stereophile.com n August2019 75steropshil.soc.iagain appearing in showrooms and
at shows, none more than those sold
under the name Thales, designed by
engineer and former watchmaker Mi-
cha Huber and manufactured by Swiss
company HiFiction. At this writing,
there are no fewer than three Thales
tonearms—Michael Fremer wrote
about their top-of-the-line Statement
tonearm ($21,090) in the May 2019M
oney, that unreliable buyer of happiness, has at times proven ef-
fective at delivering good sound. It can buy other things, as well:
Audiophiles can swap cash for products that function as objets d’art,
as status symbols, or even as canny investments.
But—do you think money can buy peace of mind for the audio enthusiast who
frets over binding voice-coils, leaking capacitors, drifting resistor values, oxidiz-
ing connectors, aging or incorrectly biased tubes, and that most pernicious worry
of all, distortion and premature record wear from incorrectly aligned phono
cartridges? Sadly, most of those neuroses, some quite reasonable, remain unad-
dressed by cash almighty.Early attempts at solving that last
one had promise but failed to deliver.
That’s been especially true of straight-
line tracking tonearms, which look
good in theory but often wind up
torqueing the phono-cartridge canti-
lever to an extent that compromises
the newfound tangency and stresses
the poor thing’s suspension—one step
forward toward peace of mind, two
steps back toward audiophile angst. A
different path was taken by proponents
of the pivoting tangential-tracking tone-
arm, as originated with the Garrard
Zero 100 record player of the 1970s,
but that example was compromised
by less-than-perfectionist levels of
engineering and build quality, not to
mention a mindset that disregarded the
deleterious effects of resonances and
microrattling.
Pivoting tangential-trackers are onceART DUDLEY
HiFiction Thales TTT-Slim II/
Simplicity II
TURNTABLE/TONEARM
DESCRIPTION
TTT-Slim II belt-drive solid-
plinth turntable with battery-
powered DC motor. Speeds:
33.3 and 45rpm. Wow &
flutter at 33.3rpm: +/-0.06%
(IEC 386). Rumble: –60dB
(unweighted).
Dimensions 16.6" (423mm)
by 12" (305mm) by 3.9"
(100mm) (WxDxH).
Weight: 26.4lb (12kg)Finish Anodized anthracite
gray.
Serial number of unit
reviewed 266.
Price $6750.
DESCRIPTION
Simplicity II Pivoting linear-
tacking tonearm. Spindle-
to-pivot distance: 230mm.
Effective length: 229mm.
Effective mass: 19gm.
Cartridge weight range:7–23gm. Downforce: static.
Antiskating: none. Tracking
error: <0.006 degrees.
Finishes Anodized gray,
bronze, or black.
Serial numbers of units
reviewed 466 and 485.
Price $9450. Approximate
number of dealers 5.
Warranty 5 years, parts and
labor.
Manufacturer HiFiction AG,Staffelistrasse 6, CH-8409
Winterthur, Switzerland.
Tel: 41 52 202 43 12.
Web: tonarm.ch.
US distributor:
Wynn Audio, Unit 31,
20 Wertheim Court,
Richmond Hill, Ontario
L4B 3A8, Canada.
Tel: (212)826-1111.
Web: wynnaudio.com.SPECIFICATIONS