Hi Win, If you are still out there, did you mean to imply that belt creep does not occur with string drive (or with the use of other materials that presumably do not "stretch")? I thought Mark Kelly's analysis suggested that belt creep in a conventional belt drive tt, (where the motor is stationed at some distance from the platter and there is no re-routing of the belt by use of a capstan), is inevitable. I take no position pro or con, but what now puts me off of belt drive turntables is this variable that is left to each individual user of a bd turntable with an outboard motor: each user is responsible for the tension in the belt, which can even change from day to day due to vibration, etc. And belt tension would seem to be a major determinant of speed stability (due to belt creep, slippage, etc). So we try to fix that by using a gigantic and massive platter. It requires too much fiddling for me.
I have a good friend who just acquired a very expensive belt drive and tonearm. He invited me over for a listen. He is using a record weight with a built in strobe, so as to allow constant monitoring of platter speed. The sound was excellent but the experience was maddening. Commanded by the drifting of the strobe light, my friend was up out of his seat adjusting the motor about every 2 minutes, in order to keep the damned strobe stable. Turned out he did have a problem with his 3-phase AC synchronous state of the art motor controller, but still...
