So much of that old Thorens TD150 looks right, but the arm looks positively agricultural - good for digging up spuds, but less so for playing treasured vinyl LPs. Would it be possible to fit a better tonearm? And if possible, would it be worthwhile, do you suppose?
And I know that the mat is the standard Thorens one for the time, but those ridges will be causing terrible microphony under any LPs that you play. You should consider getting something flat. Our esteemed Moderator disagrees with me on this, but I advise you to have a look at one of the Herbieās Audio Labs mats (US manufacturer, easily found online). I have a Herbieās on my LP12/ARO/Dynavector, and I find it streets ahead of Linnās felt effort.
The old TP13A āKugelā arm was rather better than you would credit from just looking at it, and a big step up on its predecessor. So long as thereās no undue slop or any notchiness then itās worth hanging on to unless youāre going to do some extreme modifications to the TD-150.
I do agree with you regarding the mat. They do look nice on the Thorens but best replaced when actually listening. Iām not sure i do disagree regarding the Herbieās mat - I felt it just fine on the Thorens TD-150 (It was on the Rega RP10 I thought it sounded ghastly), otherwise try a flat rubber mat, such as the ones that used to be put on later UK market 160s etcā¦
My apologies, Richard, for misrepresenting your thoughts (unintentionally, on my part).
Funny that you should mention the Thorens TD160S, as it was the first āproperā turntable that I ever owned, replacing a Dual from my days at university.
Those old SME arms used to look the business, didnāt they? Then the Japanese-built Linn arms came along and took the quality up several notches before they started again back in Glasgow.
At which point M Lamotteās stroke of genius turned everything on its head again with his deceptively simple ARO.
That is a handsome looking deck! Did you have it, or is it a photo off the net? And I donāt recognise the tonearm or cartridge at all - were they made by Quasar as well? (The shape of the cartridge reminds me of some of the old Denons.)
Getting there with the office system. Now have my Kans up and running fed by my Qute OR Thorens TD 160/Nak 600II/Nait 2. Not both unfortunately so thereās some manual labor required switching between the two options.
That Nait shown in your photo seems to be the āintermediateā version (my term), which was sold for a short while between the original CB Nait 1 and the Olive Nait 2. (Its styling seems to represent the transition from the CB style to the Olive style.)
There is no other Naim component which has that look.
Hi Graham, yes indeed. Iām not sure how many CB Nait 2s there were made, but it was a short lived production ahead of the Olive transition. Sounds lovely - especially with Vinyl (it has a MM phono board)
I have a late Olive Nait2, which has CD (rather than Aux) on the input selector. I am about to press it into service in a small system in my bedroom with a NAT-02 and a rare example of the greatly unloved nVi. I will be fascinated to see if I can get it all to sound good playing through a new pair of Falcon LS3/5As.
I bought the Nait2 on a bit of a whim over 10 years ago, and have never been quite sure what to do with it, so it has been sitting unused in my bedroom for over 10 years now.
Talking of integrated amps my first taste of really good gear was the Exposure X. Simply superb and I think I could still be happy with this, a Linn and some Kans or suchlike.
Exposure are (or were) made just along the Sussex coast from me in Portslade. They were considered as real rivals with Naim when John Farlowe was in charge of the company some decades back, but their profile seems almost non-existent these days.
Yes Graham. I had a 6/6/7/dual 4 pre power before jumping ship to Naim many years ago. Really good but the call of Naim had it in for me lol. Exposure still release good products but Iām unsure how connected they are to Johnās original company.
so thereās some manual labor required switching between the two options.
