Grand Prix Audio Monaco Turntable

So much talk about speed stability. Hi-Fi+ says the speed accuracy of the Monaco is better than .002%.

I'm posting something I posted in another thread. Below is my account on how you can achieve as much as .000083% accuracy with your own turntable.

Conversely, what if you manage to time the speed of the platter perfectly. I would think one should take into account the vinyl micro-slipping on the platter.

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I have the same album for vinyl and cd. The cd plays on my headphones. The vinyl plays on the speakers.

I play the vinyl a split second earlier than the cd then I slow down the platter down by dragging my fingers on the platter. I do this until both are synced. You know this when you have the headphones on and the speakers seems to disappear completly in the background. It's a zen-like experience in itself.

So both are synced right now. If the drums are still locked synced after one minute. You are more accurate than the KAB speed strobe.

The KAB has a .03% error rate. A .03% error rate between the CD and the vinyl has a slight "reverb" sound. It's very obvious.

---technical-----
My profession is in the visual effects industry for tv/film. I did a test on Adobe After Effects on how a .03% error would sound. I did this by slipping an audio track one frame ahead of it's duplicate. Video is 30 frames per second. 1 frame error is .03%. Now I know how 'bad' a .03% error sounds like and use that as a baseline.
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On my vinyl speed test. My vinyl was able to hold up to 6 mins. before it sounds like it has a .03% error, (or .03 seconds time shift between the cd and the vinyl)
6 mins = 360 secs.
.03 / 360 = .00008333

conclusion:
It takes several times to make the vinyl lock in with the cd before you can start timing how long it is synced. But after such, you can brag your turntable is accurate to ten thousandth of a second. :)

Would like to see how long you guys can keep both sources synced. Would make a great contest.

Very interesting, but speed accuracy to a reference is only part of the picture and much less relevant than speed stability, millisecond to millisecond.

Sure, if speed stability is in question then you should be able to hear one source run a bit behind,then eventually catch up again to achieve the .00008333% error after 6 mins. That should be something noticeable during the test but it didn't happen on mine. :)

I didn't get to add, ideally I'd like to have the turntable on the left side of the headphones and the cd player on the right side of the headphones but I don't have the right cables for such.

I would think that instability such as that caused by belt slippage would show up as momentary lagging on transients that would then not catch up. Instability caused by motor issues wouldn't show up at all in terms of noticieable echo, but would be much subtler involving tonal cleanliness especially in the high frequencies. This is what Michael Fremer was concerned might be happening with the Monaco.

If one has the time(because it is an extremely long article)the Peter Montcrieff article on his E-mag(IAR)has some thought provoking information,which gives creedence to the subject.Very long winded,but very good too!
Best.