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New cables for Thorens TD 160

Hi All,

First post, long time fan. Anyone replaced the
RCA leads for a Thorens TD 160?

I picked up a Thorens TD 160 recently. Literally-
someone was carrying it out to throw away. It had a
Grado XF 1 cartridge and broken RCA jacks. Okay, I had
the needle scoped and it still had 1/3 of its life left,
but I got a replacement anyway. Had a local shop replace
the leads with shielded cables they swore by. So I hooked
it up. The thing put out maybe half the volume of my CD
player. I had to turn it up very high to get decent gain,
and the midrange was pretty sad.

I replaced the Grado with a Pickering XSV 3000 I happened
to have around (!) and got pretty much the same thing
(with more detail and soundstage of course). Not good.

I am thinking the cable replacement is the culprit. The TT
is clean and works in all other respects. Does anyone have
a recommended cable for this purpose? I appear to need one
with low capacitance. TIA!
crema
zd542
5,339 posts
 
I think Mechans may be right but I have 1 question first. Are we talking about just low volume? A phono preamp does 2 things. It boosts the signal from the cart. and it runs it through an EQ curve. I know you say the midrange is not right and your solution is to possibly change the cables. If you don't have a phono preamp, it should sound really messed up. Your first instinct would probably be that something is broken, as opposed to cables. Also, 1/2 the gain of your CD player is a lot of gain for no phono stage. I haven't heard every piece of gear out there, so I could be wrong. If you are hearing music that is not too badly distorted, you probably have a phono preamp in the system. I'm not familiar with your TT, but I know some TT's have a built in phono stage. Quite often people don't realize that and it causes various problems.

If not any of the above and the music is very distorted, Mechans is right. you need to get a phono preamp. You can get a pretty decent starter one for around $100.
crema OP
10 posts
 
It appears I didn't give enough information.
I am not new to turntables. I'm hooking this to
a Dynaco PAS-3 Series ii tube preamp with a wonderful
phono stage. When I hook up my old Dual 502 (Shure
cartridge) it sounds fine ... if not as nuanced as
a Thorens/Pickering would...

So back to the cables. Anyone have experience replacing
Thorens output lines?

Thanks so far, folks.
tanathen78
25 posts
 
Make sure your cart is hooked up correctly as well. If the pins are wired incorrectly your music will be out of phase and sound quite unfocused. I cant recall if gain is affected as well. Good luck.
crema OP
10 posts
 
Thanks. The cartridges were / are hooked up correctly.
I get basically decent sound except it's very weak.
The drop out in the midrange is not as dramatic as the
extremely low volume.

I take it no one has come across this problem before?
crema OP
10 posts
 
BTW, I am thinking I'll bring this (6') to my
shop to be installed instead of the one they put
on that appears to have caused the problem:

http://www.markertek.com/Cables/Audio-Cables/RCA-to-RCA-Cables/TecNec/SC50RR.xhtml

I'll just lop off one side and connect to the TT.

I welcome any thoughts/suggestions on the subject.
I post this link mostly in case someone else has
this problem now or in the future.
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