Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

Other crucial differences include the TD 1500's superior, electronically-controlled motor, providing automatic speed change. On the original TD 150, rotating the switch-on knob on the left also activated a lever assembly which mechanically shifted the belt on the pulley. Crude but effective, it's been employed by many manufacturers, but the slick speed change of the TD 1500 adds to the sense of value. Also offering improvement is a new mat more in keeping with modern practice, and giving better support than the TD 150's ribbed LP support. In every respect, this deck operates on a whole different level as far as ergonomics and feel are concerned – hardly a revelation given the near 60-year gap!

Back To The Future
Before settling in with the Bronze, I tried three other cartridges to isolate the TD 1500's own sound. It's been developed to deliver a performance just on the right side of 'classic analogue', warm and velvety enough to remind old timers of the 1960s, but snappy enough to satisfy newcomers to vinyl who were weaned on digital sources and expect a crisper approach.

Starting with Willy Deville & Mink Deville Collected [Universal/Music On Vinyl MOVLP1371], I wanted to explore both bass quality and rhythm, especially as I had been using exclusively suspension-less, and typically very heavyweight, turntables for the past few years. The flow of the bottom octaves on the rich Mink Deville tracks, especially the slithery 'Spanish Stroll', showed a command I can only describe as 'ample' in both its mass and extension. There was nothing light or feathery about the sound, which depends on confident bottom octave authority to deliver its message.

It was consistent through the tracks regardless of tempo, a highlight coming with the fiery 'Soul Twist'. Here was punch and power of the sort I expect of decks with massive platters and dreadnaught chassis. The Ortofon 2M Bronze certainly helped, out-tracking its lesser siblings, but it was the detour into the Verismo's turf that proved even more of a testimony to the TD 1500's abilities. The reborn Thorens has attack that allowed me to hear nearly all that the Verismo offered, and ensuring I could recognise the diamond cantilever's augmenting of transient speed and control.

Classics Remembered
Better still, though, was the midband lushness, just right for handling the texture of Deville's voice. This is an instrument to rank with Lou Rawls' growl, Deville's voice similar in many areas but rendered distinctive through a hint of nasality. By the time I got to the airy openness of 'Assassin Of Love' and a perfectly Latin-beat reinterpretation of Jay & the Americans' 'Come A Little Bit Closer', I realised that the TD 1500 would join other reborn classics which didn't betray their ancestors, including the back-from-the-dead JBL L100 [HFN May '19], Klipsch's evergreen Heresy [HFN Nov '20] and the immortal McIntosh MC275 tube amp [HFN Feb '13].

For something sultry, I cued up The Delfonics' soul classic, 'Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time' on the Jackie Brown soundtrack [A Band Apart/Maverick 603497843527]. Here the test would be the blending of harmonies, without blurring the voices into a single, indistinct mass. The detail was near-clinical, yet the warmth remained. The same applied to the Philly Soul masterpieces on The Best Of The O'Jays [Philadelphia International/Legacy 19439860561], but a shocker came in the form of the majestic 'Give The People What They Want'.

Clarity And Command
As anthems go, this one is mighty persuasive. The TD 1500 turntable package reproduced this arch funk masterpiece with power, fluidity and an almost overwhelming sensation of sheer weight. Cohesive, coherent – the command of this £2k package is undeniable. Furthermore, and without a hint of irony, it was a mono LP which sealed the pact.

Buck Owens' eponymous debut from 1961 [Sundazed LP5597] is a mono 60th anniversary reissue that has no right to sound as good as it does. It's trebly, twangy, Bakersfield country and western meant to be heard through a radio in a pick-up truck. Via the TD 1500, it acquired a clarity and an abundance of detail such that I forgot it was mono, and thought only of how much it sounded like open-reel tape. Dead centre. Stable. Transparent. Yup, the Thorens TD 1500 is that good.

Hi-Fi News Verdict
Three years ago, when Thorens hinted at bringing back the TD 150, I couldn't imagine what would be needed to yank it into the 2020s. Aside from being offered sans arm, the TD 1500 nails it. The build, looks and price are irresistible, but it's the sound quality that will delight those seeking an amalgam of vintage and modern. So, Thorens, how about a revived TD 125, the Prestige, and Reference Jubilee?