Honest question about cartridge vs. turntable performance.

mammothguy54,

Agree. It's a shame when some of these people have to be so full of themselves that THEY think they are the first and last word in choosing equipment. With them, it's the same old boring argument.

Wow, this is certainly spinning around. Lewm, in order to support myself in medical school I was a Hi Fi salesman at a store called Luskin's Hi FI in Miami, FL. It was a discount box store and volume was the key. On the side I installed systems in the houses of very rich people getting equipment from several places but mostly Sound Components the high end store in Miami. We blew up quads in HQD systems for fun. Not kidding. I can not remember the names  of all the DD turntables I set up and evaluated. Can you remember the names of all the girls you ...dated? If you can you led a very boring life. At Sound Components many if not most evaluations were done as a group. No one thought the current  DD turntables sound even close to being good. They were pretty and reliable enough so that you could sell one to John Smith with a straight face. Very few of the customers at Luskin's knew what they were listening to. The rich people certainly did not. The Owner of Flagler Dog Track though I did such a good job he had me redesign the entire PA system at the Track.
I made serious money on that one.  I set him up with Beveridges, Levinson preamp and amps, a Tandberg cassette machine and Reel to Reel, and a McIntosh Tuner. CD had not been invented yet and he was not interested in Vinyl. 
One thing we did notice a Sound Components was that DD turntables did considerably worse with MC cartridges. I can theorize why but I have proof of nothing. Is it possible to do a DD table that sounds as good as a belt drive. I guess. But, I have not personally heard one I would consider buying. There are other factors at play than just drive type. I have also not been exposed to near as much equipment during the last 40 years as I was back then. But no matter how you parse it putting an oscillating
magnetic device under a modern low output moving coil cartridge is a silly concept and I am not the only one who has that opinion although I may be the most vocal.  I have no overwhelming proof to back up my opinion. But, It is my opinion and you are entitled to yours. 
My next turntable is going to be Dohmann Helix 1 with two Schroder LT's
on it:)

Atma-Sphere, I will never ride a bike with anything but  Campy on it. That Jap stuff is cheap overweight crap. It only worked better if you did not know how to shift. 
My current bike is a Specialized S works Diverge with Campy Super Record 12 speed EPS disc brake group. Fulcrum Carbon tubeless rims with Hutchinson Sector 32 tires. Perfect bike for an old fart with bad wrists:)

Having owned a Technics Direct Drive SP10 mk2 and now a Linn, I think both tables can deliver good to great sound. The Technics was a table that I thought could sound a bit like digital at times, IOW a little sterile and dry sounding. The Linn, if not set up 100% can also sound a little off, leading to the opinions that many naysayers have about it. The plus with the Technics was that one could mount almost any arm, the minus with the Linn is that the arm options are very limited. However, once set up correctly and with their Radikal power supply, the Linn is very hard to beat. Nonetheless, I think most drive types have their pluses and minuses...