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Thorens td 124 mk2

koi

koi

pfm Member
Just obtained a Thorens td124 mk2 and with a little help from Tony have the strobe working:)

This turntable is a little cracker and I run it next to a Garrard 301 both with Morch tone arms

The Garrard pips the Thorens in the bass department but everything else I think the Thorens wins

The construction is pure quality God knows how much this turntable would if buying new today

Also a joy to use

I must say I'm enjoying it at the moment:)
 
I love mine, but can't help feeling that it has no right to sound as good as it does, since it is a tad complicated, compared to a Garrard. Makers of new record players should note one outstanding feature of the TD-124 - its compact dimensions. Does anyone actually buy monsters like those from TechDas?
 
If you put the 124 in a heavy, dense plinth the bass tightens up. IME, I use a Jim Campbell solid ply plinth and it seems to work fine.

cheers Al
 
Digressing slightly, but I have a Lenco now heavy plinthed and all these old TTs benefit enormously for it and are ad good as, if not better than, anything produced today.

Julian
 
The Thorens TD 124 is indeed a beautiful looking machine and it sounds great. I have one in a solid ply plinth but I also have a Garrard 301 and a Goldring G99 both in chipboard boxes. I'm not sure which one to spend time and money on.
 
This thread so obviously needs pics! Here's mine:

24573070931_d8ebb002a1_o.jpg


Show us your 124s!
 
Tony, having followed your work on the 124 over the years, all the many mods and special components you've tried, (you must have spent thousands...) I think you should write a book on the subject.

I bought a Mk.I around 1976 for 50,000 lire, or 25 Euro (not taking into account inflation, of course) and used it for years. Then sold it around 1993 for 500,000 lire (250 Euro). It came with an original tone arm, which was a plough and I threw it away and replaced it with an Audio Technica. But I had constant problems with speed variation and with the magnetic brake.
 
PaulMB said:
Tony, having followed your work on the 124 over the years, all the many mods and special components you've tried, (you must have spent thousands...) I think you should write a book on the subject.
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I pretty much have in the classic area! FWIW the only 'tweaks' that remain now are a Shopper main bearing as my original had some damage and a Swissonor top-platter as it is somewhat flatter than my original, oh, and some little motor springs. If I were doing it again I'd approach it the same way I did as a Linn owner and just keep buying and selling TD-124s until I'd assembled an absolutely perfect one. It took me ten or twelve LP12s to get exactly where I wanted to be, but I ended that journey well in profit. I approached the 124 differently and placed far too much faith in the after-market parts market, they are adequate, but absurdly expensive and not as good as the Thorens original parts IMHO. An expensive journey, but quite fun in its own way and I'm now there bar finding a belt I really like (all the ones actually sold for the 124 are varying degrees of terrible IMO, just stupidly tight and noisy). As it stands my TD-124 works very well and sounds great, it is also pretty much mint condition throughout so should easily outlive me.
 
Tony L said:
I pretty much have in the classic area! FWIW the only 'tweaks' that remain now are a Shopper main bearing as my original had some damage and a Swissonor top-platter as it is somewhat flatter than my original, oh, and some little motor springs. If I were doing it again I'd approach it the same way I did as a Linn owner and just keep buying and selling TD-124s until I'd assembled an absolutely perfect one. It took me ten or twelve LP12s to get exactly where I wanted to be, but I ended that journey well in profit. I approached the 124 differently and placed far too much faith in the after-market parts market, they are adequate, but absurdly expensive and not as good as the Thorens original parts IMHO. An expensive journey, but quite fun in its own way and I'm now there bar finding a belt I really like (all the ones actually sold for the 124 are varying degrees of terrible IMO, just stupidly tight and noisy). As it stands my TD-124 works very well and sounds great, it is also pretty much mint condition throughout so should easily outlive me.
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There you go! You've already written the introduction!
 
Mine looks decidedly 'careworn' in comparison, but it is in top working order. I doubt that I'll ever have it repainted to 'showroom' condition.

Tony's right about the benefits of some of the costly parts available for the TD-124, particularly those originating from Switzerland! That said, the Swissonor platters are good, and I do prefer their non-magnetic ferrous platter to the Mk2 alloy one, not least because it is properly concentric and does not require any tedious runout adjustment. I too have a Schopper bearing (bought second hand) and it is good, but no better than a sensibly refurbished original, so not good value. All the oilite bearing shells in the TD-124 are standard metric sizes and available at quite modest cost.

Out of many things that I've learnt while tinkering with my TD-124, one of the best tips is that an old and noisy Thorens idler wheel can be rescued rather cheaply by very carefully grinding back the hardened edge, to nice soft rubber, as long as it is not warped. The grinding process also ensures that the thing is properly round, but is not a DIY prospect (I am lucky to have a friend who runs a rubber factory). Press in a new oilite bearing if required, and the refurbished wheel is as quiet as these idlers can possibly be. The new production Schopper idler wheel is very noisy in comparison.
 
Shuggie said:
Mine looks decidedly 'careworn' in comparison, but it is in top working order. I doubt that I'll ever have it repainted to 'showroom' condition.
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Looks decent enough to me. I can't see any knocks, chips, scrapes etc in the picture, though the plinth is maybe in need of a strip and refinish! Bet it sounds nice with the Mørch. Unlike my 301 my 124 is in its original paint, not refinished. As a bit of a guitar geek this matters to me more than it really should!

PS If anyone does have a tatty 124/II they'd like to upgrade cosmetically I do have a very tidy spare chassis complete with nameplate I'd sell/swap.
 
Tony L said:
Looks decent enough to me. I can't see any knocks, chips, scrapes etc in the picture, though the plinth is maybe in need of a strip and refinish! Bet it sounds nice with the Mørch. Unlike my 301 my 124 is in its original paint, not refinished. As a bit of a guitar geek this matters to me more than it really should!

PS If anyone does have a tatty 124/II they'd like to upgrade cosmetically I do have a very tidy spare chassis complete with nameplate I'd sell/swap.
Click to expand...

That's not my deck!
 
Shuggie said:
That's not my deck!
Click to expand...

Ha, trying to do things on an iPad without reading glasses has its issues! Ah well, the one in the picture looks lovely and I bet it sounds great with that arm and cart! Let's have a look at yours!
 
Here it is. The Jim Campbell plinth needs tidying up (my fault, not his).

IMG_20160702_194623_zpsrmfnu7eg.jpg


and this is what the strobe looks like with an LED conversion

IMG_20160702_194721_zpspwnncta5.jpg


and a gratuitous shot of a Miyajima Takumi cartridge, in a (very expensive but very good) Acoustical Systems Arche headshell

IMG_20160702_194802_zpstm5rm7ga.jpg



There's a good Thorens TD-124 Friends Facebook Group, too. See https://www.facebook.com/groups/324351847746115/
 
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