For Thorens lovers, TD309 is a real beauty!

It is a well-designed 3-point (Tri-Balance) sprung belt-drive turntable with aluminium sub-platter, underslung counterweight and glass platter. It also comes with electronic speed control for easy switching from 33.3 rpm to 45 rpm or vice versa.

The owner of this beautiful award-winning Thorens deck shown below is Mark Cowan, a British citizen, residing in Kuala Lumpur.

Pictures : courtesy of Mark

" Is there any tweak for this superb turntable to improve its sonic performance? " it's not unusual for us (tweakers) to ask a question like this. May be more strange if we don't!

Mark has upgraded the 12 mm glass platter with a 24 mm acrylic platter (from me), a standard practice for those who find glass platter sounds a bit too bright. By further adding a Thorens rubber/cork mat to the acrylic platter, the effect is even better and many who have tried this combo would gladly agreed.

24mm Acrylic platter

20mm Acrylic isolation platform

Have a closer look, don't you think the Thorens TD309 looks pretty on the acrylic isolation platform besides using it primarily for isolating the deck from ground-borne vibrations? Sometimes in tweaking, we face the dilemma of "look" or "performance"; at times we may have to sacrifice one for the other. But in this case, you are lucky; it's both look and performance, perfect match!

In addition, Mark uses my brass record clamp with bull's-eye level to hold the record in place as well as to level the acrylic isolation platform with brass points and brass footers.

Oh yes, the upgraded deck deserves a good cartridge too and Mark has wasted no time to replace the stock entry level Audio Technica MM cart with a Rega Exact unit. You can imagine how wonderful it sounds now!

Thanks Mark, enjoy more analogue music!

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A friend of mine has a Thorens TD295 MK III. This turntable has been used for years to play his favourite LPs, but it shows no trace of "aging"; still very fine and elegant it looks. The glossy finish for the upper layer of the plinth is the trick.

The motor speed for this turntable is electronically controlled and end-of-play auto-stop is another add-on feature to this manual turntable.

No mod has been done on this turntable so far and now my friend is looking for some mod to improve its performance. I take a look at it and feel that something needs to be done to the hard-mounted "vibrating" motor which runs "finger-burning" hot after playing just for a while. I suggest he uses my motor isolation base which serves as both vibration and heat sink.

Since most turntables in the market are using similar AC synchronous motors, these motors fit into my isolation bases well like the Rega motors. But in this case, there is not much free-play in the quite "tight-fitting" motor compartment. So the part where the motor flanges are hard-mounted to, has to be trimmed off slightly. It's a simple job anyway and takes me not more than 10 minutes to cut the screw mounting holes into V-shape grooves (as shown). I am extra careful when trimming so as not to break the "super-short" motor wires (see picture below).

While putting back the motor, I make sure that the motor flanges, motor and motor base are not touching the plinth in the motor compartment. Do you notice there is a small gap at the motor flange?

Put on the rubber belt after aligning the pulley with the sub-platter and my job is almost done!

The motor base now sits under the plinth, "fully isolated". For this TD295 MK III TT, a number of brass spacers are used with the motor isolation base because it has a very much thicker plinth compared to that of Rega TT's. Besides the upper glossy layer (about the thickness of Rega P1 plinth), there is an additional lower layer which consists of four sandwiched layers of MDF board. The rubber feet are also replaced with slightly taller ones to accommodate the height of the motor base.

The modded Thorens TD295 MK III equipped with Ortofon MC15 Super II cartridge is finally ready for testing. Let's see the difference ....

The first thing I notice is that the motor (also the rubber belt) runs much cooler. Earlier I can't even put my finger on the "hot" motor for more than 5 seconds. And I don't feel the motor vibration now when placing my finger on the part of plinth just around the motor. Both the motor and the belt would last longer with this "cooling" effect.

The sonic improvement is substantial with wider and deeper soundstage, clear and distinctive sound of various musical instruments and of course lower noise floor.

It's real joy listening to Nini's Trumpet "IL SILENZIO" in stereo and Acker Bilk's Jazz Band in mono after the motor isolation base mod. For those who are looking for a good preowned turntable, this is another model you can go for. Not forgetting to mention here also other than a well-designed plinth, Thorens TD295 MK III comes with a heavy (~2.4 kg) zinc alloy platter too.

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I have tested recently the latest awarding-winning Thorens TD309 turntable on the acrylic isolation platform. The music emerged louder and clearer as a result of good isolation from ground-borne vibrations provided by the platform.

View of Thorens TD309 on Performance acrylic isolation platform

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To renew your childhood interest in vinyl?

To go analogue and enjoy the warm feeling of vinyl music?

The question now is : to buy new or preowned turntables?

You are lucky if you have a unit in store that was left behind by your father or grandfather; by all means take it out and try to revive it with help from your neighborhood hi-fi shop. You might even be able to do it yourself as treasure trove of information on turntables readily available on the Internet.

Alternatively, you may hunt for a preowned turntable; the vintage turntables actually can perform as well as or better than some of the new turntables.

For those who are choosing to buy a new turntable, it might not be easy as there are many brands of turntables around and it can be confusing if you don't have much knowledge on turntables. Hence, it would be much safer to go for established brands like Pro-ject , Thorens, Rega, Clear Audio, Music Hall, Denon,Technics, VPI etc.

Pro-ject

Pro-ject Audio manufactures in EU (European Union) a full range of modern turntables from award winning entry level Debut to high-end models with advance carbon fibre and Ortofon tonearms. You can't go wrong buying from Pro-ject Audio Systems, headquartered in Vienna, Austria, land of the 'Sound Of Music' and Johann Strauss II. In addition they also produce a full range of supporting accessories from cork mat to record clamp etc.

RPM 1 "Genie"

(with decoupled motor and inverted bearing)

Debut

(with acrylic platter)

Thorens

If you are looking for Swiss/German precision, Thorens is the answer. Thorens, has been making audio/turntable equipment for 128 years. It manufactured a full range of turntables from entry level to high end turntables with typical Swiss and German engineering precision and the result is extremely well designed turntables that will last for a long time. I personally own several units of vintage Thorens (TD150/160/145/125/135) that were made in the 60'/70' and still produces exhilarating music far better than many costly modern turntables. It's not advisable to buy the entry level automatic models with light plastic body which are not upgradeable. These units are more prone to breakdown due to too many mechanical linkages and are generally poorer in sound quality compared to manual equivalents. You would get stuck with the mediocre sound with no hope of further improvement other than to give it away or to trade-in for a new model. Try to go for mid-range manual models.

Vintage Thorens TD150

( with acrylic mat )

Thorens TD 309

(with 3-point spring suspended chassis)

Rega

If your are looking for British conservatism and value for money turntables, your choice could be Rega, a manufacturer famous for their Planar 2 and Planar 3 budget turntables (and RB250/RB300 tonearms). These were made in 70'/80' and I have a couple of units that are still functioning well today. As for the new P2/P3,there are not much visible changes compared to Planar 2/3 except the motors are of lower vibration units, mounted directly to the underside of the wooden plinth by double-sided tape. This is an economical way of securing the motors but definite not the most ideal way as the double-sided tape tends to deteriorate with time especially in the hot and humid tropical environment.

I personally prefer my Planar 2 and Planar 3 with more massive plinth with RB250/RB300 tonearms. The P2/P3 are coupled with new RB251/301 tonearms with plastic three-point mounting base compared with brass and stainless steel mounting base for RB250/RB300. This method of mounting the tonearm is nothing new (The Luxman PD277 also comes with three-point mounting but with all stainless steel base, not plastic). I don't know how long the plastic base will last. If the plastic base cracks or breaks the whole arm would be rendered useless. Stainless steel mounting base is only available for higher models like P5/P7/P9.

Even though considered quite conservative, Rega offers turntables that are hassle-free, 'timeless', value for money, and more importantly upgradable. Personally, I would shy away from 'entry-level' unit for reason stated above.

Rega Planar 3

( with acrylic platter)

Upgraded Rega P2

(with glass platter and RB251 tonearm)

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Thorens TD150 2-speed belt-drive turntable circa 1960-1970’s

Belt drive assembly (top view)

Platter with white acrylic mate

Sub-platter

Tonearm with cartridge

headshell with cartridge

Cartridge with stylus (needle)

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