Is Direct Drive Really Better?

Of all types of TT faults, speed error and wow and flutter are the easiest to evaluate. A strobe disc and a neon bulb will verify that average speed is at least as good as the power line frequency (which is very good). Actually, quartz controlled DD turntables will be better than the line frequency. Test records have tracks with test tones that are designed to make wow and flutter evident. If you can't hear a problem with the test record you will never hear it with musuc.

Eldart, good to 'see' you!!!

Now Zikes, wait a minute. What's this "objectionable in some states" crap? Wasn't them minutemen (ie, founding fathers) who:

1) brewed their own beer,

2) grew their own hemp (and smoked it),

3) rode on horseback bearing guns & knives and

4) went back home to their favorite imported (and paid with hard currency) curvaceous African women?

Man, surely no one asked me to become a guerilla fighter in order to live like that! I *might* have joined in...

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Psychoticanimal,
I have read that the Constitution and Declaration of Independance were both written on hemp paper. At one time farmers were required to grow the stuff to help pay for the war. Another interesting fact is that the war effort was equipped and capitalized by the harvesting of native Ginseng. Seems the stuff that grew wild in Virginia was the best in the world and we were able to trade with Asia for things we could not produce. You know, like cameras and televisions and cars.
Currently we are returning to those days when we imported almost everything. Can I get a witness?

It seems that we all agree that no turntable and no drive system can accomplish theoretical perfection, and some of us feel that today's best are good enough. I'm in that group because I have been impressed throughout this discussion with the knowledge that I can't afford anything appreciatively better than what I have. Fortunately I like it.

Macrojack, after reading this thread (much of which I don't have the background to understand) I am curious about a few things. What prompted the question to begin with? How did the thread influence your thinking - it seems to have done so if you're selling off 'tables. What are you selling and what are you keeping and why? I hope these questions aren't intrusive, but your actions and your "WOW" made me really curious. Thanks, Chuck

Chuck,
Initially I posed the question because of curiosity and an instinct that perhaps DD had been sent away prematurely by a trend that was propagated by an audio press I distrust and by a need for isolation which was addressed by suspending turntable chassis rather than evacuating unwanted energy. The suspended turntable trend naturally favored BD.
With the subsequent development of isolation platforms and vibration control, I wondered if it might be that DD is really superior after all and should be revisited.
What I've gotten from this is a strong awareness of controversy. There are strong arguements on both (actually three) sides so I would be less sure than when I started if not for learning about the Grand Prix Racing Monaco and Chris Brady's plans to develop a Teres DD. I mean, look at it, one of the pre-eminent BD designers says that after extensive experimentation he has concluded that DD has greater ultimate potential. Who among the respondents to this thread brings greater credibility?
So I am selling my Well Tempered Reference Table that I have used for 12 years and a slew of DD tables I don't like as well as my Luxman PD 441. There is a Technics SP 10 MK II, an SL 150 MK II and a Technics SL 1100A. They are all strong, stable and good sounding but I like the look and feel of the Luxman better and it has more of a sense of pace and drive. I also have a Yamaha PX-2 which is well made and beautifully designed with tangential tracking but it is a bit too gizmo for me. It might go to my kids since it is fully automatic and you can do everything except change records with the dustcover closed.
I think that, as it stands today, high end vintage DD on the used market represents the most bang for the buck in analog playback.