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Old Thorens TD 145 vs. todays gear

I bought my wife a TD 145 back in 1977 as her first real turntable.

Needless to say i've been through a lot of gear since then but she is adamant about never getting rid of anything that still works...and this does...

...but i was wondering if anyone had any real comparison of that vintage table to any of todays comparable tables.. like the music hall series, or the Rega's

I'm thinking about putting a modern cartridge onto it and bringing it back into service. I have a Lukaschek pp-1 I could use...and i'm driving Wilson sophias with a Krell 400xi.

So i guesss three things:

1) how does this TD 145 compare to current $500-1k tables?

2.) What cartridge would be a good match?

3.) Are there any reasonable tweaks that provide a significant improvement without loss of features (this has the auto arm lift mechanism)
objective1
murray88's avatar
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murray88
3 posts
 
Clearaudio Maestro Wood. Yes MM is the only way to go with the old TD145. Still own my TD145MKII since new and never been unhappy. Have had a friend bring by each new Music Hall he's gotten and I couldn't see any reason to change.

I use an ultra cheap Pickering X-15 cart with D400 needle between Maestro Wood repairs/replacements. I have no problem whatsoever hearing beautiful music.

Biggest and only upgrade; New ic and power cable. I do use a Target single shelf wall mount stand and this was probably a good cheap accessory. I also ran across a good deal on some really thick maple cutting boards and I placed that under the TT for a little more mass. Other than that I simply enjoy the music.
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
Look no further............

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1234134252&openmine&zzViridian&4&5#Viridian

That pretty much covers it as far as the 145 goes as well.
objective1 OP
95 posts
 
Murray88

When you put a new IC on it, did you just rewire to the existing junction point, replace that junction point with something like the Cardas junction box, or rewire back to the headshell connector?

Also on the PC what did you do there?... something simple like wiring in a new belden that you had cut the iec end off of? or something more DIY?
thorman
1,262 posts
 
Objective1 : I did the I/C replacement on my TD 160 and couldn't be happier..I turned my table over and removed the old cable as far back as I could ( not going back quite all the way ) and soldered in ( Vampire Wire ) a pair of nice RCAs on the back of my Thorens.Required drill 2 small 3/8" holes and the backside of deck to fit the Female RCA set ..Looks great and works great too..Pretty simple job,took about 1 hour..........
objective1 OP
95 posts
 
Thorman Thanx...

I'd seen that option but was considering doing the whole tonearm rewire

...and was wondering i read correctly that it is a pretty tedious job since they have apparently adherred (glued?) the tonearm cable inside the arm tube.

Also, getting at the inside of the headshell connector looked like it might be ominous.
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