The resurgence of interest in vinyl has seen the emergence of some wacky LP-spinners, and thrown a welcome lifeline to a number of formerly endangered turntable manufacturers.

Thorens falls perfectly into this category, having had a near-death experience in 2000, but now finding itself in rude health.

The Swiss/German company has been making mechanical music devices since before the dawn of sound recording and, while there has been some diversification of late into audio electronics, turntables still feature prominently in the company's catalogue.

Indeed, the TD850 is just one model among eleven in the current line-up, with prices varying from a hundred to several thousand pounds.

All are once again available in the UK thanks, this time round, to UKD. Features and appearance vary quite widely across the range, with the 800 series models being pretty much the 'bare bones' players in most ways. They share basic construction, though this one is, at 21kg, the heaviest of the series and a substantial bit of machinery.

Most of that weight is accounted for by the thick plate of steel at the heart of the main chassis member. It is sandwiched between two pieces of MDF, which are bonded to it with elastic glue.

This is known as 'constrained layer damping' and is a remarkably effective way of reducing resonance. Thorens suggests that in this case resonance is completely banished, though to be pedantic we'd have to disagree as there's still a little in evidence if one taps the chassis with a knuckle.

There's quite a lot of resonance in the platter, too. It's a thick aluminium affair that weighs over 4kg, and the felt mat does little to damp it.

On the other hand its sheer weight will do a fair bit to minimise any speed variations. It's driven by a square section belt, which is not quite as good in principle as a high quality flat belt, but surely preferable to round section types which love to 'wander' up and down drive pulleys and surfaces.

The belt is, in turn, propelled by an AC motor mounted at the rear. As is near-invariable practice these days, the supply to that motor is not pure mains but a freshly generated sinewave produced in an outboard box.

This is powered by yet another box, which at least ensures hum fields can be kept remote. Speed selection is just a matter of flicking a switch to change the sinewave frequency, but we were slightly surprised to find that the reference source is not a crystal oscillator but an 'RC' circuit that is considerably less stable. On the other hand, it is trimmable should you choose to take the lid off the case.

Because turntables 'read' vibration in the stylus, they are unavoidably sensitive to vibrations in the structure - hence the fuss about resonance. So, isolation from the outside world is critical.

Thorens has addressed this by fitting polymer-damped spiked feet to the TD850: the weight is enough to make these leave a mark in a wooden shelf, but matching cups are also supplied.

With or without cups, though, the feet offer relatively little isolation and some kind of suspended isolating platform would seem to be an obvious upgrade for this particular model.

The arm fitted to our sample was a Thorens TP300, a badge-engineered version of the Rega RB300. This old favourite, certainly one of hi-fi's most famous products and an all-time reference for budget arms, is a straightforward and reliable design.