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Get my turntable fixed or buy a new one?

Here's the situation.  In 1988 when turntables were dissapearing I bought a Thorens TD-320 for $600 that included a signet cartridge.   It has served me well over the years.  It was In Storage for about four years along with the rest of my system.  I recently unpacked everything, hooked it up and found that the turntable wasn't working.  I am faced with this dilemma, I can probably get the Thorens fixed.  Found some guys in the Philly area that work on them.  On the other hand it's almost 30 years old.  Is it worth getting it fixed or should I get a new one.  If you vote for new, give me some ideas as to what brands and models you would recommend of comparable quality.

My current system includes:

Krell KRC-3 pre, Krell KSA 200S amp, Parasound Z-Phono phono pre, Revel Performance F32 speakers and Ayre CD Player
128x128pipebro
pipebro's avatar
pipebro OP
32 posts
 
The Thorens repair shop I found is as follows:
BC Electronics
2346 Bristol Oxford Valley Road
Levittown Pa.
215-547-7600
I found them online.  They specifically work on Thorens turntables.  Too bad my turntable went bad after I moved from Pa.  Lived in Phoenixville for 11 years.  Also found a place called Vinyl Nirvana but he's not accept any new jobs until May.
firberger's avatar
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firberger
106 posts
 
Thank You pipebro
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ivanj
35 posts
 
I like the idea of using the 320 for mono records and getting a suspended, perhaps vacuum SOTA with at least the Rega 330 arm (dynamic balance) with a neutral to warm MC cartridge. I don't know the PARA phono preamp so I don't know if you need a high output MC or not. Consider a VPI 16.5 record cleaning machine if you don't have one. When I was in grad school had a P/T job working in a HE store. First piece of kit I ever sold was a TD 160. How do you like the Ayre? Which model?

pipebro's avatar
pipebro OP
32 posts
 
When I bough my first album in '59 I was pretty young.   As a result, I don't have a lot of mono records so the two turntable idea doesn't work.  The Parasound phono pre handles MC cartridges so that's not an issue.  I have a VPI record cleaning machine.  The Ayre CD player is a CX-7.  It was on the Stereophile recommended components list.  I think it was class A or B.  I love the sound.  It's warm (class a output) and detailed.  When I bought it I compared it to the Krell at $10,000.  I preferred the Ayre.

discnik's avatar
discnik
161 posts
 
I am in the exact same situation and have opted to get my 320 repaired, mostly for sentimental reasons, since my first real turntable buy was a TD-160 back in the mid-70s. My vinyl collection is fairly modest, maybe 300 or thereabouts, but I have four turntables in 2-channel systems that I use to spin them. The 320 will make five, meaning one will get replaced. When a component is manufactured with as much care as the older Thorens were, I feel almost a duty to keep mine going if possible. Oh, and mine even has a Signet cartridge on it, too.
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