Thales VORO MC Cartridge

VORO At A Glance

• Moving-coil cartridge with unique ceramic transducer and double-layer iron core
• Skeletonized ceramic body modelled on the Voronoi diagram
• Three coil-material variants: Standard Copper, Silver, Gold
• Output: 0.7 mV (Copper), 0.3 mV (Silver), 0.4 mV (Gold) at 5 cm/s
• Impedance: 12 Ω (Copper), 4 Ω (Silver), 8 Ω (Gold)
• Weight 10.2 g across all variants
• Stylus: Gyger S (Swiss-made), all variants
• Tracking force 1.9–2.1 g; compliance 12 µm/mN
• Frequency range 20 Hz – 30 kHz
• iF Design Award 2025
• Designed and manufactured by Thales in Winterthur, Switzerland

The VORO is the cartridge Thales built when the engineering brief was to combine the ceramic-transducer thinking that defines the Xquisite family with a structural philosophy borrowed directly from the natural world. The generator is covered by a skeletonized ceramic sculpture whose lattice pattern is a Voronoi diagram — the mathematical structure first described by Georgy Voronoy and observed throughout biology in the cellular geometry of leaves, dragonfly wings, and the surface of bone. The result is the highest rigidity-to-mass ratio Thales has achieved in a cartridge body, combined with minimal sensitivity to airborne noise. The VORO was honoured with the iF Design Award in 2025.

Ceramic transducer, double-layer iron core. The VORO uses the in-house ceramic transducer technology that defines the Thales cartridge program, paired with a double-layer iron core. The combination enables distortion-free conversion of the music signal with the dynamic performance the high-resolution analog system is built to recover. High output efficiency makes the VORO comfortable with the full range of moving-coil phono stages in production.

Voronoi geometry, in service of resonance behaviour. A cartridge body's job is to provide the generator with a rigid, quiet reference against which to work. Conventional cartridge bodies achieve rigidity through mass; the consequence is mechanical resonance the generator hears as colouration. The Voronoi pattern allows Thales to remove material from the body without losing structural rigidity — a skeletonized ceramic lattice that resists deformation more effectively than a solid body of the same volume, while damping airborne and structural noise more effectively than a heavier alternative. The pattern is not a stylistic choice. It is the most efficient way to organize the material the body actually needs.

Three coil options. The Standard Copper VORO delivers 0.7 mV at 12 Ω and is the most broadly compatible with moving-coil phono stages in production. The Silver variant is engineered for phono stages with current-mode input — 0.3 mV at 4 Ω, optimized for the lowest-impedance step-up topologies. The Gold variant is the low-output option recommended for high-quality solid-state phono stages including the Thales Magnifier — 0.4 mV at 8 Ω.

Common across the family. Every VORO is built on the same chassis platform — 10.2 g body weight, a Swiss-made Gyger S stylus, tracking force in the 1.9–2.1 g window, compliance of 12 µm/mN, frequency response from 20 Hz to 30 kHz.

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