Thorens TD 125 MK II speed problems


Hi, I've got two Thorens TD 125 MK II's. The first, I have have had for years, with the original Thorens arm. I bought a second one on eBay with a SME arm. Then I moved to Thailand where electricity is 220/50. The SME table had been modified so that I couldn't change the fuse for 220, but it worked for a while with a step-down transformer before failing.

I started using the old table with the SME arm, but noticed that I could see speed variations. This despite a UPS and/or AVR.

I got various kinds of advice from all over, including cleaning everything, oiling the spindle, new belt and pulley, capacitor change and speed controller tweaking.

I got the help of a local technical wiz to do all of the above, but the old table would still not keep a steady speed over time. So, he got the eBay table working again, but is also varies in speed.

He's ready to try the capacitor change on this one, but other than that we don't know what to do.

I suspected that I might have electrical problems, but the UPS or AVR should correct for that.

I don't expect the table to start up to the correct speed, but I need it to stay where I set it long enough to correctly record a few records, which I'm archiving to FLAC (record once, listen many times).

What can I do to stabilize the speed at this point?

Thanks,
Gritingrooves
gritingrooves

Showing 2 responses by gritingrooves

Thanks for your feedback, Weiserb. I'm looking into this, need to find the local price for the LP 12, etc. Seems like it has a good pitch control setup.

Right now my biggest Thorens problem is that the pitch control is too sensitive (after adjustments). If the table is running a bit too slow, a small adjustment makes it go to fast. Almost impossible to get it right according to the strobe (and my KAB SpeedStrobe).

I welcome any suggestions on how to convince the repairman that this can/must be fixed. He also wants me to think that my SpeedStrobe is lying to me, for some reason. I guess it is more accurate than the 3% variation of the table.

Any thoughts?
Weiserb,

Does the Linn LP 12 work well with pitch control? Any limitations on cartridge choice?

I read on the web that the Linn table has interesting sound characteristics, compared to other brands. What are your thoughts on this?

Thanks,
Gritingrooves