slaw -
You must absolutely hate many of the electronics manufacturers. Many put out products only to offer costly upgrades and improved products in a truncated product life-cycle. Frustrating. But technology along with R&D drive the improvements. Improve and keep up with or get ahead of the competition, or go out of business.
I have three VPI tables ranging from 20 to over 30 years old and they are still supported. I only use the youngest of the three.
I have said nothing negative about PE. I just asked about their business operating status and what was going to happen with warranty coverage on their products.
As far as the use of a variac, it seems to address what I consider the biggest issue with synchronous motors for belt drive tables. That nasty pulse noise that gets transmitted through the belts to the platter. Reducing the voltage to the motor after start-up decreases the magnitude of the pulses. On my table, that results in a lower noise floor, blacker background, improved soundstage, tighter imaging and cleaner presentation. Not subtle differences. Is this as good as a servo speed- controlled DC motor? I don't know.
I have found through experimentation that after a full voltage start, the platter speed remains audibly stable at voltages far below the VPI motor voltage default (IIRC, 87v). I run the table at around 70v without audible speed variation.
This is my opinion related to the operation of my current turntable, an original VPI Aries Extended. YMMV, your opinion may differ.
This will probably start the endless debate about platter speed. IMO, that should probably continue in one of the threads that already exist related to that topic.
