You can extract lots of things from vinyl grooves: sibilants, overtones, transients – or simply music.
Mere minutes after delivery, it’s all assembled and set up, and doing its first warm-up laps. In theory, the Thorens TD 1600 is an old acquaintance. But something’s off about it. A masterpiece of claustrophobic melancholy pulled at random from the shelf is spinning on the platter. Although Nick Cave retains his characteristic gloom, his Bad Seeds enjoy an unusually juvenile élan. Has someone ripped open the window to bring in a breath of fresh air? Thanks to said unexpected fresh air, the intro to “Push The Sky Away” grumbles half a level lower and the bass and drums take on an unusual physicality. Not feisty, but trained like a decathlete. Massive, but light as a feather when needed. Stable, but always ready to switch from a relaxed trot to a sprint. So either my ears have improved massively since I turned fifty, or it’s the record player after all…
Even the smaller models have proven that company owner Gunter Kürten has a good grasp of how a record player works. So far, every time a Thorens has been a guest here, extremely enjoyable hours of vinyl surfing have been all but guaranteed. As with the TD 1500, the workmanship of its bigger brother is absolutely flawless. Lacquer quality, panel gaps, feel – all at the highest level. The plinth is optionally available in walnut or black high-gloss lacquer, the top plate in matt aluminum to match the platter, the tonearm board in matt black again. Very chic and fully in line with the retro trend.
What’s not quite as retro is the connection panel on the back. Although RCA was already standard in the seventies, balanced wiring including XLR is still not something you see everyday as basic equipment on a record player. This is really unfortunate, as a pickup outputs a balanced signal per se. If only affordable playing partners with the according inputs weren’t so few and far between. But even via RCA, the TD 1600 doesn’t disappoint, indeed it presents itself as a fire starter even with rather boringly preserved records. One of the shortcomings that I have occasionally criticized has also been eliminated: at last there is a sensible power supply for the Thorens. The power supply unit of the TD 1600 makes an extremely trustworthy impression. Instead of sucking on a power supply with a jack plug, the TD 1600 draws from an impressively hefty little box that has only one job: to provide the necessary power and immediately send it to the connection panel for further processing. The elaborate motor electronics were hidden deep inside the frame by veteran developer Walter Fuchs. Here, an AC voltage is generated synthetically, perfectly matched to the motor in terms of phase and amplitude, which ensures smooth synchronization with fantastic signal-to-noise ratios. Any vibrations generated by the motor are absorbed by the drive belt or eliminated in the sub-chassis. This rests upright on three springs instead of being suspended from springs under the upper deck as usual. This allows the chassis to vibrate like a piston and isolates the tracking of the sensitive music signal from disturbing environmental influences. The suspension can even cope with record clamps weighing up to half a kilo without eliminating the isolating effect of the sub-chassis. Those who rely on heavier specimens will unfortunately have to make some adjustments to the chassis. This is no problem thanks to the adjustment screws accessible from below, but it requires a helping hand. This is usually done once during assembly, so the effort is absolutely negligible.
Only the handling of the arm lift requires a pinch of dexterity, as the sub-chassis reacts very sensitively to deficits in motor skills. Luckily, even the ham-fisted aren’t doomed to a life without a Thorens, as the TD 1600 is also available as a TD 1601 with electric tonearm lift and automatic limit switch. After all, two thirds of all buyers choose this version, regardless of the almost 500 Euro surcharge. Up to this point, the TD 1600 is a record player that couldn’t be more classic. At least at first glance.
At second glance, you notice the many small details that elevate the design of the Thorens to an unfamiliar level, at least to me. There is the two-piece platter for the TD 1600, made of precisely turned aluminum. A small step on the subplatter supports the actual platter. Individually, both parts ring quite audibly. But once you put them together, there is complete silence. Small step, big effect. The effect of the thick rubber mat on the TD 1600 is therefore not half as strong as on the smaller turntables with a solid aluminum platter. Here you can give free rein to your playfulness and experiment with platter mats. Personally, I really liked a thin mat made of untreated leather; with it, the TD 1600 played a little more openly.
However, it wasn’t just the platter that was the subject of a great deal of thought and effort; attention was also paid to the little things. For example, the rather powerful motor was moved to the front left, virtually in the extension of the platter bearing and tonearm axis. A thin, foam-damped steel thread between the platter bearing and tonearm base equalizes the tensile forces of the motor and thus relieves the bearing. Not exactly commonplace, but highly functional.
We are slowly approaching the real protagonist of the TD 1600, the tonearm. The package of TD 1600, low-output MC TA 1600 and the TP 92 tonearm was already an extremely fascinating way to enjoy records. Which is not to say that developer Helmut Thiele is resting on his laurels. For the TP 160, the busy analog veteran took his cue from classic EMT arms from the seventies of the last millennium. But the similarities are only skin-deep. Carefully remove the “bell”, or tonearm bearing cover, and you’ll immediately recognize modifications compared to the original. In the seventies it was still made of thin material and therefore prone to vibrations, but today the cover is made of sturdy material that only reacts to external stimulation with a dry “tock” instead of a bright ringing sound. For horizontal movements, Thiele relies on Japanese precision ball bearings, while vertical movements are handled by a completely new development based on the principle of the knife-edge bearing. Here, the arm balances on a razor-sharp blade, which is positioned in a gap with a slightly larger opening angle. Due to the manufacturing process, the opening angle milled into the material is always a tiny radius. As a result, the blade of the arm holder never lies perfectly in the bearing shell. So what to do?
Helmut Thiele came up with a solution that was as simple as it was ingenious: Two small steel plates are glued into the milled bearing seat, which are also interlocked. This results in an absolutely perfect edge in which the blade has contact with the bearing block over the entire contact surface. Another problem was that the arm sits quite loosely in the bearing shell and reacts sensitively to movement. Again, the solution is as simple as it is ingenious. Small neodymium magnets, mounted underneath the bearing, pull the blade firmly into the bearing gap without generating friction. And there is another small magnet in the bearing. This repels the blade on the outer side and presses the lower, pointed inner edge of the blade against a steel abutment. The blade is thus fixed in the bearing gap without any contact and without eliminating an ounce of energy. The extensive options for adjusting the height or azimuth of the arm have remained. Nice to have, but a Thorens comes perfectly pre-assembled if you opt for the package solution on offer. Just put on the platter, place the mat on top and mount the cartridge – in this case the low-output MC TAS 1600 – via the SME coupling, and pick a record – goodbye day-to-day grind, hello enjoyment. On “Collard Greens And Back-Eyed Peas” from the album This Is Pat Moran, the Thorens plays as if unleashed, dynamically highly explosive, almost tender in the highest registers, creating holographic soundscapes like hardly any other turntable before it. During the two months I spent with the TD 1600, I was surfing through my record collection several times, from metal to rock, from blues to classical and back again. I was particularly impressed by a live record by Boysetsfire frontman Nathan Gray. Two vinyls, two concerts, one setlist. One in the Ringkirche in Wiesbaden, the second concert in the Drachenhöhle Isarlohn. Despite the different rooms, both discs are reproduced holographically, each conveying a convincing impression of the spatial conditions. Instead of electric guitars, a cello lays the foundation for the songs here, creaking impressively when required, nestling sensually against the melody or painting bittersweet contours. Gray himself performs a soul striptease on both records and lays his inner self open on the turntable. Rarely have I heard this record so touching, so emotionally moving as on the 1600. This is not just the reproduction of music. The TD 1600 distils emotions where other players merely extract sounds from the groove.
Accompanying Equipment
Turntables: Acoustic Solid Vintage, Technics SL-1710 MK2, Technics SL-1210 MK2 | Tonearm: Acoustic Solid WTB 213 | Cartridges: Clearaudio Charisma V2, Ortofon Quintet Bronze, Ortofon Nightclub | Phono preamplifier: Acoustic Solid phono preamplifier | Integrated amplifier: Einstein The Tune, NAD C 320 | D/A converter: Audiolab M-DAC Mini | Power amplifier: Lehmannaudio Black Cube Stamp | Loudspeakers: Heco BellaDonna, Audio Physic Seemon | Cables/accessories: German Highend, AudioQuest, IsoTek, Steinmusic
Turntable Thorens TD 1600 with tonearm TP 160
Operating principle: belt-driven turntable with sub-chassis | Drive: electronically controlled DC motor | Platter: 22 mm aluminum platter | Speed: 331/3 or 45 rpm, electronically controlled | Tonearm: Thorens TP 160 with SME headshell | Connections: RCA/balanced XLR | Finishes: Black or high-gloss walnut | Dimensions (W/H/D): 45/18/37 cm | Weight: 11 kg | Warranty period: 2 years | Price: 4700 € (incl. Thorens TAS 1600 cartridge)
Thorens
Lustheide 85
51427 Bergisch-Gladbach
Phone +49 2204 8677720