High quality AC turntable motor

The Townshend Merlin costs over £1200 UKP - and is essentially a mains sine wave re-generator. I contacted K&K - Kevins a nice guy BTW - his design, which is scheduled for next year, seems to follow the principle of the Rega P9 power supply that smooths out the power by angling the power into the motor to prevent the cogging. I am grateful for the feedback from the motor experimenters!

Whilst I understand that there is a school of thought about getting up to speed, and then simply maintaining it approach, I am beginning to be drawn down the high torque route. I am beginning to notice slight drag in very heavy and complicated passages on my current deck, which is why I wanted to use a higher torque option.

Just a thought, but have you tried a new belt and a good cleaning of the motor pulley and subplatter belt contact area? The stylus drag you are hearing sounds like compliance being introduced through belt slip or stretch.

If you can find one, I've found the Berger-Lahr motors to be considerably better than the Crouzet, Hurst or Saia, at least in terms of cogging. Unfortunately, the Airpax/Premotec motors are rather difficult to source however they offer the smoothest cogging characteristics out of any of them. Then again, I use a Mark Kelly Synchrotron controller, so I can null out most motors so that cogging vibration isn't too much of an issue.

Good luck and keep us posted.

I had a problem a while back with my Nott. seeming to drag some. I lifted off the motor pulley and discovered some hair wrapped around the motor shaft and wedged into the bushing. Removed it and everything was hunky-dory.

Lohanimal, a mains sign wave regenerator is what you need in the context of a controller for an AC synchronous motor. "Angling the power.." Sounds to me like another way of saying the same thing, hopefully. Perhaps the K K will be cheaper, but it ought to be much like the Merlin.

Hi Lewm - sorry for my lousy phrasse 'angling the power' I understand that with a 24 pole synchronous motor they can be made with 4 coils. If 2 opposing coils are driven, and then the other ones which sit at 90degrees to the driven ones are also driven then this ought to significantly reduce the ripple. PErhaps a fair analogy would be a two stroke to a four stroke engine. If it is the case that we have a higher torque motor, it's the magnets that help increase the torque, along with the commutator windings and thickness. As this increases, so does the clunking/cogging. That is why I want something that helps reduce this. A pure sine wave regenerator simply re-creates the 50 hz - it does not provide me with those 90 degree opposed waves to drive the other 2 coils. I hope that I make sense andd am barking up the right tree.