Direct Drive vs. Idler Drive vs. Belt drive

One solution to the issue of the side force applied by the belt, when you use a single motor, is to add a capstan or passive pulley 180 degrees opposite from the motor pulley.  This will equalize the side forces on the bearing at the expense of reducing the size of the contact patch between belt and platter.  I think the Kuzma Reference is designed in this fashion.  It also avoids the complications of synchronizing two or more motors, two or more belts, etc.

chakster, no joke at all. You should review your audio history. The AR XA was a ground breaking turntable. Not only was it less expensive than everything else. It was also better performing and not by a little. It's only over site was the lack of anti skate. It is in the Museum of Fine Art and one of the 10 best turntables of all time according to Absolute Sound. Watch the video and you will never look at an unsuspended turntable again. Room Rumble. Oracle , Basis , SME, SOTA, Techdas and others followed ARs advice. Edgar Villchar  was one of the true geniuses of audio, right up there with Edison. At one point he had 33% of the speaker market! Henry Kloss was his partner who later on started KLH.

At one point the guy who invented the wheel had 100 % of the world supply of wheels. Despite that I don't think we'll see wooden wheels on an F1 car in the future.

The first wheel was innovative and rearranged human society, but the wheel has moved on. Things have moved on elsewhere. It is good to honour past achievement. It is also good to honour future refinement.

No argument theophile. But no where in audio history except Edison was such a big step taken by one guy. Not only did he invent the suspended belt drive turntable but the woofer design used in at least 1/2 the subwoofers and speakers made, The AR 1. He started by cutting up an Electrovoice woofer and making a new spider and surround for it. It worked.
AR had 33% of the a very competitive speaker market. He was not the only show in town. 

looscannon

The AR XA was a ground breaking turntable. Not only was it less expensive than everything else. It was also better performing and not by a little. It's only over site was the lack of anti skate.

The AR turntable was indeed groundbreaking and its three-point suspension design has been widely imitated and refined. But the pickup arm was just awful. AR used somewhat better arms in later iterations of the design, but serious AR 'table owners chose their own.