History

In 1965 in Sainte Croix, Switzerland the development of a new, affordable turntable called TD 150 was finished. This turntable later became the blueprint for a very successful generation of turntables.
Originally invented by AR but almost forgotten the suspended sub chassis became very popular with Thorens new TD 150 and its successors. It entered mass market and a lot of other vendors used it, too. The most famous one is still produced in Scotland.

Thorens transferred that principle to the following generations of its turntables beginning with still famous TD 125 in 1968 until the 90s of last century when production of TD 160 Mk V finished. Also, TD 126 and its extensions TD 127 and TD 226 and even the monumental Reference from 1980 and Prestige from 1983 were designed with that kind of suspension.

Even though Thorens started a new era of suspension design in the middle 80s the original TD 160 and its successors are still seen as the “classic” Thorens turntables.

The present

TD 1600 and TD 1601

Starting with the acquisition of the brand Thorens by Gunter Kürten and the resettlement to Germany in 2018 a recollection of the Thorens “DNA” began. This will be reflected in future products and so the product spectrum will change with respects to former virtues but also move to current technologies.

The first result of this will be presented on this years High End show in Munich: TD 1600 and TD 1601. The name almost reveals it, both should be seen as modern incarnation of TD 160. Both use suspension and damping by conical springs for effective decoupling from installation site. But also both are totally different inside.
They fill the gap between tradition that made the old turntables famous and 21. Century technology.

From outside immediately recognizable as quite near to TD 160 series, they come with wooden plinth, two-parts platter with belt running internally and thick rubber mat and acrylic dust cover.
But there are a lot of innovations inside: the conical springs are are not mounted on top board any longer but on the botton. So the sub chassis does not hang but stands on these springs. Additionally a small but strong tightened thread made of steel connects sub chassis with a steel pin on the bottom and so prevents sub chassis from staggering and allows only vertical movement.

Differences between TD 1600 and TD 1601

Both models share the same platform and the same height adjustable TP 92 tonearm, but TD 1601 adds some comfort features. TD 1600 is a totally manual turntable, while TD 1601 comes with an electrical lift, auto shut off at the end of the record with lifting the arm and real balanced output sockets (XLR).
Motor, Control unit and power supply are the same.

Both will be available in highgloss walnut and piano black.

TD 1600

 

TD 1601

High resolution pictures will be available in press area next time.