So many great golden era DD tables out there, what do you recommend for $1000?

Is there a reason golden age DD turntables became golden age?  Or conversely, why did the high-end move to belt-drive? 

I think there is.

Fundamentally, golden age DD tables employed a PLL (phased-locked loop) to stabilize rotational velocity to a very accurate degree.  The problem herein is that the frequency response of this negative feedback loop (that's what a PLL is) is right in the middle of the audio band, sitting on top of vocals.  Yeah.  So for every disturbance or increase in stylus drag, there is a corresponding error term which gets amplified a drives a proportional (PID actually) response in the motor to compensate, adding it's own signature.  

I'm pretty sure Fremer pointed this out a long time ago. 

A DD may have an easy time hitting 33.3333 RPM long term average, but short term in-audio-band response may become audible and annoying.  In short, that's why a decent belt-driven table is more relaxing and less fatiguing over the long term.

Thoughts?

immediate thoughts is that there already exists a whole thread especially dedicated to that subject. 

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/stylus-drag-fact-or-fiction

@hagtech  

Is there a reason golden age DD turntables became golden age? Or conversely, why did the high-end move to belt-drive?

Thoughts?

Could you please recall Japanese turntable manufacturer who has moved to Belt Drive from Direct Drive ? I can't remember anyone. 

Do you own a Direct Drive turntable to compare it to a belt Drive at least to confirm your statement for yourself ? Do you actually hear any problem when you're playing records on high-end Direct Drive turntable ?  

Personally i have never ever experienced any single problem with high-end Direct Drive turntables such as Technics SP-10mkII, SP-20, Luxman PD-444, Denon DP-80 ... even my Victor TT-101 is working. I have no idea what Mr.Fremer is talking about. Probably a $3k vintage Direct Drive owner should buy a $6k modern belt drive instead pretending for upgrade? In Fremer's wold it will be a $60k belt drive, right ? I will never do that and i can't imagine anyone, who own a High-End DD, trading it for a belt drive. 

Belt Drive, say it again. OMG   

What i see in Analog Planet videos from various High-End shows is the ugliest belt drive turntables ever, for insane prices!  

P.S. I want to remind you that his review for new Technics DD was very positive. 

As far as I know Micro never moved from direct drive to belt drive. They simultaniously offered a range of direct drives (DD-series) and belt drives (BL-series). That being said, they went much higher end with belt drives (RX- and SX-series) than they ever did with direct drives. This might suggest that they had stronger faith in the capabilities of belt drive.

There's one point in their 80's catalogue where direct drive and belt drive sort of converged. This is the 1500-series platform, which offered the DDX-1500 direct drive (their top direct drive model) as well as the RX-1500 belt drive, which was the entry level of the big Micro's. It could be upgraded to include all the features also found in the highest end models, including gunmetal plateaus, air bearing and vacuum disc stabilizer. It would be interesting to compare the DDX-1500 with the basic RX-1500 (with aluminum plateau and the motor drive attached to the unit), using the same armboard, tonearm and cartridge. This would be a fair 'shoot out' between direct drive and belt drive, all else being equal. Has anyone ever done this?

The designer of the top belt (or string) drive Micro's founded a new company called TechDas, modernising his old designs with current technology. This would suggest that belt drive is - and perhaps always was - his preferred technology. He's now on a 'world tour' with the ultimate AirForce Zero. This monstrosity makes the old top Micro SX-8000 II look like an entry level table......