Direct Drive vs. Idler Drive vs. Belt drive

alexberger, you are living in a dream world. After a point you are incapable of hearing speed variations. Any decent turntable of any type operates well below that point. What you do hear is noise particularly rumble which affects everything above it. Idler drives are a total loss when it come to rumble. Every last one that I have had in my system and heard elsewhere has failed miserably. With a properly equalized subwoofer system it is virtually impossible to use one. 
My arguments against direct drive are less fundamental, more ambiguous. Back when I was in a situation where I could compare turntables (I worked with Sound Components in Miami, FL back in the late 70's early 80's) we listened to several direct drive tables and in the end all of them sounded ....muddy in comparison to the best Belt drive tables. We hypothesized that it had something to do with an oscillating magnetic devise directly under the cartridge. They all had incredible specs. Nobody was using idler drives at the time. They had all been relegated to the trash bin of history.
You will notice that 90% of the best and most expensive turntables made are belt driven. You think that Techdas or Clearaudio couldn't build a direct or idler wheel drive if they wanted too? The reason they don't is because there are problems with those designs that can not be overcome and the only benefit is a level of speed accuracy you can not hear.
If you like vintage stuff that is fine but don't tell me it outperforms modern gear. That is just wishful thinking.  

Mijostyn,
Do not agree on your vintage design comparison. EMT R80 and Denon M100 outperforms most of the other modern gear. You need to keep them in a very stable and well serviced condition. 

E.

Hi @mijostyn ,

I had Nottingham Analogue Spacedeck and Lenco L78.
I used a heavy 20kg plywood plinth with Lenco and vintage SME 3009 mk2 tonearm.
With the same cartridge Lenco had:
Better bass, better separation better PRAT.
In term of dynamic and tone (on vocal, strings) both turntables sounded similar.
On piano and organ Lenco sounded much better.
The classical piano interpretations had logic and content on Lenco,
in contrast on Nottingham classical piano interpretations sound like unconnected set on notes.

My friends and I moved to DD EMT (950, 948) turntables and they don’t sound muddy at all.
The one important thing - don’t use EMT (950, 948) internal phonostage.

Regards,
Alex.

Mijostyn, have you had direct communication with techdas and clearaudio? I was wondering how you would know the basis for their marketing decisions. I don’t know about techdas but in my opinion clearaudio is a company that does not really make anything much. It seems they collaborate with other anonymous companies who make the products that are then marketed under the clearaudio name, in at least many cases.Before anyone attacks me, this is not to say that some of their products are not very good. I know that they have a large following. And in the current atmosphere, there are not too many companies outfitted to make direct drive turntables. Whereas as I have said before it is quite a simple matter to make a belt drive turntable and then market it under several different guises with increasingly elaborate bling  that can be priced at different levels from low to high.

Axelberger,
you need to have a look at real good belt designs, not a platter transported by just one small motor as the most are. You need to have two big motors to the left and right steered by a control unit where you may change the pitch slightly. If you have the chance listening to one or the other table comprising these features (also tape) you will open up your eyes ☺️
E.