Direct Drive vs. Idler Drive vs. Belt drive

If the Brinkmann has a 20-lb platter, that would make it a heavyweight among direct-drive turntables.  Only the SP10 Mk3 and probably the SP10R platters would be similar in weight.  Therefore, the Brinkmann must have a relatively powerful motor, as well.  Since I know it is a coreless motor, that makes it even more appealing.  In my experience, I have come to favor slightly coreless motors (e.g., in my Kenwood L07D and my Victor TT101) vs iron core motors, even though on the other hand the SP10 Mk3 in my 80-lb plinth is the most neutral.  The Kenwood is wonderfully "musical" compared to any others.
On the notion of motor noise in direct drive, there is an ocean of ignorance.  If you hear noise, it is bearing noise, the turntable's bearing.  All turntables have such spindle bearings.  So you cannot attribute that sort of noise as a bugaboo of direct drive.  In essence, a DD motor cannot generate any noise except spindle bearing noise, because the moving parts (the rotor) make no physical contact with any stationary parts (the stator).  Moreover, the motor rotates at a snail's pace compared to the motor of a belt-drive, where the drive spindle is rotating at a much much faster rate.  DD motors CAN generate electrical noise, e.g., EMI.  They generally rely upon the platter and some shielding of the motor casing to prevent EMI from affecting the cartridge.  I do believe the SP10 Mk2, at least my two samples, generated some EMI which did affect playback, faintly.  The Denon DP80 is quieter which is why I've kept it over the Mk2.  And I really do not believe that the SP10R motor made an audible noise, unless it had been abused by hundreds of show-goers prior to being played with.  Which is possible.

Rock music will soar with direct drive.

@mikelavigne  Just FWIW, its not possible to build any sort of audio playback that favors a certain musical genre.

I must confess that I don’t really get this, as I don’t see how a mat can simultaneously be an effective and non-reflective absorber of energy and have the same hardness as the vinyl record.

If you are transferring vibration, to absorb that vibration at all frequencies the material to which the vibration is moving to has to be the same hardness as that which imparts it. In this way all the molecules move together. But at the same time, there is no material whatsoever that can receive vibration and not absorb some of it. This is easy enough to google, here's an example:
https://www.quora.com/What-is-best-known-material-that-can-transmit-vibrations-without-absorbing-vib...


So the trick to to create a platter pad that at its surface has the same durometer as vinyl, but internally is better prepared to absorb vibration- so this does not mean that the material is amorphous. Dissimilar materials are well-known to absorb vibration from each other (we use this principle to damp our preamp chassis, but of course any extensional damping compound is doing exactly that) so a platter pad composed in this manner would be quite effective.

At the risk of disagreeing with those who know more,
- agree with the late legend Tom Fletcher, who thought that powerful motors generated powerful vibration hence audible distortion;
- agree with the air bearing crowd who think that all conventional bearings cause vibration in the platter, which is audible;

If the motor has good bearings and the design of the 'table is correct, any vibration the motor has is quite minimal. To give you an idea of this, the motor in my mastering lathe makes 1/8hp but because the shafts which run between the motor and transmission have isomeric isolation, vibration from the motor is not picked up during the mastering process. The same thing can be done in playback; the motor for the Empire machines is isomerically mounted and simply makes no noise in playback; on top of that the Pabst motor used is notoriously silent despite its amazing amount of torque. Tom simply made too broad a generalization!

Air bearings of any sort provide a different problem! For a turntable to work properly **without coloration**, there must be no play between the platter and the plinth and the plinth must be completely dead while rigidly coupled to the base of the arm; in this way the arm and surface of the platter are only able to vibrate in exactly the same plane. The pickup is thus unable to interpret vibration as a coloration or noise of any sort. To this end of course there can be no play in the bearings of the arm and the arm tube must not be able to 'talk back' (resonant) to any vibration being picked up by the stylus; in essence the cartridge is held rigidly in locus. Air bearings of course violate this basic engineering principle. To understand this better, think about the steering of a car because its exactly the same mechanical engineering principle. The wheel has to stay on the road but has to be guided by the driver. If there is play in this scheme, the car will be dangerous to drive and quite scary. Imagine installing an air bearing in the linkage of the steering of a car!

All have their strengths. My thoughts are to pick the turntable you like.

When naming DD turntables with 20-lb platters and heavier, I neglected to include Mike's NVS and probably the Rockport Sirius, but I can no longer recall whether the Rockport was DD.  Also, any of Dobbins' variations on the SP10 Mk3 theme.  There may be others of course.

I'll try again, since I'd be very interested to find out about this.

@ atmasphere:

A good platter pad will simultaneously damp the platter and silence the vibration in the LP; this has to be done with a platter pad that has the same hardness (durometer) as the vinyl. In that way energy from the LP is absorbed and not reflected back the the LP.

I must confess that I don’t really get this, as I don’t see how a mat can simultaneously be an effective and non-reflective absorber of energy and have the same hardness as the vinyl record.

Is there some science available on this subject that I can read? If so, links would be much appreciated.