Thorens - TD 1500 Sub-Chassis Turntable with 2M Bronze Cartridge

A sprung sub-chassis on three conical springs, a DC motor watched by an incremental encoder, balanced XLR output as well as RCA, and an Ortofon 2M Bronze fitted at the factory.

The suspended sub-chassis is the idea Thorens is most associated with, and the TD 1500 is the least expensive current turntable that still does it properly. The platter and the tonearm board sit together on a resonance-damped Alucobond sub-chassis carried by three conical springs, isolated from the motor and the plinth beneath. A damping element works alongside the springs in the way a shock absorber works alongside a car spring — without it a spring simply stores energy and gives it back. The springs are adjustable from above, so levelling the suspension does not mean turning the deck over.

The motor is DC rather than AC synchronous, and its speed is monitored electronically by an incremental encoder: the deck measures what the platter is actually doing and corrects any deviation rather than assuming the motor is behaving. Published wow and flutter is 0.08%.

The output arrangement is unusual at this price. There is a balanced XLR pair alongside the conventional RCA pair. A cartridge is a floating differential source by nature, so a balanced connection into a balanced phono stage — Thorens’ own MC 1600, for instance — rejects common-mode noise that a single-ended connection simply passes along. One important warning from Thorens’ manual: do not use both output pairs at once. They are separate signal paths and running them in parallel may damage the equipment.

The arm is the Thorens TP 150, a nine-inch static-balance J-shape with 232.8mm effective length, adjustable VTA and azimuth, and anti-skate by a weight on a nylon thread running over a ruby bearing. An Ortofon 2M Bronze is fitted and aligned at the factory — that is Thorens’ own standard fitment, not something we added.

This is a purely manual turntable. Thorens’ manual says so plainly: no automatic functions and no end-of-side limit stop. The arm stays in the run-out groove until you lift it.

Features

• Suspended sub-chassis on three conical springs with a damping element, adjustable from above
• Resonance-damped Alucobond sub-chassis isolating platter and tonearm from motor and plinth
• DC motor with incremental encoder feedback correcting speed deviation electronically
• Balanced XLR output as well as unbalanced RCA
• Thorens TP 150 nine-inch static-balance tonearm with adjustable VTA and azimuth
• Ortofon 2M Bronze moving-magnet cartridge fitted and aligned at the factory
• Anti-skate by weight on a nylon thread over a ruby bearing
• Hinged dust cover

Specifications

• Type: Belt-driven manual turntable with a suspended sub-chassis
• Drive: Belt drive with a polished precision belt
• Motor: DC motor, electronically controlled. Speed is monitored by an incremental encoder and deviations are corrected automatically
• Sub-chassis: Resonance-damped Alucobond sub-chassis on three conical springs, isolating the platter and tonearm board from the motor and plinth. A damping element works with the springs. Springs are adjustable from above
• Platter: Die-cast aluminium, 300mm (12″), 22mm thick. Thorens publishes the weight as 1.4kg — we will say plainly that this looks low for a solid aluminium disc of those dimensions, and may be a sub-platter figure or a publishing error. We are not going to correct a manufacturer’s number for them, but you should know it looks odd
• Speeds: 33 1/3 and 45rpm. No 78rpm capability is published for this model
• Wow and flutter: 0.08%. Thorens’ manual cites this as “DIN / WRMS” — two different measurement conventions given together as if interchangeable. That is how Thorens states it
• Rumble / signal-to-noise: Not published
• Tonearm: Thorens TP 150, static balance, J-shaped, nine-inch
• Effective tonearm length: 232.8mm
• Overhang: 17.8mm
• Offset angle: Not published for this arm
• Effective tonearm mass: 15g in Thorens’ owner’s manual; 14g on their current product page. Their own two documents disagree
• Maximum cartridge weight: 30g
• VTA and azimuth: VTA adjustable via a ring and set screw. Azimuth adjustable by rotating the arm tube at the centre screw
• Anti-skate: Counterweight guided on a nylon thread over a ruby bearing
• Headshell: 13.5g including screws, nut and cable
• Cartridge fitted: Ortofon 2M Bronze moving-magnet, pre-installed and adjusted at the factory. This is Thorens’ own standard fitment
• Cartridge specification: Nude Fine Line diamond stylus; frequency response 20Hz–29kHz; channel separation greater than 26dB at 1kHz; channel balance 1dB at 1kHz; tracking angle 20°; recommended load 47kΩ; output 5.5mV at 1kHz, 3.54cm/sec; tracking force 1.5g ±0.2g; weight 7.2g
• Outputs: Balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA. Thorens’ manual warns that parallel operation of the two output pairs is not intended and may damage equipment — use one or the other, not both
• Automatic functions: None. Thorens describes this as a purely manual record player with no automatic functions and no limit stop
• Dust cover: Hinged dust cover included
• Dimensions: Thorens publishes two sets that do not reconcile: 440 x 370 x 180 mm (W x D x H) in the manual, and 420 x 141 x 360 mm (W x H x L) on the product page. We are reporting both
• Weight: 7.9kg per the product page. The manual does not state a weight
• Power supply: External plug-in supply, AC 100–240V 50/60Hz input, 12V DC output, 6W consumption
• Country of manufacture: Not published. Thorens prints no country-of-manufacture statement on this product’s page, datasheet or manual — only the company address in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, which is a registered office and not a factory. Trade press has reported Taiwanese manufacturing involvement across parts of the Thorens range; that is third-party reporting, not a Thorens statement, and we are not going to present it as one.