Since i am not an engineer, the complexities of plinth and motor sub-assemblies and suspensions are largely lost on me. But I do believe that the key of vinyl is looking upon the cantilever stylus-groove contact as being analogous to a tire of a car being under load and being steered in a rough rut in a road. Allowing that tire to follow and negotiate the rut with maximum contact with the rough area in the rut without careening side to side or bouncing out is the goal. Constant speed is next. Freedom from extraneous noise is next. Pretty simple stuff.
We hobbyists sweat over turntable design and set-up because it is there to be sweated over. By that, I refer to the fact that loudspeakers are the opposite of phono cartridges in terms of being transducers but all of the compromises and settings have been pre-set for us by the manufacturer-other than placement-so we don't think about them much. For every audiophile that has given up on vinyl as obsolete, I point to their choice of loudspeaker and say, "perfect sound forever, huh?". That is before we even start with their choice of filtering algorithm and the compromises implicit in them.
We hobbyists sweat over turntable design and set-up because it is there to be sweated over. By that, I refer to the fact that loudspeakers are the opposite of phono cartridges in terms of being transducers but all of the compromises and settings have been pre-set for us by the manufacturer-other than placement-so we don't think about them much. For every audiophile that has given up on vinyl as obsolete, I point to their choice of loudspeaker and say, "perfect sound forever, huh?". That is before we even start with their choice of filtering algorithm and the compromises implicit in them.