THE THORENS GETS HI-TECHED
				BY JOE GORMAN
I have long loved our Thorens 320MKIII turntable and I still hold that it represents a great deal in the realm of ViFi. I have spun thousands of records on our machine and it  has always answered its call to duty.
Occasionally I get the opportunity to play with Regas or lesser European machines and they work quite well for their price and yes, when asked I say, "They sound good." But in the final analysis I inevitably look forward to hooking up the Thorens and letting the German technology contained within its cabinetry work its magic.
Consequently, I welcomed the news that Thorens had developed RDC Acrylic platters, headshells and bearings for upgrading a number of turntables including the 320MKIII.
I was most interested in the platter and the difference in sound that swapping in RDC Acrylic for the stock Ramak Alloy (looks like aluminum to me) would make. Several big name manufacturers at the cutting edge of turntable technology use acrylic in various parts on their rigs and yet, Linn, one of the most respected names in vinyl spinners, sticks to tried-and-true alloy. RDC Acrylic, makes perfect sense as a turntable component material in light of its sonically-dead properties. Rap your knuckles on an alloy platter sometime and you'll hear a bell-clear ring. In the microscopic world of record grooves does this ringing influence the sound? At the very least, one might reasonably make the argument that it could. Of course, the proof is in the proverbial pudding...
Looking over the Thorens RDC platter I'm struck by its construction. It is a heavy-duty, translucent marvel with six solid brass inserts and an RDC ribbon running serpentine pattern under the playable-portion-of-the-record area. It looks high tech without even moving.
Installation of the platter necessitates re-leveling as the RDC platter is lighter than the Ramak Alloy, and readjusting the tonearm, as it is taller than the stock piece. This is a relatively quick conversion, provided you have a good mini-level.
So how does she sound eh?
I am cautious when forming an opinion whilst auditioning an upgrade. Many is the time I've tweaked something or added an "upgrade" and fallen head-over-ass only to later strip the sucker off and go back to factory. Cars, guns, guitars, motorcycles, speakers, amps: I've upgraded and upgraded until I go so far away from what it was that drew me to it in the first place that I have to strip it all down to where I started. Slowly I learn from these experiences. 400 times and I'm beginning to learn. Anyway, I now force myself to be skeptical about upgrades.
After ensuring that everything was adjusted just right I began "the serious listening." It took nearly three, or perhaps four seconds to hear a huge difference. Believe me, I wanted to report something along the lines of a "slight difference, if the moon was in the proper phase." Alas the difference was readily apparent. Any fool could notice a difference. After spending three weeks changing the whole set-up, back and forth between the alloy and the RDC platter, I finally eliminated any and all doubt as to whether or not the difference was an improvement. It is most definitely an improvement. With the RDC platter I noticed increased separation between instruments and vocals on complex vocal arrangements (Tori Amos, "The Way Down," Boys For Pele). I can count the vocalists on many multi-vocal arrangements now as opposed to hearing a pleasing mash of vocals as presented by the metal platter. If I had to use a handful of words to describe what kinds of improvements I noticed, I'd have to say I noticed improvements in: clarity, individuality and decay. Notes fade with a more natural decay than before. Analysis of note decay is quite a hard thing to nail down for anyone but especially me. Fortunately, my buddy Paul Dezelski (Producer/Musician) dropped over as I was knee deep in the acrylic platter evaluation. He has a great ear and can form an opinion about a new link in the audio chain instantly that totally concurs with mine (unfortunately it can sometimes take me weeks to form my opinion).
He heard the improvement in decay and clarity instantly and we sat back spinning vinyl until the small hours of the morning. Digging out old vinyl favorites, we were struck with the new information the platter revealed. For instance on "Ten Years Gone" (Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti) we figured out the reason the bass and drums sounded so distant. Jimmy Page has at least 12 tracks all to himself in some sections of the song and Robert Plant is using up to four leaving little left for the rest of the band. Spinning Pearl Jam's Vitology, we could clearly hear every breath and vocal rip Eddie Vetter was producing on "Better Man." Eddie's breathing had a more natural air and presence than when listened to on the metal platter and we got more intonation info in a big way.
I can find nothing to pass along as a caveat. It's a great upgrade with no down side other than the price, which runs a spendy $425. Is it worth it? I don't know. The stock platter gets you 97% of the way there. As usual it's the last 3% that costs the most. You decide if it's worth it. All I can do is say you will hear a difference and a positive one at that.
ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT: Thorens TD320MKIII Ortofon X5MC cartridge Rotel RQ970BX phono stage Audio Research LS-7 preamp Audio Research VT-60 amp Klipsch Belle loudspeakers (with tweeter elliptical filter removed) Audio Quest Indigo speaker cable Audio Quest Turquoise interconnect
©1999 TRUEAUDIO/E.S.P. PRODUCTIO