New Teres Direct Drive Motor Available as Option

One could do what I and others who were planning on spending this kind of money on a table did. Make a few arrangements with Chris, Thom, whoever else, get on a plane to Denver and listen to the products and talk face to face. Maybe that's not as good as getting the 'table in your own room but with the satisfaction guarantee I can't really see the down side.

And best of all you'll have a chance to meet some really great people!

Dgarretson,

Using a thread drive is a challenge, for just the reason you stated. I've tried it with Teres motors (which also have small diameter pulleys) and could not prevent audible slippage. A larger diameter pulley that provided more surface area would probably help.

The taller pulley and 1/2" tape most Teres/Galibier/Redpoint owners use works better. The height provides enough surface area to avoid slippage and dimensionally stable tape won't stretch and rebound. The only trick is getting the motor exactly level relative to the platter, else the tape crawls off the pulley. We also have to site the motor in a way that doesn't let belt tension pull it toward the table. Non-elastic belts just leave no room for error.

The Verus is an interesting concept. My one real worry is the elasticity in the O-ring that couples motor to platter. We have heard elasticity any time we've introduced it into the motor-platter-plinth relationship. I once tried very thin discs of rubber under the spike protectors beneath my motor's feet. No dice, the sound got notably softer. Thin, hard rubber discs beneath the three feet of this 80 lb. table had the same effect. Rubber belts? You know about them already. Motor, platter and plinth must act as one unit, as far as possible. As Chris reports, direct drive is best. The Verus may be next best. We'll know soon.

I'll leave comparisons of CB to Mrs. W to others braver than I. I've been raked over the coals by Mr. W without ever mentioning his wife, so I can only imagine how much worse that would make it! ;-)

Dan. I guess my response would be two fold.

First, I don't need to hop on a plane to meet good people. I happen to know many that stay within ten minutes drive from me.

Second, my manufacturer of choice allows me to evaluate the product of my choice in my own system, in my own sound room, in a matter weeks, two to be exact.

You sound like a nice chap, so please don't take this the wrong way. But I wish I had clients like you and competitors like Chris and Thom. I'd have 100% market share today.

Regards
Paul

I wonder what this motor would sound like on a Raven One (or AC)?

Would the platter be too heavy for it? I think my One platter is about 20 lbs.

The Raven motors are very high torque, and excellent though driven by a belt.

I'm really curious.

Doug,

While waiting for Verus I am considering adapting tape drive to the VPI TNT by machining new pulleys for motor & flywheel. In order to prevent tape crawl, would cutting 1/2" channels into the pulleys be desireable? What is the best material for a pulley (e.g. hardwood, brass, delrin)? I suppose you'd want something smooth but not slippery.

Currently to get traction I'm using three threads between flywheel & platter, and the stock round rubber belt between outboard motor & flywheel. This probably offers most of benefits of an all thread-drive system. By using threads to tightly couple the inertial masses of the flywheel & platter, the system is more stable & the motor has less work to do in dealing with the drag of the stylus. A rubber belt between motor and flywheel may actually help smooth out AC cogging & the flywheel should act as barrier to the rubber belt's torquing effects. In any case, the result is a much livelier, focused sound than you'd expect from a TNT. The only thing I don't like about it is the occasional pinging of the thread knots as they circulate through the grooves of the pulley on the flywheel.

With rim drive applied, do you think the ideal platter should be light or heavy? If heavy, it would be an interesting experiment to retain the flywheel and relocate it outboard of the Verus motor. The flywheel could be driven by a long tape loop from the platter. This would have the added benefit of snugging up the platter against the Verus motor capstan & centering the platter bearing. Centering the bearing was the purpose of the old TNT three-pulley system, which I needed to remove to enable thread drive around the platter.