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Speaking of which, what separates CD from analog is just that – the soundstage. With vinyl, almost any vinyl rig, you have an actual nearly three-dimensional soundstage. CD sounds flat and one-dimensional by comparison. Record after record, the TD550 brought the individual soundstage of each recording into my living room. The large church acoustics of Columbia's legendary 30th Street Studio in New York are heard to wonderful effect on Tony Bennett's Who Can I Turn To [Columbia mono CL 2285]. The warmth-inducing wooden arched ceiling at 30th Street gave everything from Dylan's early records to Mitch Miller dross to Miles Davis' Kind of Blue an intimacy that is practically unparalleled. Classical recordings in particularly were alive with the 550 and every bad recording as well. The 550 is largely forgiving of poor recordings but if a recording was really lousy (though not necessarily the performance) as with Mahler's Symphony No. 1 performed by Dimitri Mitropoulous/Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra [Columbia Masterworks ml 4251 blue label], the 550 let it be known. By contrast, if a recording featured a well-recorded orchestra in a large hall, the 550 revealed the actual placement of the musicians front of orchestra to back. So let me sing the TD550's praises LP by LP.

The Beatles White Album [Apple British reissue, circa mid 90s] - I know this album like I know my credit history. On the Thorens, it sounded incredibly rich, a little woozy and flagrantly warm-hearted and fuzzy. The Beatles were still bouncing down tracks in '68 but the sound is so rich, with little details regularly popping out of the mix, odd sounds that just can't be defined. As with every record I played, this was fast, fast, fast and thoroughly entrancing. It was impossible to focus on individual parts of the frequency range, it was all too musical, too interesting to splice and dice like some fool audiophile. Okay, Music Lovers, don't beware. But do listen to "Revolution #9"!
Count Basie Chairman of the Board [Roulette R 52032] - I love this record for its classy Basie tunes and the full-bore dynamics as only his big band could play them. Chairman of the Board is a study in pianissimo to triple forte dynamics and often played faster than you can keep up with. But always soooo musical. From full brass shouts to the Count's tickling ivories, it's a blast. This is an original Roulette and the noise floor is nonexistent, which allowed me to hear deep into the recording. Sonny Payne's drums are like bombs here and the orchestra just keeps slamming. The Thorens released notes with a flame thrower's skill, stopping on a dime every time. There are countless dynamic shifts here all perfectly illuminated by the Thorens. As with a few other records, I could see the musicians and their placement in the studio, and I could also note the hall ambience, a characteristic the Thorens typically revealed. It's all about PRaT!
Miles Davis' Kind of Blue 50th Anniversary reissue box [Sony/Legacy] is a classic. Jimmy Cobb's ride cymbal is as present as anything else on this warm recording, the cymbal spreading from right to left on "Freddie Freeloader" with subtle beauty. Though Paul Chamber's acoustic bass often sounds amorphous on Kind of Blue, the Thorens delivered it with minimal overhang of notes - damn fast. Mastered from the 1992 tape mix by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, this Kind of Blue is a must have for any fan of this, the best-selling jazz record of all time.


MCoy Tyner The Dedication Series/Vol. VI The Early Trios [MCA Impulse! 1978] - Best known as John Coltrane's pianist, McCoy Tyner was a wonderful classic jazz pianist before he joined the tenor saxophonist's revolutionary quartet. His version of "When Sunny Gets Blue" is pure urbane joy here, Tyner running the keyboard's 88s with utter freedom, placing you in some New York cocktail bar circa 1960. This is a pure recording, from the fat, boomy bass notes to Elvin Jones' flowing brushwork. The bass sounded exceptionally knotty here.


De Falla Nights in the Gardens of Spain Dimitri Mitripoulos Philharmonic-Symphony of New York [Columbia Masterworks ML 5172 3-Eye gray label] - An exceptional Columbia Masterworks recording, the De Falla disc reveals every instrument of the orchestra in its rightful position on stage. I hate it when classical recordings are all hall and no musician detail. I dump it pronto. This LP perfectly balances hall ambience with an amazingly clear representation of the orchestra. Intense dynamic shifts, a real sense of the live performance and glistening sonics were all present via the Thorens.


Dvorak Symphony No. 7 Zubin Metha Israel Philharmonic [London Stereo CS 6607] A friend tells me to avoid anything with Zubin Mehta, but heck, this is a wonderful recording of a great performance. A giant hall sound but instantly gripping with powerful bass notes, this is an extremely present and full sounding LP, with a sense of placement than some classical records I own but such a lush sound. And when the forte dynamics kick in, my floor literally shakes!

Fleet Foxes [Sub Pop SP 777] - this gets my vote for best new band of the year. Playing a kind of Elizabethan folk influenced by the vocal arrangements of The Beach Boy's Pet Sounds, Fleet Foxes features rich choral voices, Irish hand drumming and electric and acoustic guitars. Slightly eerie, Fleet Foxes re-imagines Nick Drake by way of some scotch-inhaling bog bar band from the 1800s. The recording has what may be unnatural reverb on the vocals but its modern translation of church hall ambience was pure shimmer. The Thorens relayed its modern recording techniques for all their digital closed-in glory but reveled in the group's traditional folk sheen.
EMT to Kuzma
Changing out the EMT cart to my trusty Kuzma table provided mixed results. About 70% of the dynamic range as perceived through the Thorens remained as did a goodly amount of the texture, warmth and superb aliveness of the EMT/Thorens combo. But ultimately, the Kuzma's basic slowness (it drags compared to the Thorens' air-filled flow), slightly fuzzy sound and lack of refinement deprived the EMT of its best performance. The EMT exacted excellent detail and a healthy percentage of the soundstage from the Kuzma as compared to the Thorens. But there was no denying that the Kuzma couldn't keep pace with the Thorens and ultimately failed to reveal the EMT's trademark depth. Yet the cart's jump, speed and glorious tone remained.
The Final Answer?
The Thorens TD550 is a stellar piece of LP playback machinery. Though its lack of setup diagrams was frustrating, its sound was typically glorious. Transparent to the source, highly resolving with powerful bass notes (when on the recording), the TD550 table was also very illustrative of the entire musical picture the respective LPs presented. Every LP was a different experience, with its local color, effects, hall or studio ambience and tonality its own.


The Thorens' exceptional retrieval of the dynamic range is its greatest defining trait. Over and over again, I was drawn into recordings as the Thorens reproduced the infinitesimal shifts in volume and dynamic range that only great turntables can muster but which define the live performance. In this regard, each new record placed on the platter was a moment of revelation.

The TD550 looks and feels like the super expensive player it is. Extremely heavy, its gorgeous finish matched its elegant sound. The TD550 table must be placed on a serious rack or wall mount platform to avoid footfall (I tiptoed for the table's duration in my place), but once set up, it performed flawlessly, getting up to speed quickly and its heavy platter allowing sure tracking. The heavy-duty dust cover worked well in theory but I preferred to keep it unattached during playback. The TD550 arrived well packed and double boxed.

If I had this kind of cash to spill on a table, the Thorens TD550 would be at the top of my audition list. Heck, I would just buy it without a thought. The TD550 gave me a new view into old recordings and proved for me once and for all that until they reinvent 1s and 0s, there is no contest between an analog rig of this caliber and any CD player. The Thorens TD550 is a sublime music reproducing system of the first order. And thus, it receives my second ever Blue Moon Award:
Quality of packing: Solid, double boxed.
Reusability of packing: Appears to be reusable several times.
Quality of owner's manual: Decent, well written instructions with surprising lack of setup diagrams or photos.
Condition of component received: Flawless.
Completeness of delivery: Perfect.
Website comments: Some information, manual download available.
Human interactions: Professional, extremely helpful, quick reply to emails.
Pricing: Seriously expensive, seriously worth it.
Thorens website
US Distributor's website
Ortofon website
EMT information