Thorens has been supplying turntables since 1928, earning a reputation for their high-end audiophile designs. They are particularly renowned for their suspended sub-chassis models, first introduced with the TD 150 in 1965.
These designs dominated the market well into the 1990s.
In fact, I own a TD-160 MkII from 1983, which remains a cherished part of my hifi system.
Fast forward to the present day, and many of these classic turntables still perform admirably—provided they’re in good working order.
Our experience has shown that while the motor and sub-chassis typically hold up well, issues often arise with the cartridge, armboard, or tonearm. For example, my own TD-160 MkII had a misaligned armboard for its SME 3009 MkII tonearm. Fortunately, the fix was straightforward: less than £50 in parts and about 15 minutes of effort brought it back to peak performance.
One of our customers recently contacted us about his Thorens TD 160 Super with multiple issues.
The RCA plugs were poorly soldered, one of the tonearm pins inside the turntable was disconnected, and—my personal favorite—the cartridge tags were broken. After addressing these problems, we attempted to align the tonearm correctly. However, the grub screws had been overtightened to the point where “over-tightened” felt like an understatement. Even after resolving this, we discovered that the armboard was misaligned.