Thorens TD 403 DD direct drive turntable

Thorens further expands its range of audiophile turntables and introduces a “modern” product adopting the elements of historical models, the TD 403 DD manual turntable. It compiles direct drive and heavy tonearm equipped with an SME headshell!

THORENS TD 403 DD: CHASSIS

The chassis is made of MDF and comes in a black high gloss or walnut high gloss finish. It’s covered with an aluminium plate on top recalling the design of the famous TD 160 or TD 166. This provides a vintage look while favouring rigidity and stability. It rests on four special damped feet that reduce resonances from the surface below.

THORENS TD 403 DD: DRIVE PRINCIPLE AND PLATTER

The Thorens TD 403 DD manual turntable does not feature a belt drive like lots of turntables. Thorens selected a direct drive system here, hence the DD standing for “Direct Drive”!

The 30 cm diameter and 22 mm thick platter is made of die-cast aluminium. Its 1.4 kg confer it excellent inertia.

It’s covered with a relatively hard rubber platter mat similar to early 80s models. There’s a lever on the left of the chassis to switch the playback speed between 33 rpm and 45 rpm.

THORENS TD 403 DD: TONEARM AND PHONO CARTRIDGE

The TD 403 DD turntable features a new aluminium TP 150 tonearm. This tonearm has a curve allowing it to receive a standard SME headshell. The tonearm has an effective mass of 14 g which will allow it to be associated with a large range of MM cartridges and of course low output MC cartridges. Thorens selected as standard a very high-quality MM cartridge, the Ortofon 2M Blue. The excellent quality of the SME headshell is worth mentioning.

The phono cable is not captive. This allows to change it eventually for a more efficient model.

THORENS TD 403 DD: TESTING AND LISTENING

Like all Thorens turntables, setting up and using this TD 403 DD is really easy.
The new TP 150 tonearm is also used on the new Thorens TD 1500 model, and is very similar to the TP 124 used on the high-end Thorens TD 124 DD turntable. The TD 403 DD’s main difference compared to the “vintage” model is the use of direct drive instead of a belt drive, and the absence of suspension.

The sound is dynamic and has a lot of rhythm! Overall balance is pretty soft and favours substance rather than over definition. The level remains however excellent, and there’s a clear transparency. Treble doesn’t show any aggressiveness and this part of the sound spectrum is very subtle. The Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge is of excellent quality, yet all these elements would naturally be enhanced with a low output MC cartridge since the tonearm has been designed for it.

Bass provides excellent rhythmic marking and a nice punch.

The Thorens TD 403 DD turntable is one of Thorens’ best turntables of the past ten years. It’s very versatile and easy to use while offering excellent musicality.

Would recommend