Проигрыватели виниловых дисков — Thales Elegance

The Elegance is a belt-drive turntable from Thales, the Swiss analogue brand of HiFiction AG that earned its name with tonearms. It was presented in September 2025 as the replacement for the TTT-Compact, which Thales had sold for more than a decade, and Thales presents it as a deck matched to all of its own tonearms. In the United States the deck alone lists at USD 18,000, and a package with the Simplicity II tonearm at USD 28,800, both without a cartridge. The Thales range currently holds two turntables, the Elegance and the Reference, plus the Silencer record clamp.

Key specs that matter

The platter runs at 33 1/3 and 45 rpm. Wow and flutter is 0.06% (IEC 386 weighted), and rumble is -80 dB weighted to IEC 98 and -60 dB unweighted. The chassis measures 435 x 320 x 120 mm and weighs 17 kg. An internal battery pack with a peak capacity of 100 W provides 16 hours of listening away from the mains, and the charger accepts 100 to 240 V AC at 50 or 60 Hz. The armboard takes tonearms with a mounting distance of 230 mm.

Engineering and use context

Thales built the Elegance from 135 parts and aimed at two problems that come from the tracking process itself. The first is the eddy current brake. Six neodymium magnets set into the chassis act on the aluminium platter and apply a relatively high braking torque that rises with speed, which lets the motor control hold the platter steady when the stylus drags on a heavily modulated groove. The second is a motor whose axis lies horizontally, an arrangement chosen so that motor vibration has less effect on playback. Speed control works as an open loop. An optical sensor measures the average platter speed once per revolution, and no correction is applied while that average stays within a narrow tolerance - only a deviation triggers an adjustment. Running from the battery keeps the motor supply separate from the mains while playing. The deck stands on adjustable decoupled feet that keep vibration away from the arm.

Pairing

The obvious partners are Thales tonearms, and the Elegance Package combines the deck with the Simplicity II arm and a Special Edition Copper cartridge under a three-year warranty. Other arms fit if they suit the armboard mounting distance.

Alternatives

The Thales Reference uses a mechanical centrifugal governor, a quartz reference and automatic belt switching between speeds, and takes two tonearms.