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In Lahr, a factory was purchased together with studio manufacturer EMT. With the TD 150 model, the production was relocated from the Swiss Jura to Baden in Germany. This model became an example for entire generations of record players. Another important milestone followed in 1965 with the TD 150 model, an inconspicuous, inexpensive small turntable that used a hitherto unknown manner of suspension.
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At that time the Thorens TD 124 came on the market and established the reputation of the Thorens brand among vinyl lovers around the world. The year 1957 is an important turning point in the history of the company. The product portfolio initially included music boxes, phonographs, gramophones, and harmonicas, but later the company would focus only on electronic record players. Thorens was founded in 1883 in Sainte-Croix in Switzerland.
THORENS TD 125 SME TONEARM BASE SWIVEL FULL
Priced at an absolutely reasonable 25 euro, and now having heard the latter, I can say with full confidence that Thorens is back! Thorens History in brief With the recent introduction of the TD1600 and TD1601, Thorens has taken the classic, proven, designs and meticulously made improvements in key areas to arrive at two instant new classics. There is something to the sound of a TD160MkII or a TD125MkII that makes me like these players even in comparison to more flashy and much more costly current high-end designs. Also, personal preferences also come into play. While there is no doubt that a current Linn LP12 is built more solidly and to higher overall standards than the classic Thorens turntables, the new TD1601 absolutely sets new standards for the brand.
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TD1601 arm and frictionless optical sensor underneath TD1601 sub-chassis where the blue part is a solid metal connection between platter and arm. No doubt in part due to their robustness, but also thanks to their fantastic price/performance ratio, these classic turntables remain popular to this day. With very few exceptions, they all play as well now as they did 40+ years ago. And as I can confirm from personal experience, these turntables are pretty much indestructible. Still, even if the Thorens TD150 and TD160 and their derivatives were very cost-effective, they were so well-designed and robust that these turntables became world-famous. To this day, this principle is unchanged.īack in the day, while the principle was the same, the main differences between Thorens TD150 and the Linn LP12 were that the Scottish player used better materials made to tighter tolerances. The motor, which is mounted on the top plate, drives the turntable platter via a belt. The principle behind the suspended sub-chassis is that the platter, sub-chassis, armboard and tonearm form a mechanically coupled unit that sits on top of (or hangs from) dampers (usually three springs) which isolate the sub-assembly from the motor and the base. The Thorens TD150, however, was in turn inspired by the AR-XA, a suspended, belt-driven, sub-chassis turntable designed by Edgar Villchur of Acoustic Research in 1961. Thorens and Linn subsequently both popularized the suspended belt-drive principle and particularly Linn had a lot of influence in the UK for promoting the belt-drive at the expense of the Japanese direct drive. Thorens is back! Review sample supplied by LookenListen, distributor for the Benelux Retail prices in the NL, including 21% VAT:Īlthough there seems to be a belief that Linn more or less invented belt-driven turntables it was actually the Thorens TD150 issued in 1965 that inspired Linn to create their LP12.