Dear friends: I'm really surprised on almost all your answers on the overall subject.
Why surprised?, if there is true that some of us has no perfect pitch and can't detect " minute/tiny " speed deviations it is true too that other persons are way better in this regard and very sensitive about.
But, why that " no perfect pitch " or " I can't hear that minute deviations " or even " I don't care what I can't hear " where all these kind of opiniuons are only excuses to " protect " the TT already owned.
I'm not a designer of TT but if someday I take that road my very first and main target will be: no excuse, " perfect pitch " design: period.
If the customers can or can not detect it is does not matters, if during the recording proccess ( including those " great " R2R units. ) does not existed that " perfect pitch " it does not matters either even if the customers do not cares about IMHO any TT designer must look for that " perfect pitch " even absolute speed.
Dear audiophiles, please don't take it away the TT designers responsability. A TT exist because the LP needs to spin for we can listen and has to spin always at 331/3rpm or 45rpm: period.
We as a customers IMHO have to ask for excellence design level and not where almost everyone belongs: mediocrity/average level like the excuses that we don't have perfect pitch or that the electrical supply at home is non-adequate or that today is alittle " cold ".
How our hobby could improve when we are not asking for " more " for excellence but given reasons for the audio device designers does not cares about or at least does not cares enough about.
Halcro experiences with his Victor DD is not alone but several of us already experienced the same with some one of those DD vintage TT samples: exist a difference a difference that any one could hear.
Of course that if I own one of those BD dinosaur/mammoth we " accept " those minute/tiny speed deviations with no other explanation that " I can't hear " even if the timeline put in evidence the problem in our BD units.
Years ago and before the Timeline was in the market I posted several times that with heavy mass BD TT did not exist speed deviations due to stylus friction. Not easy to detect it but this fact does not means that I ask to TT designers : perfect pitch.
Our analog hobby is maybe the most imperfect reproduction medium where IMHO we have to take care in any single and " simple " stage where the cartridge signal must pass and where always suffer a degradation. As lower degradation on each one of those steps/links the cartridge signal suffer as better will be the sound that comes from our speakers and the higher the music enjoyment.
TT perfect pitch is one of those steps/links that degrade the cartridge signal even if we can't detect it or if " we don't care ".
As Teres pointed out: there is land for improvement about TT speed stability.
In this specific regard the DD experiences on many of us already showed that are a head to the BD ones.
Regards and enjoy the music,
R.
