Is idler drive better than belt drive or direct drive?

By the way - tapes have massive droppoff in high frequency over time, not to mention bleed through ( from layer to layer ). I used to import Reference recordings - talk to Keith Johnson about tape quality, there is no decent tape made any more since the 60's.

If tape is properly cared for the highs will hold up just fine. Regarding the tape quality thing, what Keith was talking about is tape shedding. Tapes made on acetate don't shed much and so they store better than tape made on polyester. That change happened in the late 1960s. But if polyester based tape is stored properly (low humidity) then it won't shed. By baking a polyester tape at the right temperature you can reduce shedding dramatically. But beyond that, tape made today dramatically outperforms any tape made in the 1960s or before!

That was the problem, I was having. Keeping up with good tape, having to purchase it NOW.. oh yea, it was abandoned, by me over 30 years ago just for that reason. Limited supply and a LOT of the newer stuff wasn't holding up very well, to boot. I sure like some of the features though.

Cassette, then 4 track, then 8 track, then cassette finally took off, yet all that time vinyl was still being used by most serious stereo guys. Tape was a changing format, and not for the better. Reel to Reel, new production is VERY expensive, I've only seen custom request tapes, figure the cost on those. 500-1000.00 usd

Regards

@oldhvymec  You can still get recording tape including cassettes- talk to the good folks at ATR.


If you get some Silica Gel packets and a plastic bag, throw in the packet when you store the tape in its bag in its box. It lasts a lot longer before you have to bake it!

If we modified a impact testing rig so the given edge of the moving or rotating platter could impact upon said impact gear, we could probably prove, via data obtained... that idler wheel is better than belt or direct drive.

I suspect that with only a truly massive platter in play -- does this advantage finally go away to some degree.

It’s an "instantaneous torque at any given point under a constantly varying dynamic transient load" issue.

Only the idler has it.

@teo_audio

If we modified a impact testing rig so the given edge of the moving or rotating platter could impact upon said impact gear, we could probably prove, via data obtained... that idler wheel is better than belt or direct drive.

Not necessarily, the main advantage the old idlers have is the size of their motors and that most of them are AC/hysterisis type motors which self correct if the motor starts to lag. The weakness of most belt drives is their small motors & elastic rubber belt. The problem with DC motors and direct drive is that its like digital - only a little bit out ALL of the time. DC motors have zero torque at a constant speed, only when they change speed does the torque go above zero.
Thats why DC motors need feedback/computators to maintain speed.
Furthermore if you look at the response of AC and DC motors to lag, AC motors recover sinusoidally, whereas DC motors recover trapezoidally.  In other words DC motors recovery from speed aberrations is rough compared to AC.

Here is my Final Audio Parthenon with big AC motor, silk thread belt & 26kg platter and record clamp. The motor is controlled by sine & cosine wave generators and driven by a 60wpc Onix Audio OA60 power amplifier. All cabling in the turntable motor drive is phase coherent MIT Oracle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwugFlbCOww
Video playing Carol Kidd ( Linn Record) Dynavector Cartridge, banging the record with knuckle.

Try that with your Linn, Oracle or TW Acustic.
By the way I also have a personally rebuilt/restored Garrard 301 idler ( higher spec than your run of the Artisan Fidelity & Classic Audio 301's ), close but no cigar - cant compete with the string drive Final in speed and precision. The key here is that the silk thread does not stretch.

Oh, forgot to mention the string drive Final was built in the 70’s.