My personal experience with Direct Drive versus Belt Drive
Speed stability is the number one job of a TT. For years I thought that too. But it proved to be wrong in my system(s). It´s just another theory, it´s an illusion. How the music flows is essential, and the starting point is the turntable itself. Extremely hard job to do, I have noticed over the years. But I have made great progress. |
This is why I included the phrase, "at a given price point". My old Direct Drive Denon was $750. Of course, that was back in the '80's! And my Scout is now selling for $2K, no surprise it's a better 'table. It should be. But it's the main bearing and the 12 pound platter that really keep the noise down. On that old Denon the silence between songs sounded like a bowling ball rolling down an ally! Of course, at the time I thought it was great! And the platter was not physically part of the motor, the pancake motor was down in the plinth, I could lift the platter off and watch it spin. A platter that didn't weigh 2lbs. So while my external motor is being pulled sideways with its small bearing keeping it straight, it is of good quality and does it very well, and much less of its vibration winds up in the record atop that 12lb platter. But again, two different price points. If I find a $4k direct drive, I'm sure it will out perform my Scout. Or I would expect it to anyway. "Cheap to make", may be an accurate statement, the $2k Scout may actually out perform a $2k Direct Drive. Any architecture can shine if you throw enough money at it. My first 'Table was an idler wheel drive, it was a BIC that cost me $120. It did a fine job for a 14 year old in 1976! But, not world class performance I suspect. |
For the belt drive guys ... do yourself a favor and buy one of Origin Live's custom TT belt. Its an amazing upgrade and solid improvement for not a lot of money. It worked wonders for my classic Well Tempered Table. http://www.originlive.com/turntable-belts-replacement-new.html |
Speed stability is the number one job of a TT. For years I thought that too. But it proved to be wrong in my system(s). It´s just another theory, it´s an illusion. How the music flows is essential, and the starting point is the turntable itself. There is the actual speed you set your turntable at and speed stability - two different things My first stereo when I was small 10? was a Hitachi am fm cassette player with microphone. I didn’t like the commercials on the radio so I made a cassette tape of favourite songs and played it for two weeks. Only that tape. Then one day I turned to the radio again. The songs I had recorded did not sound as good as my tape. They sounded slower and lethargic. Boring. It wasn’t until I was a little older that I realized that the cassette tape motor was running a little fast. But its speed was stable. I learned the difference between the two at a young age. If your turntable has variable, adjustable, speed control....some like to set the tempo of their records to suit their moods. Can your Digital system do that ? The important part is that the speed you set it at stays there. It is stable. Put four musicians in a room and ask them to play on four different consecutive days. They will play a different tempo on each day. Fill them with cappuccino’s before the fourth day playing and see what happens. Humans are not robots. |
Dear @pbnaudio / @rotarius : I own and owned very good and not so good samples of DD and BD TT where with the good design the steady and speed stability never was or is a problem when in the not so good design it's. I think that's not only a matters of TT price ranges but the quality of the TT design and critical and very important the manufacturer execution quality on that TT design. No less important is the customer overall TT set-up. In the other side ( @harold-not-the-barrel ) you are rigth: how the music/sound flows but this main whole audio system target is not a matters of this or that audio link in the system chain but a precise overall audio system set-up with " perfect " ( price define almost nothing. What define all is each one of us knowledge levels and each one " tools " about. ) choosed links in that very complex audio system set-up. I think that we can't be really sure of audio items comparisons of every kind if our system is not " there " when it's not TRUER TO THE RECORDING that's most be the main target for any music lover/audiophile as us. We want really enjoy the MUSIC not to all those DISTORTIONS that are imposible to avoid ( but only try to mantain it at minimum. ) and that always surrounded all audio systems. Regards and enjoy the MUSIC not DISTORTIONS, R. |
