Quote:
Originally Posted by bigshot
I've never seen any reason to replace the stock tonearm on my TD-165. I've done a lot of work with it in my digital rig and tonearm resonances are pretty much nil.
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Like Ssportsclay says with most of the stock Thorens arms you need to use a cartridge with a pretty rolled off top end because this is where the resonances are. I have the graphs in old issues of HFC if you are interested.
Having said that, this warm rolled off sound is what most people equate with records so it's not necessarily a bad thing, although it can lead to the misapprehension that vinyl is somehow band-limited if you have grown up with cd.
Another issue with the stock arms is that they are generally low mass which limits your choice of cartridges to high compliance ones like the Shure. This is because the bouncy suspension can't really accomodate very heavy tonearms. So unfortunately the budget giant killer Rega/Origin Live arms are not so well suited.
Read all about mass/compliance issues here
http://www.soundfountain.com/amb/ttcartridge.html
The best arm upgrades for the TD160 then, like it says in the Hi-Fi World article quoted above, are arms which work well on the Linn Sondek. At the lower end of the spectrum price-wise the Linn LVV and LVX are probably the best bet and are both very good indeed.
SME 3009s are another classic albeit more expensive choice but have a very rose coloured signature sound which will not appeal to everyone.
There are loads of others. Actually if you PM Mattigol, who recently aquired a Thorens TD125, there is an arm which he got new for quite a resonable amount which the Thorens cognescenti in Germany highly recommended, can't remember the name but he is very happy with it.
There is a whole cottage industry of guys on ebay making new arm mounts, plinths and various tweaks for these decks so they are very well supported.
The 2nd most important weakness after the tonearm is the plinth, which on most of the TD150/160's and cheaper models is lightweight plywood. Substituting a better quality of heavier hardwood or composite fibreboard will improve the sonics, as will damping the underside of the top plate and platter/subplatter with bitumen or cork to reduce ringing effects.
An ebay seller called SRMTech in the UK makes pretty reasonably priced silicone platter mats which are also very good indeed. I have one on my TD125.
The last tweak is the motor powersupply. You can add a Linn Valhalla which lifts the performance to TD125 standards and adds electronic speed control or go the whole hog and get an Origin Live DC kit which isolates the electronics into an external box and adds a new DC motor.
The main strength of a TD160 that I found compared to any other Turntable I have had is the speed which you can get from a well set-up lightweight supsended subchasis. It pays to spend an afternoon tweaking the suspension springs so they bounce evenly. On recreating live drumming I have never heard anything better, except perhaps a Linn.
