This was a charity shop find. Not cheap at £250. Could be a bargain? Or could be a money pit?

Let’s give it a good looking over.

We have a Thorens TD 160 B MkII Super. The “Super” variant is designed to be fitted with a 3rd party tone arm and cartridge.

In this case both the tone arm and cartridge are from Audio Dynamics Corporation (ADC).

The tonearm is an ALT-1. The cartridge is  a “VLM MKIII Improved”. Both  look to be in good condition. 

Cosmetic Assessment

All appears to be present and correct. This is good news, since replacement parts can be elusive and expensive.

The plinth is the black vinyl covered version, so potential for a re-veneer at a later date. Some minor damage to the vinyl is evident on exposed edges. 

The perspex lid is badly damaged by the cables being left in contact with it in storage.  I often see this. It looks like heat damage, but actually it is a reaction with chemicals in the cable insulation. Hopefully I will be able to polish out the worst of this. No other cracks or damage are obvious. One of the hinges has snapped off, but it looks repairable.

The deck is in good cosmetic condition. The base plate is clean and un-marked. Turntable platter is a little tarnished, but should polish up nicely. The original thick rubber mat is fitted. 

Mechanical Assessment

Turntable rotates easily and level. The motor runs smooth and silent. After allowing plent of time for the slack old belt to do it’s thing, I checked platter speed with a strobe disc and lamp. Spot on.

The arm moves freely with no clicking or slack. It can be balanced to a “floating” position. The arm lift is smooth and well damped.

The platter doesn’t sit level.  Suspension looks to be out of adjustment. 

Electrical Assessment

The unit has been PAT Tested by the charity shop, so I was happy to plug it in and see how it worked.

Connecting to an amplifier, the right channel was hum. Wriggling cables removed the hum. When I put a record on the left channel worked ok, but the right was silent. Problems with signal wiring, or maybe the cartridge?

Comming soon

Nothing too serious there I think. Basically a very nice unit. I think the bigest issue is going to be the perspex cover. 

Further articles will cover:

• Service. – Getting it working well.
• Refurbishment. – Make it look good.