) In 1883, the Thorens family business was first registered in
Sainte-Croix (Ste-Croix), Vaud, Switzerland by Hermann Thorens. An initial producer of
musical boxes and
clock movements (which they were still producing in the 1950s), as well as cigarette lighters, they started producing
Edison-type
phonographs in 1903. In 1928, they produced their first
electric (motor-drive) record player, and went on to produce a range of
audiophile record players in the 1950s and 1960s which are, even today, regarded as
high-end audio equipment, and are much sought-after, for example, the belt-driven and sub-chassis suspended TD 150 which was presented 1965. Its principle is also found in the
Linn Sondek LP12. Its successor TD 160 appeared in 1972 and was built nearly without discontinuity for 20 years. With the TD 320 Thorens presented in 1984 changed the springs of the sub-chassis to
laminated springs. Although Thorens embarked on a cost-reduction effort in 1997, the company became insolvent in 1999. A new Suisse Thorens Export Company AG took over the assets and continued trading. The owner of the rights to the name was Heinz Rohrer. From 1999 the less expensive TD 190/170, later the TD 190/170-1, without sub-chassis was offered, its design is similar to the more expensive Thorens-players. First in 2004 Thorens presented a mass drive player the TD 850. In 2012 Thorens got the EISA Award "best product 2011 / 2012" for the TD 309, a sub-chassis player with a three-point-suspension and a turntable made of glass. In May 2018 Gunter Kürten, who had been manager at
Denon and
Elac, became CEO and relocated operations to Germany. As of 2019, Thorens continues to produce well-regarded turntables for the playback of vinyl and 78 rpm
gramophone records. == Gallery of record players ==