Thorens

[Donut]

Any one heard any of the new Thorens decks. I'm interested in upgrading my Project Debut II and am considering speanding upto £500 (new) including arm and cart.. Thorens have a nice looking deck for around £500 (TD 295), also considering the Project PRM4 at £350. Any others.........
Donut

[julian2002]

the only exposure i've had to throens is my dad's tt a td 105 and after 20+ years it's still going.
cheers

julian

[lordsummit]

The other inevitable new choice is the Rega P3, you could have that and an excellent cartridge for that money. I love mine, preferred it to the Pro-ject RPM4. What about a second hand Systemdeck, or you could maybe get on the Linn ladder for that money.

[Donut]

Thanks for the replies v- I would rather avoid second hand on this as I'm really looking for something that I can just plug in and spin my disks - so spending ages tweeking a Linn is out really. So it seems that I have 3 options...
Project RPM4, Rega P3 or the Thorens TD295.
Any more for any more!
Oh by the way, I'm probably going to upgrade the phono stage to a MF X-LPS as well to go with the rest of my MF amplification.
Donut

[domfjbrown]

Sorry - beg to differ...

Buy the PLANAR (NOT P)3 second hand, and check the bearings in the arm by disabling anti-skate and counter weight so the arm "floats" - if you can push (gently) so it swings right to the middle of the turntable slowly, with no wobble or drag, you're there.

Then, get the deck to a hifi shop, have the Rega motor upgrade done. The DECK has a transferrable lifetime guarantee - the new P3 version doesn't. The only drawback with the motor upgrade is that this is then limited to 3 years guarantee, but the arm and bearing are still covered for life.

The dealer can then sort out an oil change, general service, and fit a new cart (or stylus) - I reckon you can do worse than a Dynavector 10x5 or an Ortofon 540 on that deck (I had the older 10x4 (which broke due to me being a tool!) and the Ortofon 5x0 range on mine and they all rock).

Failing that - trawl freeads like the plague - I saw a Michell Gyrodec in there once for £350 - after a service that would be dead cheap! And a deck to drool over while you're at it!

[ReJoyce]

A deck that should be just out of your price range but on a demo list is the Nottingham Analogue Horizon. I heard this at a show and it was simply great. The problem is I can't find anybody in the UK that sells, or at least has it on a website, there is a dealer in the US that has it here: dealer page (http://www.aslgroup.com/nottingham/)


Cheers

Jason

[zanash]

I used a TD160 super for many years, but didn't like the change thorens made to leaf springs. They never quite sounded the same som how.

I,m not a planer fan, so if you like the thorens family sound, you might not like the rega's.

Audition the Nottm. Analogue its very good.

[lordsummit]

Don't Walrus in London do the Nottingham Analogue range. I reckon if you want any more choices you'll have to visit them. Mind you I believe they're very good at milking your pockets. They sell some serious dream machines. Glad they aren't near me.

Have a look at them here (http://www.walrus.co.uk)

Just been trolling through, notice they're selling this (http://www.walrus.co.uk/sechand/Heybrook_TT2__Linn_Basik_arm___GBP_349.00__.jpg) £350

andthis (http://www.walrus.co.uk/sechand/Nottingham_Analogue_Interspace_RB250_Sumiko_Blue_P oint__GBP_695.00__.jpg)

Both will be well set up and in cracking nick. The Heybrook is the deck that Linn ripped off IIRC correctly, it then ran for years and years. The Nottingham deck is a legend. If I had some money:(

[LiloLee]

Donut

I know you said no to 2nd hand, but a 2nd hand Rega 25 would be in your budget and is essentially an uprate P3.

Why not save up for another month and get the new Michell TT £575 without cartridge IIRC.

I was goin to suggest Origin Live TT kits, but they are above your budget without arm or cartridge.

If it was me, I'd go for a P3 (probably 2nd hand), a cartrdige of about £50 (Grado Black) and spend the rest on albums.

Lee

[sideshowbob]

I'm with the second hand recommendations (a P25 would be a good choice), or save a bit more and go for the Nottingham Analogue Horizon, which is very good, or the Michell Technodec, which is probably very good. (I was in Walrus today picking up an armboard and they have both.)

-- Ian

[dominicT]

Firstly Walrus do not milk you. They are a great dealer and Les remembered me after a whole year had passsed after my first purchase from them. And it was on the phone not face to face. They know so much about t/ts that you would be daft not to at least ring them. They also do second hand t/ts. I have had a Michel deck for 19 years without a single fault. At times it went a year or two without being played because it was in storage and it still worked fine. I also have a Pink Triangle and although over 10 years old still works like a dream (bought second hand from Walrus) Bottom line is that you get much, much more for your money if you buy second hand, and you should be ok if you buy from a dealer. Buying privately take care and ask here for advice. I would go for a second hand Michell Gyro, especially as it is still in production. A t/t service should cost not more than £35 carried out by Michell or a good dealer.

Best of luck

DominicT

[bottleneck]

STOP THE PRESS!



look what walrus has got in at £695. Alright, thats £195 more than you wanted to spend, but you get a deck you wouldnt (or shouldnt be hankering to change. The interspace IMHO is nearly as good as the spacedeck, and a RB300 and Sumiko cart is quite a lot of juicy icing on the cake. It looks like it might be ex dem, or maybe nearly new.

http://www.walrus.co.uk/sechand/Nottingham_Analogue_Interspace_RB250_Sumiko_Blue_P oint__GBP_695.00__.jpg

Get it quick if you want it Donut my friend, I think this will go in less than a week, again IMHO.

Cheers
Chris

[bottleneck]

dammit, cant get the image thing to work. a bottle of wine is to blame. Hope u can follow it just the same. perhaps a learned friend more sober than myself can have a try.

Chow.

[LiloLee]

Mmm, image didn't work for me either. I think it may be the URL is too long.

http://www.walrus.co.uk/sechand/Nottingham_Analogue_Interspace_RB250_Sumiko_Blue_P oint__GBP_695.00__.jpg

Lee

[sideshowbob]

Worth contacting them, but that page hasn't been updated since March, so it's probably already gone...

-- Ian

[Donut]

Thanks for all your feedback guys but £500 is absolute max as I was initially looking at the RPM4 (£350) as my benchmark
Donut

[Bob McC]

Lord Summit
The Heybrook TTs was a great deck, especially with its later dedicated power supply, but not in LP12 territory. If Linn 'nicked' the LP12 from anywhere it was the Ariston RD11S.
By the way Donut I wouldn't touch a new Thorens deck. You're much better off with a Rega.

Bob

[LiloLee]

If Linn 'nicked' the LP12 from anywhere it was the Ariston RD11S Who of course nicked it from AR.
http://members.aol.com/kdreschb/ar-xa.jpg

[lordsummit]

Aaaahhhh my memories getting a little hazy, need a nap, need a nap............

[michaelab]

Originally posted by LiloLee
Mmm, image didn't work for me either. I think it may be the URL is too long.

http://www.walrus.co.uk/sechand/Nottingham_Analogue_Interspace_RB250_Sumiko_Blue_P oint__GBP_695.00__.jpg

Here you go:

http://www.walrus.co.uk/sechand/Nottingham_Analogue_Interspace_RB250_Sumiko_Blue_P oint__GBP_695.00__.jpg

EDIT: Hmm, maybe not :inferno: Will have to figure out what's going on here....

EDIT 2: Very odd - it would appear that the filename of the .jpg file is too long somehow. vBulleting is inserting a space before "Nottingham" which isn't there and somehow not parsing the img tag. There's an "allow dynamic URLs for IMG tags" option which I tried turning on but that made no difference either.

Even the URL that Lee posted gets mangled :confused:

Michael.

[Bob McC]

Now which looks more like an LP12. This or the AR?

Bob

[sideshowbob]

Originally posted by Donut
Thanks for all your feedback guys but £500 is absolute max as I was initially looking at the RPM4 (£350) as my benchmark
Donut

In that case you should definitely see if you can pick up something like a secondhand Rega P25. I know you said new, but it really is worth pushing a bit further up the price range for maximum upgrade satisfaction. I would recommend giving Les at Walrus a ring, tell him you've got £500 maximum to spend and see if he's got anything in secondhand or ex-dem. Also worth trying Grahams or Cornflake for Rega, or keep your eyes on the pink fish classified section.

-- Ian

[dominicT]

Originally posted by sideshowbob
In that case you should definitely see if you can pick up something like a secondhand Rega P25. I know you said new, but it really is worth pushing a bit further up the price range for maximum upgrade satisfaction. I would recommend giving Les at Walrus a ring, tell him you've got £500 maximum to spend and see if he's got anything in secondhand or ex-dem. Also worth trying Grahams or Cornflake for Rega, or keep your eyes on the pink fish classified section.

-- Ian

Les at Walrus really is the king of t/ts. It is a shame that Grahams do nto do so much in the way of t/ts these days. Cornflake are more t/t friendly than Grahams but Les does the second hand stuff as well as loads of new.

[bottleneck]

Originally posted by bob mccluckie
Now which looks more like an LP12. This or the AR?

Bob

It really does look like the owners got in a strop and bent the arm, dont u think?

NB
Id probably contact Leicester hifi, who stock Garrard 301s and 401s. They do the motor unit for I think £150, the plinth (new) for £200, a second hand rega arm £80, and youve got enough left for a decent MM.

Bob is indeed your mothers brother.

Either that, or a basic LP12 - you could always play with notching up the parts at a later date.

If you buy from a decent dealer like people have said -- and you get him to set it up, theres nothing wrong with a used deck.

Cheers
Chris