Thanks for the kind words, Charles.
We all continue to learn, and the untapped "goodness" in idlers certainly caught me by surprise. That Dagogo review is beginning to look dated, although I stand by my comments that rigid belt coupling gets you a large part of the rim drive sound. Direct and idler/rim drive are definitely not for everyone (what
architecture or product is?), as they have a different set of virtues
and drawbacks.
larryi:
bdp24,
As I stated above, I don't know why the idler tables I
heard have the kind of "drive" that they do have, but, I suspect it has
to do with the high torque motors employed. I have heard the same sort
of sound from the three motor Audio Note table and it is a belt drive
table, but, it employs three massive motors, each of which supposedly is
a 2 hp motor (three massive power supplies are also used to power the
motors).
It would be interesting to hear what a modern idler table sounds like. I would love to hear the Galibier table.
Since my experiments began with identical drive systems (motor, controller, bearing and 33 Lb. Gavia platter), I can safely say that it's not about massive torque (relatively high, but not massive).
The first thing that jumped out at me was the difference in time that it takes for the platter to lock speed (observed with both Feickert software as well as a Sutherland Timeline). The idler locked in much more quickly.
It's pretty clear that we're hearing control of the braking motion - what would be the "back" or "slack" end of the belt that the idler idler is grabbing control of, but which a belt isn't capable of doing. If you buy into the concept that both acceleration and braking need to be controlled (or alternatively, that a drive system needs to be immune to both of these forces), then none of this should come as a surprise.
Given how we've learned that a stylus tracking at 2 gm. can modulate the speed of even a massive platter, we shouldn't be surprised that some speed control benefits could be gained.
Of course, the questions remain as to how audible this is, how it's perceived, and how musically significant it is. From initial auditions of late stage Eiger prototypes, people are noticing the differences in presentation, and are definitely split in their preferences.
I'm really excited to return to the Eiger, and as soon as I get my head out of the NiWatt amplifier design (Labor Day?), I'm looking forward to returning my focus to the Eiger. There's a lot of untapped potential, and it's been patiently awaiting my attention.
Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier Design
