SPCR

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Thorens_T ... y_Restored

The Thorens TD125 is a vintage classic still in demand among vinyl record enthusiasts today. This is the story of one restoration of a 40+ year old turntable, with an SME 3009 II tonearm.

Lovely turntable and restoration MikeC should have figured you were into hi-fi, it all makes sense now.

The motor electronics PCB looked OK, no leaky caps, but they're 40+ years old.
As the saying goes: They don't make them like they used to.

walle wrote:Lovely turntable and restoration MikeC should have figured you were into hi-fi, it all makes sense now.

It was never a secret.

walle wrote:The motor electronics PCB looked OK, no leaky caps, but they're 40+ years old.
As the saying goes: They don't make them like they used to.

Yes, but any table showing capacitance drop of electrolytics shows a pretty steep decline. The longest I've seen cited as a usable lifespan for electrolytics is 15 years. And the longer it sits unused, the faster it goes bad.

The effect of the caps change (and retune of electronic circuit) on this TD125: Before the caps swap, the speed had been fast (slow??) on all settings, and the manual control could not be adjusted far enough to correct it. After the swap, each speed position became dead on with the fine tune slider about in the middle, which is as it should be. Whether the speed got more stable I can't say, as i didn't listen to the TT hardly at all before embarking on the restoration.

...and oddly, 16 RPM...

I'll bet one someone at Thorens liked Chryslers.

Nice work, Mike! It's pretty.

MikeC wrote:It was never a secret.

In all honesty I never noticed I've always focused on the PC stuff.

MikeC wrote:Yes, but any table showing capacitance drop of electrolytics shows a pretty steep decline. The longest I've seen cited as a usable lifespan for electrolytics is 15 years. And the longer it sits unused, the faster it goes bad.

Now I've learnt something new, I thought that as long as they looked good they were good.

I remember those Thorens turntables. I auditioned one at a Hi-Fi shop here in Calgary once in the late 1970s. They were up there in the same general neighborhood in terms of quality with the Linn's and Oracles. I almost bought one, but couldn't quite afford it. Decided on a Rega Planar 2 instead.

Circa 1982, I used to have the RP2, along with a Quad amp and preamp, and a pair of tall Magneplanar floor speakers. I'll never forget how Dark Side of the Moon sounded on my system.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Awesome restoration job, Mike!