Turntable weight affects speed


I tried a Thorens tt weight on my Thorens TD-850 belt-drive tt. It noticeably slowed it down.  It seems like extra weight on the bearing would affect any tt, but what do I know?  Is a speed control (and strobe/test pattern) generally required to use a turntable weight while maintaining the proper speed?

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Thanks for all the well-considered responses!  I’m planning to try the Origin Live Gravity One @mgolpoor recommended. 

And, to cover as many bases as possible, I’ll order a new belt. 

A new bearing/turntable… not today. 

trying to be more diligent about updating threads.


Further research located an old review of this tt by M Fremer which said there is an internal potentiometer for adjusting speed.  It was not referenced in the manual. So I bought the RPM Pro app, opened up the power supply box, made some adjustments: problem solved.
  But went ahead and ordered a belt and OL tt “weight”.  The app said the wow and flutter was .25, a little higher than desirable. 

Thanks to Michael Fremer and all the ideas on this thread.

But aren't you just increasing the speed (power to the motor?) to compensate for the additional load? I wonder if that will overdrive/overheat the motor and impact its longevity.