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Thorens TD125/160/150 etc upgrade platter - Interest check

The extra 357g weight makes very little difference to the suspension setting. What this photo is supposed to show is the level of the top deck of chassis in relation to the aluminium panel at the front of the turntable. With the original platter fitted the chassis was a mm or two above the level of the front panel.

Suspenion height with original platter by Michael Pickwell, on Flickr

And with the iron platter fitted the suspension has only sagged by 1-2mm. Easily compensated for with a small tweak to the preload adjustment on the suspension springs.

Suspension height with iron platter by Michael Pickwell, on Flickr
 
After a couple of weeks the surface of the platters has oxidised slightly and is now a nice dull grey. I rather like it like this and I have no intention to paint of coat mine now.

Here's a pic of mine installed on my TD125 Mk2.

TD125 + iron platter by Michael Pickwell, on Flickr

I'm really pleased with how these have turned out and I'm now ready to take orders if anyone wants one. There's a definite improvement to my ears with the graphite flaked cast iron platter over the original Zamak platter.

I'm offering these at £400 plus P&P.
 
Mike gave me the opportunity to have a try with the cast iron platter on my TD160 MkII. As you can see from my previous post I was something of a skeptic, but I guess I had not quite got a sense of what the new platter actually was.

First off I was very impressed with the finish – see pics comparing the aluminium alloy bearing/sub-platter with the graphite-grey cast one. It’s very nicely machined too. I was also surprised by the difference in weight – quite perceptible (roughly 17% heavier) but not quite the heavyweight I was somehow expecting, running as I do the 5kg Schopper/Swissonor platter on my TD124 MkII. This meant that there wasn’t a huge additional deflection in the suspension when fitted, which was the main thing I had been worried about.

And it sounds great – very snappy, a definite further improvement in both substance/image solidity and timing (I had already got a useful benefit in timing already from fitting Mike’s blue belt – I also run one of those on the TD124). Mike had supplied two additional belts, slightly larger (since his experiments have indicated that a slightly larger belt shows more improvement) but to be honest I didn’t detect any significant change over using the original blue belt and the iron platter.

This on a TD160 MkII with an SME 3009 SII Improved with heavy counterweight and a Shure SC36C with Jico conical on 18g heavy headshell, tracking at 4g.

Over the coupe of weeks I had it, I did some back and forth trying to capture some reasonably scientifical observations on the platters. There's no doubt that the whole sound is more solid and settled, more detailed as well, likely from a lower noise floor.

Anyway, for TD160 users this seems like a really useful improvement. See pics below, no need to point out which one is the iron platter:

oqRnqvW.jpg




dUzMsDg.jpg




8OkH59M.jpg




oxXjvrE.jpg
 
montesquieu said:
Mike gave me the opportunity to have a try with the cast iron platter on my TD160 MkII. As you can see from my previous post I was something of a skeptic, but I guess I had not quite got a sense of what the new platter actually was.

First off I was very impressed with the finish – see pics comparing the aluminium alloy bearing/sub-platter with the graphite-grey cast one. It’s very nicely machined too. I was also surprised by the difference in weight – quite perceptible (roughly 17% heavier) but not quite the heavyweight I was somehow expecting, running as I do the 5kg Schopper/Swissonor platter on my TD124 MkII. This meant that there wasn’t a huge additional deflection in the suspension when fitted, which was the main thing I had been worried about.

And it sounds great – very snappy, a definite further improvement in both substance/image solidity and timing (I had already got a useful benefit in timing already from fitting Mike’s blue belt – I also run one of those on the TD124). Mike had supplied two additional belts, slightly larger (since his experiments have indicated that a slightly larger belt shows more improvement) but to be honest I didn’t detect any significant change over using the original blue belt and the iron platter.

This on a TD160 MkII with an SME 3009 SII Improved with heavy counterweight and a Shure SC36C with Jico conical on 18g heavy headshell, tracking at 4g.

Over the coupe of weeks I had it, I did some back and forth trying to capture some reasonably scientifical observations on the platters. There's no doubt that the whole sound is more solid and settled, more detailed as well, likely from a lower noise floor.

Anyway, for TD160 users this seems like a really useful improvement. See pics below, no need to point out which one is the iron platter:

oqRnqvW.jpg




dUzMsDg.jpg




8OkH59M.jpg




oxXjvrE.jpg
Click to expand...

Thanks for the write-up.

If anyone wants one, I'm making these available at £400 (plus postage).

Please contact me via PM with any enquiries.

Thanks
 
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