The Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement long-base turntable that I commissioned is here!

The packing containers from Christopher Thornton at Artisan Fidelity were extremely well done, with the TD-124 and plinth arriving in the large wooden crate you see on the above left, and the two platters, extra armboard, and other miscellaneous supplies packed in the cardboard shipping container on the upper right.

I slipped the Thorens TD124 out of its packing materials to take a look. The restored Thorens TD124 was installed into its Artisan Fidelity cocobolo / panzerholz plinth with Stillpoints Ultra SS isolation feet attached to the bottom of the plinth.

The fit and finish of the Artisan Fidelity restored Thorens TD124 and Artisan Fidelity long-base plinth is impeccable. Very nicely done, Christopher!

Gentleman engineer Pete Riggle (Pete Riggle Audio Engineering) helped me get my Schick 12-inch tonearm correctly mounted on the solid cocobolo armboard. Many thanks, Pete!

Pete was also the inspiration for my desire to have a Thorens TD124 of my own, as I've always enjoyed listening to music with Pete's Thorens TD124, which is a long-time favorite of Pete's.

I mounted the Schick tonearm with the Audio MusiKraft hot-rodded and tunable Denon 103 phono cartridge, installed onto an Audio-Technica AT-HS1 headshell, and fitted with a set of Art of Tone 22GA headshell leads I had already built up.

After getting everything put together for the first listening session, my buddy Chad and I, who stopped by for a visit, sat down to give it a listen!

Well it turns out we couldn't give it a listen, as consistent with the Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement's Friday the 13th arrival date, the long journey from Chicago via UPS jiggled the TD124's internals out of adjustment enough that it was unplayable, even with the extreme care in packaging that Christopher had used. Bummer!

I contacted Christopher and told him what happened, and asked him for his advice on where to start with adjustments to get the TD124 up and running.

Christopher offered to fly out and get the Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement turntable adjusted and setup for me, which was very gracious, but I have demurred for the moment on Christopher's offer.

Rather, I wanted to try to work through the adjustments and setup myself with Christopher's expert guidance, as I figured it would be valuable knowledge for the future to understand more completely what makes the Thorens TD124 tick.

I figured if I can't get it sorted out and setup on my own, then I'll take Christopher up on his offer of a visit and setup, which would be a lot of fun in its own right, and I'm sure I'd learn a lot!

It turns out the needed adjustments appear to be fairly minor, albeit a bit tedious to do, and I've got the Thorens TD124 in pretty good shape now.

I still need to do some additional fine tuning, but overall the adjustments have progressed nicely, and I'm very pleased with what I'm hearing from the Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement.

The Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement turntable is very musical, sonically astute, and it's a very nice match to my Westminster Royal SE and vintage McIntosh based main music system.

I'm hearing rich, colorful, gorgeous tone from the Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement long-base turntable, and I'm very excited to have it up and playing music here at Jeff's Place!

Above you can see the Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement long-base turntable sitting to the left of my Garrard 301, the Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement looks almost petite compared to the massive Garrard!

My first impressions of the vintage Thorens TD124 turntable are very positive. On the practical side, I enjoy using the built in strobe to fine-tune the speed, and the platter lift that allows you to change records without shutting off the motor is really a nice feature.

On the musical side I'm really liking what I'm hearing, it's very musically natural, and sonically adept, and I'm looking forward to further dialing in its adjustments, and doing a careful voicing with the Audio MusiKraft Denon 103.

I'll have much more to say as I get the Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement long-base turntable dialed in and voiced the way I want it, and in spite of a little UPS shipping kerfuffle we're off to a good start!

As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!