Why According to some Turntable extremists Pitch Control and Direct Drive is Sacrilege?

Alex, SP 10 mk3 definitely does have a pitch control; it’s built into the outboard power supply.

Fremer’s “hunting” hypothesis is the favorite criticism of DD by those who prefer belt drive, but it is very unfair to apply what is or may be a problem with the SL1200, a low end example of the breed, to all DDs. Otherwise we could bring up the inherent speed irregularities of BD due to belt creep and stylus drag.

Different servo control designs had different correction rates. Apparently the one built into the SL1200 makes very frequent corrections that might be audible to some. Moreover it had a cheap iron core motor.

It’s just my opinion but I would not necessarily agree with your sorting of DDs into 4 categories. And you left out many superb products, but I’m sure you know that. No biggie.

Hi @lewm ,

I didn’t list all good DD turntables.
But you can’t compare, for example, SL1200 to EMT950. They have a very different “hunting” design.
All this Hi-End reviewers-sellers like Fremer try to sell belt drive "golden toilets" with cheap toy car motors that ruin rhythm and pace of music interpretation. Belt drive transforms Classical piano music or other music with very fine sense of rhythm like Modern Jazz Quartet to unconnected set of sounds.
I got rid off Nottingham Analog Specedeck for Lenco 78 and then for EMT948.
My friend, classical musician, sold all his belt-drive TTs (including Sota) and bought EMT950.
Other friend rid off Linn LP12 for EMT948.

In my system ORACLE DELPHI MKII produces more music than LUXMAN PD444. I sold that gorgeous vintage DD because it simply sounds digital, with or without the original mat, with or without the original elastomer feet or replacing them with maglev feet (the best option). Learnt a lesson, and quite a costly one.
Have lived happily since nevertheless : )
And LP12 is a toy btw.

Here is an interesting site about DD turntables:
http://www.edsstuff.org/dd_museum.pdf
Here are their comments about Luxman PD-444: 
"Top-of-the-line Lux form the end of the 70s. Now this is a deck where you can mount your Fidelity Research FR66 or SME 3012 quite easily. Typical for all Lux decks: The plinth made out of brushed aluminium with rosewood sides. The PD-444 is a fine deck maybe a little overpriced at around 1000,- Dollars on the 2nd hand market. "

This site from: 2000, so, prices for this gear in number of times less then today :-(

Alex, Funnily enough, I went from SOTA Star Sapphire III to Nottingham Analog Hyperspace (a big improvement) to modified Lenco (a big improvement over the Notts) to my current stable that still includes the Lenco plus four vintage DD turntables: DP80, L07D, SP10 Mk3, and Victor TT101.

Harold, I don't know what was wrong with your PD444, but it ought not to have sounded "digital".  Did you have it serviced and calibrated at any point?  Proper calibration is absolutely key to getting the best out of any DD turntable, old or new.  But if you're living happily, that's all that counts.  As for me, I could not go back to (as affordable) BD at this point, even though I have listened to a few really good ones that cost more than $25K, too rich for my blood.