Oh I don’t know. I’ve heard Steve in a couple videos saying nothing but good things about the 901’s.
Yes it is.
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I have to hand it to you all. You folks have some serious systems. I shall refrain from posting mine. Due to the fact that our home has been the subject of a number of movies. Call me a liar. That sits fine with me.
I just wanted to point out something very important. An Elephants rear is supposed to point towards your front door. Otherwise you will have bad Karma, Trust me, I know this much.
All these photos make me want to unbox my lowly Nakamichi BX100 two head deck and put it in the system. Purchased new around 1985 it was the jewel of my mostly Yamaha system at the time. I still have a shoe box of mix tapes - would be a real trip down memory lane.
You live Dominic Toretto’s house from Fast & Furious?! 
Go for it. A lot of the 80’s I listen to takes me down memory lane all the time. Back in the days before “real” responsibilities and adult stuff.
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Really nice turntable. I got the Thorens TD105 from my dad. It still turns and plays music. MC into phono input of my Yamaha till I it’s replaced. Even though the new Thorens TD1601 is a superb modern turntable, it is hard to ditch the TD105 that has been playing my records at home when I was listening to music the most. It is almost like an icon.
Thorens advertises as the successor of the TD160 it is a lot of money and it is quite obvious if you put them next to each other. I see the armlift mounted on your suspended (subchassis mounted) armboard. It causes the same issues as my touch sensitive arm lift buttons that are equally mounted on the subchassis. Once the needle is on the vinyl it is almost impossible to operate them without the needle jumping the groove.
The TD1601 has got that solved. it has a miniature electronic motor in the armlift and the operating button is mounted on the fixed chassis instead on the suspended subchassis where the toner sits. Thus the operating handle/button is now mechanically isolated and you can lift the needle any tie without it jumping around. The cool thing: they use just a fixed mounted ultra light weight flag underneath the tonearm that passes through a photoelectric barrier when the needle has reached the end of the record it activates a simple electric signal to the miniature motor in the armlift and you never have to worry about your pressures cartridge paying the endless loop at the end of the record. A piece of comfort that compared to the mechanical autostop mechanisme in my Thorens TD105 does not come at cost of sound quality.
But if I had gotten a TD160 B MKII from my dad, there would be no way I would contemplate to update. It is a beautiful piece of art and handmade in Germany.
Did you know that Linn started making the Sondek LP12 as a cheaper alternative to this Thorens TD160 in the UK? It was pre EU free trade zone era when the UK tariffs allowed the Sondek LP12 to be cheaper in UK’s rather attractive domestic market. Even though the production costs were higher at that time. The production costs of the LP12 are still a lot higher. A fully dressed TD1601 with RCA + XLR phono output, the engeniouos tone arm lift + auto stop and MC cartridge comes for the same price or less than the current Linn LP12 Majik that comes with an MM cartridge. However the Thorens is made in Asia and the Linn still domestic in Europe, except of cartridge and tonearm. Local production which is an important argument for buying equipment in these days of crisis. A credit to Thorens however is that they are transparent and honest about it.
We unfortunately have been feeling the close to fatal (for many fatal) consequences of outsourcing production (of medical protective means) to Asia at first hand during the Corona outbreak. Thus after the Corona experience, local production is one of the top criteria when we buy anything these days. You can’t avoid buying anything with Asian content, but you can secure your local economies and thus secure your own income and health care by conceously buying domestic made products. I believe global economy is good, but when our greed drove our industry into blindly outsource the production of everything to Asia it completely got out of balance, of which we have been facing many consequences recently.
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Thank you Rudolf.
I am quite surprised that this 50 year old Thorens, with Ortofon Quintet Black S cartridge and SME tonearm into the PSA SPP, sounds almost as good as my digital chain, which is much more expensive: Roon Nucleus +, LUMIN U1, PSA DS senior, with top cables from WireWorld and Chord, and Sbooster power supplies.
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I bet a lot of fun too. For this turntable the Stellar Phono Stage seems a perfect match.
Even my TD105 with MM (correction) sounds good. But it‘s good to have a digital chain as well. Variety makes the fun last longer.
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He is right. An old Thorens in proper condition is not only better than any new table, it is better than any digital. With a good cartridge and arm, wire and everything it is big bucks too. My Thorens Is better than my SOTA Vacuum or Goldmund.
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You Jest ! He claims that he couldn’t afford a pair of L100’s in the mid 70’s and bought a pair of Bose 501’s (not my Cup of Tea either) and the sound was so bad according to him, he bought a pair of (I forget, it’s in his Bose Video) Speakers and that started his Audiophile Journey.
And another little update… Introducing the Rane Balance Buddy BB 88x (44x upgraded to 88x) and the first of two dbx 400x units.
I promise, this corner will look a LOT better once I’m done with it. For now, I’m just stacking gear back here to get it up and running. Nice to hear some of these old cassettes again.
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Why DBX in a consumer system?
What do you mean? That dbx gear IS the consumer versions. That’s what it was made for. Certainly not pro audio or studio level considering it all uses standard RCA connections.
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Oh, never mind then. I thought it was pro-audio with XLR’s. I was wondering why the heck you would need that. I completely forgot they made a consumer line. My bad. Disregard.
We use it in the studio. It is #1. I reach for it before anything else.
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The DBX 400x is a passive routing box. It does not do anything .
DBX stuff was sweet. I had the following (updated) versions of both of those including a DBX Range Expander 3BX like this one.
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Their noise reduction systems for tape work very well also.
Their studio and road gear(the top of the line) is second to none. I put it above pretty much any boutique stuff. It is all in who uses it. This trickles down to home kit. I have a DBX home EQ in one system over 40 years old. In the studio, I most often reach for DBX. Unless I need some very unusual effect.
I also wanted to mention, to anyone that has the funds. Crystal Cable Future Dream is the last word in cables IMO.