Munich 2015

Thorens Launches Three New Suspended Sub-chassis Turntables

Michael Fremer  |  May 23, 2015

Thorens announced a trio of suspended sub-chassis design turntables at High End Munich 2015: the TD 903, TD 905, and TD 907.

The company claims the new designs achieve true "pistonic" motion thanks to careful tuning of the suspension springs and that should any re-adjustment become necessary, the springs can be tensioned from above. The point is to isolate the platter and arm from footfalls and other air or ground borne interference.

The plinth is damped with a composite top plate of alternating layers of aluminum and polyethylene that's also used for the base plate and in double thickness, the sub-chassis as well.

The entry-level TD 903 is expected to sell for approximately 3000 Euro, while no price was available for the mid-level TD 905, featuring a more sophisticated damping architecture and more heavily braced plinth. Both of these come with the 9 inch TP92 tone arm.

The top of the line TD 907 (pictured) includes the TP 88 ten inch unipivot arm as well as a far more sophisticated internal structure that include a sub-chassis damped by a conical membrane similar to the loudspeaker cone. The TD 907 is expected to sell for "up to 9000 Euro". All three models will be available in October, of 2015

COMMENTS
vqworks's picture
Submitted by vqworks on Wed, 2015-05-27 14:19

The spindle appears quite short on the top-of-the-line. I'm assuming that the length of the spindle on all three models is the same. If so, it may not be able to accommodate a clamp.

In any case, I'm just glad Thorens is introducing new suspension designs. Resistance to footfalls and feedback is extremely important to me. In my humble opinion, designs ignore this issue too often.

davip's picture
Submitted by davip on Fri, 2019-03-15 01:31

Read the TD-907 review at Hi-Fi+ and you find that Thorens have attached their motor directly to the subchassis "...to reduce vibration" (what? are they mad?!) and that the platter has an inlaid mat like Thorens' of-old. The problem with the former is that this directly couples the vibrating element (the motor) to the arm and cartridge while the mat is very small in diameter, leaving a considerable portion of the record surface supported by bare-metal (further compromising sound-quality and almost certainly damaging your vinyl).

What a colossal Fail for an £11,000 turntable and a company that was once a byword for quality engineering. Linn sales (at < £2,000 no-less) should be justifiably unaffected.

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