Thorens E53P Direct Drive TT

[J-ROB]

Today I rescued a Thorens E53P turntable. I thought I knew a bit about 1950s tables but I never even heard of this one. Super rare in the States, I think.

Anybody out there in Lenco Land familiar with this direct drive "precision" motor unit?

[Phil Y]

Vinyl engine has an entry.

Phil.

[J-ROB]

That manual link is about the only trace I have found online,except for a few ads. I was happy to see that noise was rated at -48dB down, suggesting that this was a high grade Thorens effort.

Here are a few pics. Unusual early Weathers arm with mono FM cart, three speed manual transmission, original storage dirt and dust.

[J-ROB]

Motor shot

[Paul]

That is one very interesting looking turntable, more pics and info please. 

[J-ROB]

I'm trying to get info! Gave you all I have!

I'll clean it up and investigate more, of course.

[zwarte-romantiek]

Hi J-Rob,

Great machine. I never could find one for a reasonable price. I got an THORENS CBA 83 instead.
The motor is quite simple and easy to clean and lubricate.

On this side you will find great ictures of the motor
http://www.electricgramophone.nl/thorens/thorens.html

Go to the THORENS CD 43 N part for the pictures of the inside of a E53 motor.
http://electricgramophone.nl/Thorens_Page/1297297.htm

Let us know how this projects goes.

Niels

[J-ROB]

Thanks, Niels! Wow, awesome clockwork in that motor!

I cleaned it up and will post better pics. I want to lube the motor before firing it up for more than a few moments.

We are expecting 3 feet of snow in DC today. so I will be a prisoner in my house for a few days. Hopefully I'll get some project work done.

[zwarte-romantiek]

Hi,

So heavy snow. Well we will have some rain over here in Holland.

Let me know what you think of the wooden tonearm? I remember LH-member Richard was quite fond of it.

I cleaned and lubricated an E53 once. As a kid I played with technical Lego and reminded me of that.

Niels

[J-ROB]

Popped off the platter and have some SAE20 oil at the ready! Lubrication holes are marked in red.




The Weathers arm is an early version that I have never seen before. Weathers was located in NJ, quite close to RCA Camden HQ where the previous owner worked.

Weathers had a lot of novel ideas, like using a super light stamped platter driven by a small clock motor, light wood arms decoupled by rubber feet on the later versions (!). and the Weathers FM cartridge with an external oscillator...tracked at 1g in the mid 50s!

Suspiciously, Weathers genius ideas mostly corresponded with the cheapest possible way to make things. An old-timer I knew remembered Paul Weathers as "the kind of guy who could give you change for a penny!"

This early tonearm does not have the rubber base decoupling fixture, thank god,  but I have to say that the bearing in this thing will not put Thomas Schick out of business! 

The Weathers arm is too flaky to mess with in my opinion, but I have owned complete Weathers turntables in the past and they sound way better than expected, with really good bass.

When I hook this Thorens up I will use one of my Schicks to really hear what it can do.

[mosin]

Joe,

Is it configured like a Metzner, being more of a screw drive than a direct drive?

Actually, the Metzner is a hybrid idler/screw drive. The Scott is closer to being a true screw drive.

[J-ROB]

Win,

Check out the photos linked above. Direct drive, bro!

At least that is what I call direct drive...rotational transmission through the spindle only. No idler.

There are gears inside the box for speed change...it is not driven directly by the armature of the motor.

Indirect direct drive, gear drive, perhaps....

[analogadikt]

If the motor innards are same as those shown in the link then it is screw drive (aka worm drive) with mechanical governer that is providing the primary reduction. Nice score

Regards,

[Sk8Ter]

Kool hey if your going to sell the arm cart etc I would be interested please contact me via pm please




Lawrence

[J-ROB]

Yes, worm drive inside the motor but the transmission of rotation to the platter is "direct" through the spindle.

I am not entirely sure what "direct drive" means once we get off the well-traveled path of DC motor connected to the platter, but I like the way it sounds!  

I never saw the inside of a Scott 710A, which is the only other audiophile-grade gear drive table I know of. The introduction of that model was contemporary with the career of this Thorens.

To my eye, the Thorens looks totally Swiss in conception and execution. Can't imagine American companies of that era building something like this.

I'll try to fire this sucker up today to see how quiet it is. The manual warns of some low-level mechanical noise as normal operation.