On 1st May 2018 Thorens returned to Germany when Gunter Kürten, Thorens new CEO,  took the company back to the newley formed Thorens GMbH in Bergisch Gladbach from its founding company in Switzerland. Thorens is one of the oldest names in entertainment electronics, founded in 1883 by Hermann Thorens in Sainte-Croix, Switzerland, now being renown worldwide for its high-quality turntables. During the nineteen sixties the company moved to Lahr in Germany. Later, when Heinz Rohrer became CEO, Thorens returned temporarily to Switzerland.

It was 1965 when the suspended sub-chassis Thorens TD150 was released, which rapidly became the blueprint for a whole succession of very successful and high-end turntables. From the TD 125 in 1968 to the TD126, TD127, TD160, TD 226, Reference in 1980 and Prestige in 1983 they all had one thing in common, the same sub-chassis suspension concept. The 2008 TD 160HD was regarded as one of the best 15 turntables of What Hi-Fi?’s lifetime. Even today the sub-chassis design is still used by a renown very high end turntable manufacturer in Scotland!

In the mid 1980’s Thorens changed their chassis suspension concept but the TD160 and its predecessors are still recognized as the “classic” Thorens turntables.

Skip Forward To The Present

The new company has been formed around the core of the Thorens brand taking the best of the original Thorens designs and bringing them together with todays 21st century technologies.

It started down this new path with the release of the lower cost TD201 and TD202. These were new designs for vinyl newcomers, and now its mission to launch products that reflect the true  ‘DNA’ of its former audiophile designs.

The first fruits of this development will be the TD1600 and TD1601 turntables that will be shown at this years High End show in Munich. The model numbers are a dead give away for the original TD160. These new turntables both use suspension and damping by conical springs for effective decoupling from the installation site, but are very different inside merging the best of the old with the best of the new. From the outside they sport wooden plinths, two part platters with a belt driven central platter, rubber mat and acrylic dust cover, just like the TD160. Inside there are several innovations to the suspension. The conical springs sit on the bottom board so that the chassis doesn’t hang, but sits on them, while a steel pin connects the chassis with the bottom board in order to maintain vertical movement and preventing any lateral movement. 

Chassis Showing The Inverted Spring Suspension

Both turntables are available in highgloss walnut and piano black. They both sport the same height adjustable TP 92 tonearm, motor, control unit and external power supply.

TD External Power Supply For The Motor

While the TD1600 is a completely manual turntable, the TD 1601 provides the user with several extra convenience features to include:

• Auto power down and arm lift at the end of the record.
• An additional pair of balanced XLR outputs.

Rear Audio and Power Connections – TD1601

TD1600 and TD1601 Turntables By Thorens – First Look

Pricing from Hi-Fi Heaven are:

• TD1600 – $2999.99
• TD1601 – $3999.99