Turntables that are "tanks" are not necessarily better. Turntables that were intended for commercial work were designed to take a beating. Rumble was not so much of a problem as Radio does not go below 50 Hz (if I remember correctly) not to mention nobody used subwoofers back then. Now that vinyl is dead to radio stations nobody makes turntables for that purpose and all those commercial tables got dumped on the market initially for cheap until someone figured out they could plant them on nice looking plinths and sell them for ridiculous money. Why was Edgar Villchur's little belt drive so popular? $75 got you a turntable that handily outperformed all the commercial ones. It was so good Thorens and Linn dandied up the design and still sell them. Sota added a twist to the suspension then SME and Basis copied them. There are nor a few hyper expensive direct drives out there now but the majority of them are belt drives. Oscillating motors do not belong under phonograph cartridges.
If you were looking for a direct drive turntable ...
Let's say one that cost less than $3K, with cartridge, what would you look at? I'd been thinking about a Technics SL-1200GR, but they seem no longer to be available. Which has led me to the Thorens 403, the Music Hall Stealth, and ...?
Please do help.
Unless, that is, I end up getting a Rega and stick with belt drive.
Thanks for indulging me on my quest, as I'm old and don't have limitless funds.
-- Howard
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I should say, "oscillating motors do not belong under phonograph cartridges" unless you are Russian. The fridged siberian environement creates a superconductive path through the motor's armature that absorbs stray magnetic fields. This also helps inexpensive very old antique crtridges sound better, even if they have no stylus left. |
@mijostyn : I can't understand for sure what trounced what but what I'm sure is that the Kenwood TT trounced the SME and your SOTA one:
R.
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