RB250 £100 - 170 or so which doesn't leave much left for a cart that would be a substantial improvement over the MP11 unless you are lucky with a SH purchase on that front...
IMHO a well set up TD160 with something like an RB250 is a worthwhile step up from a Planar 3... YMMV
 
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