I have several TT's, including a Modified AR-XA (with a Japanese AR ES-1 carbon-fiber arm mounted/suspended), an original AR-XA, also a Thorns TD-145c, and the TD-165, and a few others... I think both Thorns belt drive sets are quality units, not much plastic to be seen anywhere, and not much real difference between these two, other than one being fully manual, the other having auto-return and a later arm.
The early AR turntables had a poor quality plastic shell that wore out after several removals and replacements, while the Thorns removable headshell is made of lightweight, yet rigid Magnesium, with silver plated pins and wires, which features a movable mounting plate in an innovative adjustable mount that is easily optimized using the plastic alignment jig that was supplied when those sets were new. Using longer screws and several different add-in mounting base plates the cartridge height was also adjustable too a certain extent, thus making the Thorns way ahead of its time in terms of mounting alignment and distortion minimalization.
In the Thorns TD-14x and TD-16x lines, the arm and platter float on springs apart from the turntable and wood base, much as is found in the AR line, Lynn, and others. This floating forms the basis for best functional isolation of the groove and stylus from external vibrations. Similarly, the belt drive isolates the platter from motor noise and unless these systems are in some way defective, with the proper tracking force and anti-skate applied, the Thorns should have outstanding isolation.
TO DO LIST: Make sure the oil is clean and present; make sure the transit screws are "unlocked"; and hopefully you have the anti-skate "string weight" (that often gets lost) if you have the earlier arm that doesn't use opposing magnets (I think most TD-145's always had the later arm type, but you never know!).
The Shure V15 Type IV is considered among the top cartridges made in the moving-magnet realm, definitely not
lame-o. It was the third from the last Shure top-of-the-line, if I recall. I have the way older V-15 Type II, and Type III and these earlier iterations still hold up, and still sound, fine despite their age. Getting a new "original" Type IV stylus, either a Conical, Elliptical, or Hyper-Elliptical might prove impossible or difficult and/or very pricey, as Shure doesn't make new ones, just sell off remaining stock, but you should look for it though, as the cartridge is a rather high-end unit.
I tend personally to feel most high-end Shure cartridges are somewhat flat sounding (good?) but a bit lackluster, this might be a factor of having low distortion, or shall we say "lack of extraneous spectra" or lack of LP type distortions, and lack of bloom in frequency response (compared to Pickering, Stanton, or ADC's) but again, depends how meticulously it is set up (in all 3 dimensions) and of course: YMMV. The Shures' do track very well, and it is worth stating twice that arm setup is even more important, and yet a very elusive thing to do with any exact certainty - for minimal tracing distortion, and the best sound.
I think the potential is there, you could spend thousands and not do any better from a sonic standpoint.
-Steven
A friend gave me an old Thorens TD-145. Anything I can do to improve this besides replacing the cheap built in interconnects? Cartridge is a Shure V-15 Mk IV (I think) Don't want to spend a lot of money.
BTW: the first piece of audio gear I ever bought when I was 15, was a Thorens TD-165. From what I remember it had fairly poor isolation from external vibrations.
