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Thorens TD-280 Turntable

I completely forgot about posting this turntable on the blog.  I thought I did, but I guess I didn't.  However, it is sold so, this is primarily for information and posterity. 

Personally, I enjoy non-suspended belt drive turntables because they're less finicky to deal with, no need to adjust suspension and the need of a solid platform.  Granted, a solid platform is good for all turntable.  For some odd reason, could be laziness, I just tend to prefer non-suspended belt drive tables, and which is why I would like to get an Empire turntable to play with!

But, I digress.  I have numerous of Thorens turntables in my ownership, from the sought after TD-125MKII, to handful of TD-160s and TD-150s (I did love the look of the tone arm on the MKII), the popular Harman Hardon T165C and of course plenty of Japanese suspended belt drive turntables, and all were great but all of them weren't from me.  I've always stuck with my non-suspended direct drive turntables like my Micro Seiki and Sony.  I do have a Technics suspended direct drive but I generally keep that for the automatic return feature, haha.

However, this Thorens was a game changer for me.  I really loved how it sounded, I thought it was better than it's all so popular bigger brother the TD-160s but, it could be I didn't have it at optimum alignment and blah blah blah.  Oh well, but this TD-280 sounded great with the Shure M95ED.  Not to mention having the auto-lift at the end is pretty useful!

This table sounded so good that I even thought about adding it to my collection.  But, I determined to try out more belt drives, which I am right now and try to find an Empire turntable!

For specifications:
http://www.vinylengine.com/library/thorens/td280.shtml


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