New direct driveb Thorens TD24

Direct Drive

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Sep 16, 2020
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This looks interesting. A TD 124 but direct drive rather than idler.

20200623_Thorens_TD_124_DD_04_72.jpg 20200623_Thorens_TD_124_DD_47_72.jpg

Website: TD124 DD
 

Direct Drive

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Sep 16, 2020
148
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East Anglia, UK
pretty pricey if I saw correct?

£ 7.999 !
Yes, £8K excl. the SPU. £10K with SPU.
However, SP-10R is £9K without arm & plinth (inclusive 14K), so in the scheme for a DD not too bad if it sounds good!
I wonder who makes the motor?
 

Direct Drive

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spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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What is the point? The 124 is a legendary idler. I tell you what, Linn should make a DD too.
 
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XV-1

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May 24, 2010
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What is the point? The 124 is a legendary idler. I tell you what, Linn should make a DD too.

Marc, what's more upsetting - that Thorens have used the TD 124 model or manufactured a DD table?

Imagine the anticipation when Yamaha announced they were making a new top of line turntable in the tradition of their famous GT-2000 . It will be called the GT-5000. It looks absolutely wonderful and the splitting image of the old GT-2000. Except for one important thing - its now a bloody belt drive and not direct drive - LOL. and the pivoted tonearm is straight with no offset?
 

jdza

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May 3, 2010
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LOL. and the pivoted tonearm is straight with no offset?

In the 1980s Yamaha did offer the YSA-2 "upgrade " for the GT 2000.This was a straight underhung option.

Not saying it is right or wrong, just that they did do it with the classic GTs. In the October 2020 (rave) review of the GT 5000 in Hi Fi News, Paul Miller found THD to increase from 0.65% to 1.9% at the end of side. Also from the review ; Yamaha acknowledges that tracking error is 10% at the end of side but counters this by saying tracking error in a conventional 9 inch arm would be 5%. They further contend that this is less troublesome than distortion resulting from mistracking. I am not sure how an underhung arm will lead to less mistracking?

YSA-2 .Pic from HiFiDo

a.jpg
 
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Direct Drive

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Except for one important thing - its now a bloody belt drive and not direct drive - LOL.
Agreed. I was very disappointed. I just wished they had gone the whole hog and lived up to the name.... Giant & Tremendous......
l567543671.1.jpg

And all the accessories including the copper plater
gt-2000-option2.jpg
 
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Direct Drive

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shakti

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May 9, 2015
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Belt drive tt perform better than direct drive.
too many opinions on this ...


Thorens decided to go for a Direct Drive, as more close to their classic Idler Sound than a Belt Drive...

Currently they are selling good, means the decision to go DD was not too bad :)
 
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Direct Drive

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Sep 16, 2020
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Belt drive tt perform better than direct drive.
Very sweeping statement. I've yet to come across one that does, but have plans to have a Micro SX5000 clone built to compare.
Mt TD124 doesn't really match up to my DDs.
 

Shuggie

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Sep 9, 2020
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Very positive review by KK in HiFiNews. To quote him "If I had £8,000, this would be staying put".

As an owner of a TD-124 Mk2, I'd love to hear the new TD-124 DD. But, this turntable has essentially a generic Taiwanese direct drive motor which mostly graces turntables costing hundreds of $, not high thousands. I'm sure that the generic DD motor has been tweaked, but look at the HiFi News test results and it does not look that good - yes, it's very quiet, but instead of having one sharp 'peak' in the speed spectrum, there are in fact two peaks. Paul Miller theorizes that this is due to 'some slight asymmetry between the phases of one or more of the 12 coils in our sample' . Such time anomalies are usually quite audible when listening to real music, so I'm surprised that Ken Kessler scored this example so highly (Sound Quality 89%). Ken may love the TD-124DD for its retro charm, but for £8k I would expect some deeper engineering quality, which even a lowly Technics SL-1200GR can beat (yes, it has a very average tonearm but its motor is astonishingly precise in terms of absolute speed).
 
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