Thales is pleased to announce the launch of the Thales Elegance, a new turntable replacing the TTT-Compact after being in the market for more than ten years. The Thales Elegance features a unique and innovative drive system with horizontal motor axis. The drive was developed based on the principle of an «endlessly free spinning platter» to meet the characteristics of human perception as close as possible.
Eddy current brake
Six strong neodymium magnets are embedded in the chassis, slowing down the rotation movement of the aluminium platter significantly by the eddy current effect. Such braking effect is many times higher than the dynamic tracking forces of the stylus, so their influence on the drive becomes negligible. In this arrangement, the belt is constantly tensioned in one direction, preventing the drive from shuttling back and forth.
Open control loop
Unlike conventional control loops, the motor speed is not constantly monitored and actively corrected at short intervals, but operated via a simple, high-precision current limiter. The average speed of the platter is determined once per revolution by an optical sensor. If the average speed is within a narrow tolerance, no correction at all will be applied. If a deviation occurs, the current value is corrected accordingly. This technology offers incredible good timing for all kind of music played on the new Thales turntable.
