Thorens TD 146

Well there is a TD146 and there is a TD146 IV (I think) 

I'm not sure because I've never seen one. They did what I call a type II of a lot of their TT.

TD166 and the then the Type II slightly smaller footprint. 

It's an older Thoren it will be fine. I've used the belt style for 35 years and the 121-124 for 50 plus years.. My favorite. Right there with Russco, QRK and Sparta for me.. The smaller footprint like a 166 II is a great TT too.

145,46,47,50,60,65,66 parts are everywhere. The tonearms are good quality if they have been taken care of.. Two or 3 kinds. Aftermarket, like you said Jelco, SME, Lynn, Micro Seiki. Repair kits for motors, suspension, plinths, vibration control additional tone arms. Most parts are interchangeable, Quack Quack..:-)

Did I mention I have a crap load of Thoren STUFF. LOL

Have fun ay..

Regards

It's a good TT, but you will need a high compliance cartridge to match the low mass tonearm.

The original TP11 arm was medium/high mass (had one on a TD165) and the TD11 version used on the 146 is half the effective mass of the original TD11.

I've only seen/heard one (TD146) and I've owned Thorens decks since the 70's.

It was comparable to my first version TD160/SME combo when I heard it and I assume that it would sound even better with the base plate removed (leaving the bottom open).

Both tables (160/146) were running the, then new, Sure V15 mkIII.

I also like it because it raises the arm @ the end of play (the later 14? model stops the platter, but doesn't raise the arm).

Didn't care about this feature when I was young, but sure could use it now.

DeKay

They have an auto stop. I swear I've never seen one. I've seen the clutch that was suppose to help with sudden stop, it could be the auto stop. I've replaced a few of those. The clutch fails or is broke off. 

I guy just fixed one of those too. He's pretty thrifty.. Added an after market shaft and aftermarket clutch I think. Maybe he'll chime in..

Thoren is the Bomb. Great decks. I have a 2030 that is pretty friggin' nice too.

Still like a 121 or 124 better they have a break for Queing and speed control for recording.

Russco are Garrard killers.. Look at one of those, they have a gear shifter, (no kidding) and a washing machine motor. :-)

We load the rabbit every now and then. He's a good sport. He'll stay on for a while then BOING!

Regards

hvy:

The earlier TD145 had auto stop, but I don't recall it lifting.

There was a TD147 in the shops around the time the TD146 was new, but other than a different arm I don't know the difference.

I heard the TD146 in the early 80's (I think) when visiting my folks in Iowa and saw the new TD147 when I got back to LA.

I still had 2 TD160/Sme combos that cost very little so didn't go for it.

Also, as mentioned, auto stop didn't interest me back then.deKay

Thanks buddy..

@dekay Yes the 145 has the autostop and auto lifting feature.

I have one in my storage unit and it is darn near perfect.

I bought a TD146 in, I believe, 1984 and used it for about 25 years. The TP-11 MkII tonearm was a bit different than I was used to seeing on Thorens tables. Instead of a removable headshell, the tonearm on the 146 had a removable wand (TP-63) with integrated headshell and the anti-skating was adjusted by moving a string-suspended weight, instead of a knob-selected setting.

The 146 had an auto-lift and shut-off mechanism which utilized an optical sensor that sensed the faster arm movement in the lead-out groove. This generally worked well unless the record had been stamped off-center. I had two LP's and quite a few of the large-hole 45 RPM singles that were stamped enough off-center that the arm would lift before the last song was finished.

It's likely that there was an adjustment that could have corrected this but it occurred so seldom that I lived with it. 

How limited would my cartridge choices be with the lower mass 146 arm? I assume  the Denon 103, and wood/other versions of the 103, need not apply. The 146 is local to me, and the asking price is $600, but it's apparently minty. I can't help but think about spending around $1200, and the jump in performance that might buy. Something like the Linn that popped up here with the Valhalla PS. It's under $1500, and the arm looks pretty serious. No affiliation with the seller as I digress. (-:

mink:

Maybe the "auto shut-off" is the feature I confused with "lift"...

Man - that was a long time ago.

Anyway, I feel that many of the old Thorens belt drives can sound extremely good, but this is taking into consideration condition and setup (which includes properly matching the cartridge to the arm).

I’m a long term Thorens fan and truly enjoy the sound of the TD125II/SME combo I’ve been using the past 20 years.

I preferred my 160/SME combos to the TD121/124 models (used the same SME arms on them), but this was before high mass plinths and other tweaks were considered.

The 121/124 had less detailed/fatter bass and lacked the "reverb/air" quality of the light weight 160’s (most noticeable in the mid’s to the HF’s).

Both of my belt/idler drive decks (121/124) had the crappy pull-out plinths used in console installations and I never though of/considered building something better.

PS:

This was in that late 70's/early 80's and I never paid more than $40 for any of the decks (purchased from some local Los Angeles for sale rag that I think had "trader" in the name).

My TD125/SME combo was purchased (Ebay) around 2001 for $200 plus $25 shipping (buy it now ad that I came across in the early morning hours)

I offered the seller more shipping money for quality packing and they replied don't worry about it.

The container received was the size of the container our, new then, wall oven arrived in and it cost a lot more than $25 to ship.

A few days later I received another parcel that contained the dust cover, which I had previously told them that I did not want.

The seller was a HiFi shop on the East coast (DC/Boston area maybe) that was cleaning out it's storage rooms.

Wish I had stocked up on WE 300B's back then.

DeKay

What model Linn deck/arm (many were paired with low mass arms)?

Off the top of my head AT and Ortofon have current model high compliance offerings and, and hopefully others will chime in with current production choices.

I use an old Grado Silver on my SME 3009 (non-improved) which has an effective mass of around 12-13 and it's fine.

Start by finding the spec's (effective mass) on your TP11 and also positively ID the specific TP11 model via online photos.

Then go from there.

DeKay

The tonearm on the TD-146 is actually listed in the manual as a TP-11 MkIII instead of MkII as I stated earlier and the effective mass is listed as 7.5g.

OK, now research the arm on the Linn you are considering as well as the model of the Linn deck.

Are the "older" Linn decks better than the older Thorens?

Not, IMO.

DeKay

Maybe the Thorens are up there with the Linn. It just appeared to me that the Ittok was a more substantial arm. Isn't the TP-11 on the 146 a plastic arm? Thanks (-:

After doing a little more research on the TD-146, I discovered that there were actually six different versions of that turntable. Mine was the first version and it apparently had the TP-11 MkII. Some versions of the table had the MkIII arm which was 2mm longer. Both had an effective mass of 7.5g.

Back in the day, I thought that the black wand was carbon fiber, but a sales brochure for the TD-166 MkII with TP-11 MkIII arm states that it is a coating that utilizes "split-wave" technology to eliminate resonances.

So, I'm assuming that it is a coating over whatever alloy they used for the tonearm and not plastic

Check out the analog dept dot com. That's where I saw the sales brochure and tonearm data.

Sorry, not familiar with the later versions of the TP11 (heard it on the 146 and have seen them on other models of the period). 

Think that there were different versions of the Ittok as well, but I'm too "read out" to look now and need to save my good eye for a "Billions" marathon following dinner.

I like the older Linn's, just don't feel that they are more desirable than the old Thoren's.

My Thoren's experience (ownership) has mainly been having them mated with early SME 3009/3012 tonearms, but I did like my stock/old TD165 (first version of the TP11) once I got it properly set up and even more after removing the bottom plate.

Don't understand why removing the bottom makes a difference (all my recent TT's/last 20 years/have been located outside the living room in a hall closet), but it does.

Tried adding a heavy plywood bottom plate (reccomended online tweak), but didn't care for it on the 165 and my 125.

DeKay