Thales Elegance – an Innovative Turntable

Thales has released the Thales Elegance turntable, replacing the well-known TTT-Compact. The new turntable features an innovative platter drive system with a horizontal motor axis. The drive is designed based on the "endlessly free spinning platter" principle.

This system was chosen deliberately – an eddy current brake delivers a high, speed-dependent braking torque directly to the platter. This ensures precise control of the drive motor using a simple current limiter. Furthermore, the horizontal motor axis eliminates vibrations transmitted to the platter.

The Thales Elegance chassis is equipped with six powerful neodymium magnets, which, through the effect of eddy currents, significantly slow the rotational motion of the aluminum platter. This braking effect is many times greater than the dynamic tracking forces of the stylus, making their effect on the drive negligible. In this configuration, the belt is constantly tensioned in one direction, which compensates for uneven rotation.

Unlike traditional control circuits, the motor speed in the Thales Elegance turntable is not continuously monitored or adjusted at short intervals. The average disc speed is determined once per rotation using an optical sensor. If the average speed is within a narrow tolerance, no correction is applied. If a deviation occurs, the current is adjusted. Of course, the company's beloved battery power is also included - the device now runs for 16 hours on a single charge.