Turin’s new reference

A new reference was presented at the High-End 2023 in Munich.

2023-05-09 – 08:40

The massive record player is the result of a collaboration between Thorens and Seismion, where the latter’s contribution is the advanced damping technology, which should eliminate even the smallest vibrations.

The player is not unlike the original 1979 op. A 90k heavy monster with three engines and room for three tons.

The new reference can also be used with three arms, and there is room for 9-, 10-, or 12-inch arms on the player.

The trigger was designed by veteran Helmut Thiel, who enlisted Seismion’s help to create an active vibration system.

Earthquakes are not in the hi-fi domain, but the advanced damping and isolation of components vital to various industries, including research and nanotechnology. Here they’ve created a type of inverted suspension with something they call Sky-Hook dampers, in which the internal structure is suspended while lying on coil springs that absorb vertical vibrations.

According to Torrens, the damping is so effective that it can remove vibrations of the order of nanometers and picometres.

A three-phase synchronous motor drives the platter through a belt. Plate bearings are lubricated by a thin lubricating film, based on German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld’s research on hydrodynamics.

Quartz oscillators monitor the rotation rate, which should deviate no more than 9 ppm over a 20-year period, according to Torrens. Which also provides a new 12-inch soundbar for the new reference called the TP160, and the player can also be equipped with a Thiele TA01 arm.

It can be seen at the top of the image above, where you can see the mechanism that gradually turns the arm as it follows the tracks on the dial. It should give a tracking angle where the deviation is less than 0.036°.

The new reference will be shown to the press and the public at the prestigious fair next week in Munich. We also report daily between May 18th and 20th.