Show Reports

Welcome to Part 3 of my Capital Audiofest 2024 show report! Let’s jump right on into it.

THUONO
Among the new, first-time exhibitors at CAF 2024 was an Italian company called Thuono Audio, who introduced a new turntable in Room 861, the TH350. Tall and stately Grandinote Mach 8 XL loudspeakers ($30,400), along with line arrays, dominated the room’s presence (as you can get a sense of in the photo below), but that did not outshine the striking and very substantial-looking turntable with marble and shiny metals in the mix that turned out to be the TH350, which was recently released by Thuono.

Thuono Sales and Marketing Manager Eleonora Bonollo shared a few details about the TH350 table’s design — more specifically, about its form and function.

One unusual aspect of the Thuono TH350 that you’re likely to notice right away is the marble, which is a primary material for both the separate motor housing and the chassis. It’s obviously a sturdy material that lends itself to reducing vibration. The outboard motor is isolated inside a marble cylinder that contains damping material. Housed inside an aluminum cylinder, the “floating” magnetic suspension involves two opposing-force magnetic rings’ repellent forces between the upper and lower chassis. This approach avoids some mechanical noise and rumble that a cartridge might otherwise pick up.

“To improve dynamics, we use a flywheel for torque and inertia to stabilize the turntable’s mechanical parts,” Bonollo explained to me. The objective is to achieve more dynamic sound. The flywheel’s profile is designed to couple with a round belt. The platter is made of aluminum combined with “a plastic anti-resonance material,” Bonello noted. Thuono also offers a leather mat — Italian leather, natch! The table’s other materials include aluminum, brass, and bronze. Bonello added that they chose them in order to “have the best timbral balance possible.”

Thuono also designs and manufactures their own tonearms. The TH10 tonearm is a ball-bearing design coupled with an arm wand that’s titanium-reinforced with damping material inside, with carbon fiber covering the outside for rigidity and strength while minimizing unwanted vibrations. The brass counterweight is also reinforced with some damping material to help prevent resonances from coming back through the wires. Made to be versatile for use with various cartridges, the 9.5in TH10 arm that’s seen above was paired with a Lyra Kleos cartridge.

Also included with the Thuono TH350 table is an outboard speed controller with a blue light indicator: When the blue light stops flashing, it’s achieved the correct, accurate speed. An optional accessory is Thuono’s own screw-on bronze and aluminum record weight/clamp that was in use at the time I stopped by this room. (Incidentally, any/all Thuono SRPs and other product info can be requested via email at info@thuonoaudio.com.)

Kimber Kable supplied the system’s cables, which were Kimber Select (apart from Kimber Kable PK10 Palladian power cables), while a Grandinote Solo integrated amp ($20,000) with optional Grandinote Celio Pre-Phono phono preamp ($8,400) and Grandinote Volta DAC/streamer boards inside completed the demo setup.

I hit this room on Sunday but, due to another pressing appointment, ran out of time for a more adequate, detailed listen. Next time!

Part 4 coming soon!

Author bio: Julie Mullins, a lifelong music lover and audiophile by osmosis who grew up listening to her father’s hi-fi gear, is also a contributing editor and reviewer on our sister site, Stereophile, for whom she also writes the monthly Re-Tales column. A former fulltime staffer at Cincinnati’s long-running alt-weekly CityBeat, she hosts a weekly radio show on WAIF called On the Pulse.

For more of our CAF 2024 coverage, go to Part 1 of Julie’s show report here, Part 2 here, and also see Ken Micallef’s turntable video extravaganza here.