THORENS must have stumbled across the adage “design never goes out of style” and taken it to heart. Going by its new 900 Series turntables, there really isn’t any good reason for us to disagree.
This new reference line is based on the company’s TD 150 and TD 160 suspended sub-chassis turntables from the 1960s. Thorens took a long, hard look at these classic spinners and re-designed them for today’s audiophile, using modern materials and engineering techniques. The result? Three new turntables which retain all the strengths of the suspended sub-chassis design but with refinements that make them sound better and easier to set up than ever before!
The turntables are made predominantly composed of triCom, a composite of aluminium and polyoxymethylene (some kind of plastic, also known as POM). This is used in the 900 Series’ platter, sub-chassis, base plate and plinth.
The sub-chassis is suspended by three conical springs which can be adjusted from above – even while the platter is spinning! This adjust-from-above feature also applies to two of the turntables’ three feet, so setting up is much easier.
Three models make up the 900 Series, the TD 903, TD 905 and TD 907, with incremental structural and mechanical improvements as you move up the range.
The TD 903 is the base model in the series, featuring a single pair of RCA outputs and the TP 92 nine-inch tonearm. The next step up is the TD 905, with its triCom armboard, XLR outputs as well as the use of more bracing and damping throughout.
At the pinnacle of the range is the TD 907, which gives you a 10-inch version of the TP92 arm, and a sub-chassis that is dampened with a fully adjustable air chamber and more.
Vinyl charges on, we’re glad to see!
TD160 IMO was a very poor cheap design compared with the far superior 321 , a backwards step despite new materials I would not buy one of these new TTs. my 321 is still excellent after 30 years