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Re: Help with VTA on a Thorens TD-125MkII

Posted by bangsezmax (A) on August 1, 2005 at 10:33:07

In Reply to: Help with VTA on a Thorens TD-125MkII posted by rmchew@adelphia.net on August 1, 2005 at 07:39:48:

There's a reason so many people like the Thorens around here -- they sound great, and they are really not SO hard to tweak. It can be frustrating if you don't know what's wrong, but with some patience and some willingness to "dig in" to them, you can figure out how to make them sing. You can certainly learn a lot about turntables by working on them.

I would follow the advice already given and make absolutely sure that you are turning the right two setscrews. It's an easy mistake to make, especially if you have one of the TP16s with the rotating "collar" that hides the screws. It's possible that the arm is snug in there, but I don't see how it could be "frozen". The shaft is stainless steel. Assuming you have loosened the correct screws, you should be able to (gently) get a little rotation on the pivot. If it's snug, this may help you to adjust it down.

How much steel do you see showing along the tonearm shaft? Is it possible that the VTA is already all the way down? If this is the case, then mats or spacers may be the only way to go. I would doubt this, however -- my Stanton 681 has a lot more overhang than an 0M20 (from what I remeber of the OM series), and I was certainly able to get the correct VTA for those.

Also, you mentioned that this is a new cart. I doubt you'd have quality control issues, although this is a possiblilty. Be sure to check that the stylus is fully seated on the cartridge housing and that the cart has no play in the headshell.

There is sometimes a break-in period associated with new carts. Do you have a spare headshell for your Technics with which you can test?

Other things to check --

azimuth: Is the cart perfectly level side-to-side? The TP60 shells can be tilted one way or the other.

arm bearings: does the travel both side-to-side and up and down feel nice and free? With a 30-year-old table, it's possible the tension on the bearings can become misadjusted, but Thorens can be easily readjusted.

VTF: A too-low VTF can cause the kinds of problems you are describing. Have you tried setting the VTF for the higher end of the recommended range? Are you using the settings on the arm adjustment to determine the VTF you are using? Does the increase in apparent weight increase properly as you increase the setting? Just last week, I got a 126 MkII with a TP16 Mk II arm and could not get the arm to show any reaction to the VTF adjustment until I got it up to 1.5 grams. I took off the top bearing screw (counting the rotations so I could replace it the exact same way) and loosened ever-so-slightly the screw that holds the adjuster in place -- it had been binding and the tiny tension wire was not in play at the low end of the range. This simple turn-of-the-screw fixed all of that.

Keep at it -- eventually you'll find out how to get it to perform well. I have felt your pain trying to tweak a Thorens, but this is usually replaced by a "duh" when I figure out I just wasn't adjusting it properly.

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Kimber Kable

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