The New Thorens Reference is the result of our effort for the perfect interpretation of musical recordings. The electrical signals in a record player are created by the mechanical vibrations of the needle in the cartridge as it moves along the grooves of a vinyl record. These vibrations are converted into sound. In exactly the same way, all other mechanical vibrations of the turntable are processed and give rise to distortions and other errors.
The sources of these vibrations can be diverse: people walking, the sound waves of music or the movement of the record player itself. Since it is not possible to distinguish between real music and parasitic disturbances, they should be avoided as much as possible. The Thorens design team around Helmut Thiele, who is responsible for the construction and design of the New Reference, has taken on this challenge.
With Thorens New References, for the first time in history a turntable is designed and optimized from the ground up along with a fully active vibration isolation system. Thorens partnered with internationally renowned German company Seismion for its class-leading active vibration isolators to create a turntable, which is designed around the vibration isolation system as an integral part of the system. Seismion took full advantage of its experience in active isolation systems used for the semiconductor industry, nanotechnology and scientific laboratories, to create anti-vibration isolation never before seen and experienced in turntables.
Active vibration isolation is based on piezoelectric acceleration. Motion sensors with extremely high sensitivity and electronic control circuitry to generate low noise and distortion-free control forces. This sophisticated mechatronics is based on so-called Sky-Hook-Damping, it isolates disturbances below 1 Hz and reduces them to less than 1% (-40 dB) at frequencies of 10 Hz and higher. Such performance is far superior to any other type of insulation, being about 17 times stronger insulated than with an air chamber. Shock absorbers or rubber mounts have much lower performance and are unmatched.
The overall system is designed so that the center of gravity is close to the isolation plane. In this way, the coupling of horizontal vibrations and tilting movements is considerably reduced, in addition, the chassis itself is made non-resonant due to its layered structure of highly damped materials. The result of vibration isolation is simply pure music like you've never experienced before. The effect goes far beyond the simple. In fact, even tiny vibrations in the nanometer to picometer range are still efficiently isolated due to the non-contact actuators.
The system also tracks music with high dynamics between quiet and noisy sequences extremely quickly, as active control forces stabilize the system and lead to an instantaneous establishment time of isolation. An adaptive leveling system, which keeps the turntable precisely leveled to within 20 micrometers completes the active isolation system.
The other fundamental part of every turntable is the drive unit. The ultimate goal is to make the perfect and constant rotation. This affects both the absolute speed and the speed modulations around the mean value also called wow and flutter.
The Thorens New Reference features a hand-crafted three-phase synchronous motor, which is driven by three linear power amplifiers with sinusoidal signals shifted by 120°. The motor torque is transmitted to the plate by means of a belt. The hydrodynamic bearing is optimized by using lubrication theory. In this context the Sommerfeld number is used, which describes the thickness of the lubrication film and the diameter of the bearing. This number is named after the German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld, who conducted several fundamental research in the field of hydrodynamics. A small Sommerfeld number means that the bearing is already centered at very low rotational speeds, which minimizes wear and ensures minimal off-center errors such as eccentricity and swirl. The hydrodynamic bearing is made and finished by hand in Germany.
Along with the innovative active damping technique, the belt-driven approach has several significant advantages. Unlike Direct Drive systems, the turntable platter is isolated from the drive motor due to the elastic belt, therefore the inertia of the platter is used efficiently and helps passively maintain a constant platter speed.
A common disadvantage of belt-driven systems is potential platter resonance, known as the wow or flutter effect. The rotational inertia of the plate is formed together with the elasticity of the belt creating an oscillatory system, this means that the rotation speed of the plate is no longer constant, but modulated with 4 Hz around the average speed. This effect is known as wow, and highly undesirable, especially because the human ear is quite sensitive to this frequency range.
The Thorens New Reference features an innovative and highly effective active cushioning system from Seismion. The in-depth knowledge and gained experience with sky-hook damping systems presented in the "Reactio" active vibration isolator is actively used in the damping system. The calculation of the platter rotation speed is based on two ultra-high-precision quartz oscillators with a long-term stability of max. 3 ppm for 20 years, allowing reliable safety cross-checking and speed control for the life of the new reference. In fact, it means that the absolute speed remains within a range of 33.3332 to 33.3334 rotations per minute for 20 years.
The signal from the high-precision rotation encoder, which is mounted on the platter-axis, is fed to the control electronics, which performs absolute speed damping of the platter. The effect could be compared to a highly viscous platter of bearings, which are commonly used in belt-driven turntables. However, the active damping system designed for the Thorens New Reference has several advantages compared to passive damping techniques performed by viscous plate bearings:
1. Active damping reduces resonance amplification at 4 Hz, and maintains the sharp roll-off at higher frequencies, while a highly viscous plate bearing has a negative effect at higher frequencies, as the graph does not drop as sharply and the inertia effect of the plate is not used in the best way.
2. The plate bearing can be designed to be as friction-free as possible, since damping is actively generated. As a result, this bearing only generates a minimal constant braking moment, in contrast to a viscous damped bearing.
3. Due to the low braking moment, the stresses on the motor and the belt are significantly lower. Therefore, all disturbances are minimized and the service life is also improved. Active damping does not create any constant braking torque, but only dynamic ones to eliminate modulation frequencies.
4. As a result, the absolute velocity damping system in the Thorens New Reference efficiently absorbs any frequency modulation at the highest possible level.
5. Finally, the active isolation system also contributes to better Wow and Flutter, since it stabilizes the entire subframe on which the platter is placed.
The Thorens New Reference can be equipped with up to 3 bases and can accommodate 9", 10" and 12" inch arms. In addition to the newly developed TP160 cut-out bearing, tonearm with a length of 12" inches and continuous silver wiring, it also The Thiele TA01 tonearm is used. The complex kinematics of the Thiele TA01 combine the precision and rigid guidance of a pivoting tonearm with the advantages of a tangential tonearm. The tonearm tube is double-walled and filled with a 2-component gel for optimal cushioning. The result of this design is a space unique in resolution, extreme detail and perfect tonality.
Characteristics:
- Absolute reference record player.
- Built to the highest quality standards.
- High precision belt drive motor.
- High-tech active anti-vibration system by the Seismion company.
- It incorporates two arms, the Thorens TP160 and the Thiele TA01.
- Does not include capsules.
- Available in three different finishes.
Price: Consult.
