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Used Thorens TD165: worth my dough???

a friend at a local vinyl shop i frequent has a thorens td165 he's willing to part with. he's asking about $100 which seems reasonable.
my questions is: do you think i can realize significant improvement in playback over what i am using now, a dd kenwood, only about 5 years younger than the thorens. the thorens is belt driven and suspended whereas my kenwood is not. i plan on listening to the thorens as soon as possible to compare to my rig, but can anyone offer their 2 cents here.
my thoughts are the following: belt drive plus suspended table will definitely better my dd, nonsuspended plastic kenwood. the thorens has seen better days cosmetically, but i think i can cope. for 20 yrs old it seems like its in decent shape.
one last thing, how difficult will the setup be re: suspension and leveling? have no experience here, but consider myself a quick learner.
thanks as always
fujindemon
acatnthehat
13 posts
 
I've got a TD125 MK II that I've owned since 1977 or so. Back then we both were NIB. The spring suspension is a pain in the rear to adjust but patience wins out. Leveling is 75 percent accomplished if you handle the suspension properly. But the devil is in the details. The condition and adjustment of the tonearm and cartridge are key to sound and preservation of the LP's. My advice is to buy up all the pristine LP's you can afford and wait to play them until you can get a better turntable. You can spend lots of time and money on that Thornes. But, here's a link to help you out just in case you decide to ignore my sage advice! ;-)

http://www.turntablebasics.com/index.html
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,385 posts
 
ACA: Are you saying that you feel that the performance of the "stock" TD165 is not enough to preserve the normal life of the LP's (or are you referring to to the existing TT)? Your post is not clear to me, plus I figured/guessed that the stock TD165 was up to snuff, for this, based on it's (my particular unit's) ability to track well to the end of play. The worth of the LP's that we have been picking up lately (on the used market) far surpasses the cost of this TT (and I figured that I was "safe" in this regard, based on my experience with ownership of better TT's/arms in the past). Pleas clarify your post. Thanks.
acatnthehat
13 posts
 
I think if you are very careful you'll be ok with the 165 as long as the tone arm and cartridge is in good shape and care is taken in adjusting them. My thoughts on LP's in general make me err on the side of cautiousness. Every time you play one it's like taking a breath; it's one you'll never get back. On the other hand, play your recording and enjoy them. Who knows what tomorrow may bring?
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,385 posts
 
ACA: I would not use it if it did not track well to the end of play, but it does so very well. I have read of much more expensive deck/tonearm conbos that seem to have problems in this area. Unfortunately much of the setup had to be done by ear (which is very tedious and time consuming) as when I set it with a free paper protacter and according to the Grado Prestige specs it was not tracking/sounding that great. I am now using an amp with a mono switch which really comes in handy when doing this.
fletchj
91 posts
 
For $100, there is nothing out there that can outdo it. I used a TD 160 MKll for years, until I could get my current setup. The only mods, I did to it, was replace the bottom cover, with 1' birch, and spiked it, and new belt. I also used a wrap, for the tonearm. It should do just fine.
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