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Mike's TD124 thread

The easiest decisions of the whole project.

My own 'Pickwell Audio' motor suspension springs (like the Hanze springs but a bit posher) and our upgrade Blue Belt. If the belt is a bit noisy straight out of the packet I recommend giving it a dusting in talc before wiping all the excess off with dry lint free cloth.

Motor springs and belt by Michael Pickwell, on Flickr
 
I polished the running face of the stepped pulley by mounting the spindle in an electric drill and then holding it against a cloth with some polishing compound on it. To protect the spindle I first sleeved it with some heatshrink tubing.

The original idler is in good nick but I couldn't resist one the fancy machined alloy ones from Audio Silente. The idler comes with a selection of spare 'tyres' of different sizes and materials. I haven't experimented with these yet and currently have one of the black rubber ones fitted. I took care to get this mounted very neatly with no twist in it.

Idler and stepped pulley by Michael Pickwell, on Flickr
 
Looking great. I’ll be very curious to know what you think of the idler at a later point, i.e. is it any quieter than the original.
 
I'm now just waiting on a new rubber coupler for the SME3009 to arrive from Peak HiFi.

Once that's here I can rebuild the arm.

Why are SME spares so stupidly expensive!
 
Love that plinth Mike, I might get a similar one to use for a costume change as the mood takes me.

Your motor rebuild looks good too - you could offer it as a paid drop-off/collect service maybe?
 
How is your speed stability cold to warm (i.e. how much does the strobe drift over the first hour or so), and what is the motor’s unloaded spin-down time? I’d not be overly concerned with the latter, but it can certainly highlight issues.

I actually went back to the original bushings in mine as they seemed to be in great condition and seemed to make for more consistent performance than the very good but tighter Audio Silente ones. The choice of oil really is critical too. It wasn’t until recently that I found a direct equivalent for the original Thorens spec (can’t remember what it is called, but it is linked towards the end of my thread). This done and with the blue belt fitted it is really performing superbly now.
 
The key to minimising the speed drift, as the oil warms up and the oil viscosity lowers, is to select an oil with a low viscosity index (not the same thing as low viscosity). Synthetic oils generally have a much lower viscosity index.

For the platter spindle bearing I'll start by using a fully synthetic ISO46 oil that I've been using for years in my TD125. My TD125 has virtually no speed drift at all.

I agree with you about the A.S. bushes. They are a little on the tighter side and with those fitted my motor spin down time is only a few seconds. The motor is very smooth and quiet and I'd rather the bushes were a shade too tight and bedded in than too loose from the outset.

With hindsight I could happily have reused the original felt pads and bushes, after an good clean and relube. Oh well.

I've kept the original motor bushes safe and I wouldn't be surprised if I end up refitting them.
 
Can anyone here confirm the correct spindle to pivot distance for my arm?
@Tony L do you know?

With a 3009? It doesn’t need to be exact as you align the arm by sliding it on its base. As with all SMEs the headshell has preset mount-points, the arm moves. Just cut the slot at an angle and as far out as you can get it on the 124 as it ends up a fair way back in the slot.

PS Yours is a pre-Improved so certainly Stevenson geometry.
 
With a 3009? It doesn’t need to be exact as you align the arm by sliding it on its base. As with all SMEs the headshell has preset mount-points, the arm moves. Just cut the slot at an angle and as far out as you can get it on the 124 as it ends up a fair way back in the slot.

PS Yours is a pre-Improved so certainly Stevenson geometry.

Err yeah, sorry. I was having a bit of a mental block for a minute there!

It's all finished now and I'm just settling down for a first listen.
 
The tonearm was in great condition apart from the rubber parts (baseplate grommets and rubber coupling), which were a bit old and tired.

I've had good results in the past reviving such rubber parts by leaving them sealed in a bag with some rubber conditioner for a few days.

Rubber conditioner by Michael Pickwell, on Flickr

However, I'd already bought new rubber parts and so the arm was treated to new ones. Here's the new rubber coupler being glued into place.

New rubber coupling by Michael Pickwell, on Flickr

The non original ADC headshell was also changed to an SME one courtesy of @andvinylly
 
Looks great, how does it sound? Is that an old VMS 20E or related cart?! Should sound great if the suspension is ok.

PS If you want a pretty substantial upgrade and don’t have your heart set on a modern strong magnet MC or Decca do consider hunting down an original green iron sub-platter. They are out there and shouldn’t be expensive, I think I paid £100 for mine. It brings an absolute rock-solid pitch and more gravitas/scale.
 
Thanks Tony.

The cart is an Ortofon M20 FL Super, which is the same as I have on the TD125, so I ought to be able to make a pretty fair comparison between the decks. They both have an SME3009, with the same cartridge and into the same phono stage (modded EAR834P clone). They even both have acrylic armboards.

I was planning to fit a NOS stylus I picked up a few years ago on ebay but when I tried it I found to my horror that the cantilever was loose in the tube! I need to investigate the repair possibilities on that.

I've only given it a quick listen so far and I'm reserving judgement until I've lived with it a bit.

Thus far I can say two things:

1) It sounds good.
2) It's not as quiet as the TD125 (which is very quiet).

I'd definitely be keen for an iron platter if I can find one at a sensible price. IIRC you've measured yours at about 0.07% wow and so far mine is doing 0.13%. I suspect the heavier platter would bring that down a chunk. My TD125 measures at 0.05% - 0.06%.
 
Out of curiosity, what do you use to clean/polish the painted chassis?
Not too sure if the td 124 is a similar 'enamel' finish llike my garrard 401 but i had a couple of scuff marks on the chassis which cleaned up a treat with a gentle rubbing using a damp scotchbrite pad...no marks at all now and in perfect condition.
 
1) It sounds good.
2) It's not as quiet as the TD125 (which is very quiet).

Those parameters won’t change, it will never be as quiet as a good belt or direct drive, it just can’t given the size of the motor and physical complexity of the drive mechanism. With the iron platter it does bring that absolute solidity and ‘rightness’ all the best idlers have though. I’ll happily trade a less good s/n ratio for that. There is something about it, a 301, EMT, good Lenco etc that just keeps you listening.
 


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