My personal experience with Direct Drive versus Belt Drive

Like many have here have had numerous tables as well, I have had in my system over 40 tables through the past 5 decades of every drive made. I think ALL , when
executed properly and faults are massaged out and lessened then properly set up
with cart and arm aligned they ALL have strengths in portraying the music.
They all have some drawbacks and weaknesses of their own by design or lack
of attention to it depending on ones ownership bias and finances to produce or own.
I always found it learned,  that at a time when everyone was dumping belt
to manufacture DD because the electronic end was at a rabid pace of growth and
precision and yet , Micro Seiki went back to making high end belt/string drives. Not a flag of my bias at all, but a good reason to not pigeon hole ones choices with blind/expectation bias.

" we cannot ignore the fact that in the world of rotating mechanisms the absolute requirements imposed by mechanical strength , precision and mass cannot be replaced on equivalent terms simply by electronics......we must now stand behind belief that there is no need to stick to *audio common sense* which dictated that it is possible to discriminate all the way between part of the mechanisms of the turntable " .......

Difference in opinion in ones choice of drive is not an absolute in best sound, just a best sound for the owner, period. I've heard all done with disappointment and all done to the point biased or not, an honest man would just smile and tap toes in acknowledgement without a single,  yeah but my  ................

has2be,

Thank You,

My thoughts/ suspicions finally put into words. 45yrs chasing the Vinyl Holy Grail. Happy with my (2) current TTs. 
Synergy and Setup of TT, Arm, Cartridge and Phonestage. Do these right. You will get Your vinyl bliss.

has2be, Well Said
nkonor

I absolutely love my new SL1200GAE. I got another head shell and installed my old Zepher cart that I was using with my Scout 1.1 so I could make a better comparison. The SL1200 sounds superior in every way I can think of, superior PRAT and the DD motor is dead silent. Increased jump factor and dynamics. This TT is the real deal. This is not to say the Scout is a light weight. I enjoyed the VPI Scout for the last four years but I am firmly in the DD camp now.

Hi has2be

Your post may be the most intelligent thing I have read on this forum.  Your mass vs electronics statement alone, should be a must read for anyone who actually stops and thinks.

The latest is idler drive comeback.  I wonder where the Rumble police are???

I would be interested on your own impressions of the various types of tables.  And if you where forced to build the best (By your standards) which of the main 3 drive systems would you choose.

Thanks Tom

Has2be, I don’t disagree with the substance of what you wrote, but I am a bit puzzled by the following phrase: "at a time when everyone was dumping belt to manufacture DD because the electronic end was at a rabid pace of growth and precision and yet , Micro Seiki went back to making high end belt/string drives." Just what period of audio history are you thinking about when you write this? The way I experienced it, in the 50s (before I really was a "player" in this game, but not before I was exposed to music in our home), idler drive was if anything the predominant mode (think "Garrard"; Garrard changers were common in even the most sophisticated systems). AR changed the game in the late 60s, when I was finally able to buy my first audio system, with the X model, which of course was the most basic belt drive imaginable. But in the 70s, when the Japanese got into the market in a big way, direct-drive was very fashionable but kind of mid-range-y in quality. True, there were some high end DD turntables made in Japan during a brief golden era, but in parallel the very most expensive turntables were BD (Thorens, Goldmund Reference, etc). By the late 70s/early 80s, DD kind of got dumped in favor of belt drive, largely due to the efforts of Harry Pearson and the Absolute Sound credo. I’m sure Gordon Holt had something to say on this subject, but I don’t recall what it was. Anyway, by the mid-80s, as vinyl dipped in popularity, BD was thought of as the only way to go among aficionados. My point is, I don’t recall any time when belt drive was eclipsed by DD, even temporarily. As for Micro Seiki, they were always basically a high quality BD company; their DD turntables were never competitive with the best of the breed, and I don’t think they ever intended them to be. It's interesting how differently we view the history.