Cart advice for Thorens TD160 and TP16

[MajorFubar]

I fear my ten-year-old Ortofon MC3 Turbo is coming to the end of its useful life, seeing that the stylus is non-replaceable. It was never a great match for the TP16 anyway and I only bought it because a local dealer was clearing-out his carts on the cheap and he was happy to take my equally-knackered MC10 in part-ex (which he probably binned).

The chances of being able to afford anything before new-year are slim: two paydays before Xmas and presents to buy for two kids (joys of being a parent eh). None the less, I might as well start drawing-up a shortlist.

I guess my budget will be about £250. I have no preference MM or MC as the Cyrus II amp I use as a phono-stage is equally happy with either.

I suppose what I need to know is (1) the carts which will be mechanically suited to the Thorens in terms of weight and compliance, and (2) what their different sonic characteristics are.

 

[MajorFubar]

Thanks Chebby, nice start to the list and well within budget. Probably turn out that I need to ask on a more vinyl-centric forum to really get a whole range of ideas and views from multiple contributors. I did read one time that Denon carts were particularly suited to the old TP16...not sure how true that is. And I'm not sure what the 'Denon sound' is like as I've never heard a Denon.

 

[chebby]

I suppose what I need to know is (1) the carts which will be mechanically suited to the Thorens in terms of weight and compliance, and (2) what their different sonic characteristics are.

Shure M97xe.

Compliance: 20x10-6cm/Dyne

Cartridge Mass: 6.6 gram

Arm (effective) mass 16.5 gram

So the resonant frequency will be 8Hz. (8 - 11Hz is ok.)

It tracks like a train and the flick down damping thingy is actually effective. Reviews are mostly all very positive. Excellent bass and mid range. Treble a little less finessed than much more expensive cartridges but not by much.

Nude elliptical.

Light tracker (0.75 - 1.5g with optimal tracking at 1.25g) less wear on disks.

Cheap. (More cash for Christmas.)

Group test winner last year in Hi-fi Choice.

 

[Captain Duff]

Well thankfully there is still a huge choice available, although it is the one product that is very hard to home demo.

Low cost MM designs like the AT95E provide great value, but if you want more things begin to get complicated. I started looking at the popular Ortofon Red's and Blue's, but in the end went British (Goldring 2200, around £120), albeit with a cartridge manufactured for them in Japan by Nagoaka (best of both worlds perhaps). I did this in preference to what initially tempted me from Goldring, the classic 1012GX (around £200). One of the attractions was that it was a more modern design, and in the same family as the 2500 that regularly gets rave reviews.

Anyway, it is a great cartridge and I have no regrets. The only thing that was a little tricky was that its 'modern' rounded design made cartridge alignment using a protractor grid slightly harder than a straight edge cartridge, but this is minimal really.

 

[Al ears]

Afraid I cannot comment on Thorens deck compatibility as I've never owned one but a big +1 for the Shure suggested by Chebby.

I've just fitted one to a Rega RB250 / Roksan Radius 5 combo that I set up for my brother and it certainly sounds the business.

Being used to particular low output MC cartridges I was very suprised at the sound quality that Shure manage to produce for the price.

If you do decide to fit one just bear in mind the need to adjust the tracking force every time you do use the flip-down brush.

 

[chebby]

If you do decide to fit one just bear in mind the need to adjust the tracking force every time you do use the flip-down brush.

Or - if none of your records are warped - don't use it at all.

 

[MajorFubar]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've always liked Goldring, just not sure how well their current cartridges mate with the rather heavy TP16 arm. Everything these days is built for light arms.

 

[MajorFubar]

Funds being short I decided to dig-out my old Technics SL-6 for a while. Crikey I didn't realise just how bad my MC-3 had got. There's nothing exotic in the Technics, just an OMP-10 of unknown vintage (I bought the TT s/h with the Ortofon already fitted) yet it blows my Thorens and its worn MC-3 out the water with regards to tracking and lack of distortion, even if HiFi things like dynamics and soundstage depth, width and instrument separation are noticeably lacking. It ran a bit slow, but I soon fixed that with a scan of a Goldring Lenco strobe-disc I found online.