Ultimate Turntable search...OMA K5 or ?

If one reads the 'T1 sales speil' , the reader is steered by the author, to take on board  the notion, that the creation of other Competitors Companies TT's are born from an inferior foundation supporting the process through to the items production.

The T1 has made an entry to the Market Place with a stand that isn't 'taking any prisoners' , especially seems to suggest ones most expensive options are for the Buyers best if it is overlooked. 

As for the T1, shortly before Covid, I was demo'd a TT, that the Owner of Long Dog Audio had been commissioned to design the Electronics.

From recollection this has been a TT, that is driven with no coupling to the massive Platter. I do believe I have heard a TT with an SME V/12, sharing a propulsion for a Platter similar to how the T1 works. The Prototype I had been demo'd may be a Production Model in today's market. 

i like the K3 and K5. think they are works of art and legit. some time back i honestly did try to buy a K3 but could not work it out, so there is that. 

Mike, I finally found a good diagram or anatomical drawing of the workings of the Esoteric, on your thread on WBF.  That drawing is worth a thousand words.  Now I see how it works.  It is a rim drive where nothing touches the rim, which is probably what you were trying to say.  Until now, I envisioned that the motor was situated directly well below the platter such that the rotating magnets were concentric with the platter itself, as is the case for the Transrotor TMD and the EAR Disc Master, where in both of those cases the rotating magnet structure is driven by a belt from an outboard motor. In shorthand, the Esoteric is a contact-less rim drive.

Art is a personal thing. Every machine has an aesthetic factor, but if I interviewed 100 people who visited the Guggenheim Motorcycle exhibit I would get 100 different opinions as to which was the most beautiful bike. Look at the opinions of the OMA table on this thread. It is ugly as hell. IMHO all of these tables are ugly but the OMA takes the cake. I think the Basis Inspiration is the best looking table made. The principle driver  behind which of these luxury turntables someone choses to buy is the aesthetic one, not sound quality. I might add that given the same arm and cartridge it is highly unlikely anyone could reliably identify any of these turntables blinded. I actually doubt anyone could tell them apart from an RP10. What you see determines what you hear when sonic differences are subtle. 

What Michael Fremer owns is not a good indicator of anything. According to reliable sources his hearing is shot. You have to yell at him to have a conversation. He does have what must be the worlds largest private record collection. Kudos.
 

@lewm 

Just what you want directly under your cartridge, rotating magnets with alternating poles no less. I envision the cartridge bouncing along. 33.3 bounces per revolution. Could this be Hip Hop?

In the case of the Esoteric, the rotating magnetic motor is outside the circumference of the platter, as in a conventional rim drive. But the skirt around the circumference of the platter itself is ferromagnetic in order to respond to the driver. One has to assume that Esoteric engineers accounted for potential issues, one of which would not be to induce up and down motion of the cartridge, I think.