Which Thorens turntable is your favorite? The idler-driven TD-124, a sixty-year-old design that can compete with today’s finest? The TD-125 for its superb mechanical design and its extraordinary reliability? The TD-160 for bringing this exquisite engineering to a model that almost anyone could afford? How about the Thorens TD-1601? I really like that one, but more on that in a minute. I’ve considered a TD-124 over the last few years, one of those amazing and meticulous restorations with a gorgeous heavy plinth made from exotic wood and a $5000 SME arm stuck on top. I once had dinner with a couple of audio engineers and I asked them about the TD-124. They told me to buy a TD-125 mk.II instead. “Get it to original specs, put a good arm and cartridge on it, and spend the rest of your life happy.” Dave Archambault of Vinyl Nirvana, one of the most famous restorers of vintage Thorens in the US, really loves the TD-125—he even builds a long-base version of the TD-125 to accommodate 12” arms. He calls that Thorens “The Master.” I’m sure I’d be happy with any of those vintage Thorens turntables. They’ve always been on my wish […]