Thorens TD 160 or 126? Which better?


Hi All-
Ok, so a friend's family is doing a house clearance-and there are a couple of tables up for grabs-
Choice of a Thorens TD 160 or TD 126..Not sure if Mk1 2 or 3 though.
The 126 might have a Stanton cartridge as i recall... I have to verify they are in working order, but assuming both operate, what is the better deck?
I already have a nice table (but modern) and am intrigued if a Thorens would be a good back up...Which one to go for!!!?
Also a NAD 3120 available too..(I have a 320 BEE right now)
Thanks
R
britishmuzik

Showing 6 responses by nandric

If you need to repair the Thorens than you have the wrong
one. The TD 160 mkI may be cheaper than repair cost. I agree with Jeremy reg. his qualification 'entry level hi end' for 160 mkI. But by the TD 160 Super one can live the word 'entry' out. Assuming ,say, Rega 300 included. No idea about US prices but in Europe one can get both together for 400-500 Euro.

Regards,
Viridian, You should add 'according to my opinion'. I use
Rega 300 on my Thorens 160 Super as do many others. This is about price-quality relationship. I have the Triplanar on my Kuzma Stabi Reference (my main system) but never thought about swiching them. BTW the qualification 'completely inappropriate arm both sonicaly and mechanicaly' despite this long description contains not a single argument against Rega. Ie only your opinion. There may be some other opinions, you know.
Regards,
Jeremy 72, I agree with your first statement. I also bought
this solid aluminum adapter on ebay. uk. The other two statements are questionable. Because of the Rega construction it is easy to rewire the arm by yourself.
This should be cheaper then the modded RB 251.
Your latst statement is unclear because 'some' is not a name . Think of: some(one) has stolen my car. The problem seems to be obvious.
Regards,
Hi Viridian, You can repeat your 'IMHO' as many times as
you like but it is obvious that you have very strong opinion about Rega. The question is: who cares? The Rega has already established status as the best arm for the money.
Regarding the compatibility question there are many unsolved issues. In the other threads one can read about the havy weight FR-66 s used with MM carts with fantastic
resuls ( see: Halcro in MM thread). So your 'theoretical' assumptions are refuted by experimental results. Because of the price tag (one need to save somewhere) the only thing one need to improve is the wiring. To be more specific from the collar on. This part is worthless and the ground wire is connected to one of the RCA connectors. One can change this part by installing 5 din connector in the collar tube and then use the regular phonocable of his choice. Or, if one is brave, replace the whole with a new
wiring form tags till the phono-pre.

Regards,
Viridian, I have read those statements you made twice. Your
categorical statement ''The Raga 300 is a completely inappropriate arm'',etc, make no sense with your 'IMHO'.
I have never seen any negative comment about this tonearm
ever. It was btw an groundbreking design when introduced.
It was/is the most succesful tonearm ever. The designer
was able to build a factory thanks to this tonearm. And then comes Viridian who in all his 'IMHO' knows better.
I use this tonearm in my second system with Thorens 160
Super. I deed the rewire myself. One can find on the iternet all the needed info with pictures, etc,. If you can solder then you can do this job yourself.

Regards,
Viridian, Anyone is entitled to like or dislike whatever
component provided he adds 'in my opinion'. But your what
I called 'categorical statement' is of different kind. Such statement pretend objective technical knowledge which is not meant to be subjective. Ie one need to address,say,
the geometry of the tonearm, the bearings, the construction,etc. and proof that there are shortcomings in the tonearm. This technical part is not supposed to be subjective. Say 'the geometry of this arm is IMHO wrong'. This last statement make no sense.

Regards,