Проигрыватели виниловых дисков — Thuono TH300

Of the three belt-driven turntables, the TH300 is the smallest model in the TH series by Thuono Audio, a company in Thiene, in the Italian province of Vicenza, that designs and builds its decks by hand. Like its siblings it is named after the diameter of its platter. The list price is EUR 22,000 including VAT, and a Thuono tonearm is part of that price.

Key specs that matter

The platter is 300 mm across and 50 mm tall. Drive is by belt with a flywheel of 120 mm diameter, and the deck plays at 33.33 and 45 rpm. The whole chassis is cut from Nero Marquinia marble, a black stone, and it rests on three magnetic suspensions. Outer dimensions are 633 mm wide, 425 mm deep and 295 mm high, and the complete unit weighs 33 kg.

Engineering and use context

Unlike the TH350 and TH400, the TH300 turns its platter on an inverted pivot fixed to the base. The aluminium platter carries a damping, antistatic upper disc of plastic, and a polished shaft runs in lubricated bushings to keep friction noise and bushing wear down, with a hardened steel ball carrying the load at a carefully placed contact point. A leather mat comes in the box for use on top of the platter. Each magnetic suspension uses two magnetic rings facing each other in opposition, and the upper ring is linked to a shaft guided by a self-lubricating, low-friction bushing that Thuono says needs no maintenance for its life. Oversized decoupling discs under the chassis cut vibration further. The DC motor sits in a flexible rubber mount, and motor and flywheel stand together on a solid marble cylinder. The flywheel adds rotational inertia and absorbs vibration from the motor, while a rotation-speed encoder feeds a microprocessor with a Hall effect sensor that corrects the speed continuously.

Pairing

The tonearm supplied with the deck comes from Thuono's own range, which is made in 12, 10 and 9.5 inch lengths with carbon fibre and titanium tubes and ceramic ball bearings. Also included is the Thuono clamp, which screws down onto the record and is built from bronze and aluminium with a damping layer and a disc at its base that uses electromagnetic interaction to reduce static charge on vinyl. Thuono further lists the Magic Wood moving-coil cartridge, made with Sublima Audio Research, and its own phono and power cables.

Alternatives

The Thuono TH350 moves up to a 350 mm platter, a 140 mm flywheel and a marble and aluminium double chassis weighing 45 kg.