![]() It was, for all intents and purposes, a better-built AR, with the added appeal of accommodating a choice of tonearms. Not unaware of the phenomenal success of Edgar Villchur’s $68 AR turntable of 1961 (and regardless of its almost laughable price advantage over any import), Thorens introduced the TD 150 in 1965. The TD 124 was most assuredly a child of the monophonic 1950s and its time had surely come. ![]() Thorens was moving factories from Switzerland to Germany, the TD 124 was nearing the end of its life as a viable product after some 100,000 had been made, and the latest stereo cartridges demanded greater refinement. And that includes the TD 125.Īccording to Gerhard Weichler’s Thorens: the Fascination of a Living Legend (2006), the TD-125 was born of a number of causes, a perfect storm demanding a new flagship model. However, only the most deluded apologist would argue that this idler-drive/belt-drive hybrid is either as quiet as, or as dynamic as the pure belt-drives that followed the TD 124 – let alone the “budget model” TD 150 that sold alongside it. Appropriately, a perfectly-restored, serviced and installed TD 124 will, as of 2013, still give most record spinners a run for their money. All are superlative decks, but the TD 125 just may be the most balanced, the sanest compromise, and the easiest with which to live.īorn in 1968, the Thorens TD-125 (Mk I, of course) directly followed what most enthusiasts would rightly nominate as the Swiss/German firm’s single greatest achievement: the TD 124, rather than the similar TD 150 of 1965. Equally, with the passage of time, it has been overshadowed by its Thorens-made predecessors, both above and below it in price, and by its disproportionately expensive descendants.Īmong collectors, the hot Thorenses include the TD 124 at the top irrespective of one’s audio politics, the TD 150 for realists (and for me, the most important turntable in audio history after the AR Universal), and – for those lucky enough to be filthy rich and tenacious – the later Reference and Prestige behemoths. Aah! The glories of hindsight!ĭespite its status when new, the TD 124 was but one of a number of superlative turntables mortally wounded by the Linn LP12, aka the Sondek. I used one for many years with an SME 3009 arm, and wish I still had it, so I am as guilty as any of dissing this gem. ![]() The barely-remembered TD 125 Mk II, though cherished when it was current, rarely figures in audiophile reminiscences, heated bar debates or lists of all-time greats. For some of us, it’s the Rodney Dangerfield of the Thorens family of turntables. ![]()
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