Is Direct Drive Really Better?

Interesting stuff, I hope Teres comments on it. My own question at this point would be, what proportional contribution can we ascribe to the control system implemented on the DD, beyond the mere fact of the drive method itself? My own hunch is that this is where the greatest theoretical advantage of DD may lie, in affording the possibility of precision-designed platter control...

BTW, in response to two points raised above: I suspect resonance is probably still somewhat more sonically determinative than speed distortions in modern high end designs; and when Twl writes:

"I think it is because turntable designers all have varying degrees of understanding of the entire turntable system, and place varying amounts of emphasis on "perfecting" the various aspects, within a certain price range, and possibly with different technologies and approaches.

It is definitely not a foregone conclusion that just because a company makes turntables, that they are "expert" in the field. And even "experts" have holes in their knowledge base. And even if they do know everything(impossible), they cannot implement perfection, or even close to it at any affordable price range.

So, what you buy is inherently a compromise.
What types of compromising, and how well the compromises work as a whole, will determine the results"

that about says it all, and if anything may be understating the case. With the proliferation of TT's these days, and especially moderate-to-mid-cost ones, my guess is that plenty are not really comprehensively "designed" at all, just aesthetically pleasing combinations of common elements, made and marketed to price points with full knowledge that they will never be technically scrutinized by the audio media, only subjectively compared to similar offerings.

Dan, I don't want to steer this thread toward Zu so I'll email you privately about that.
That comparison is intriguing to consider given that in the day of the SP-10 there really wasn't an arm or cartridge like Chris used and isolation and cabling hadn't really even gotten started. Just how close can you get to a 380 using an older DD and modern ancillaries? I bet the performance difference is a fraction of the price difference.

Dear Teres: First congratulations for be on that DD design and for trying to give to the analog audio community a diferent option about, not an easy task where almost all the audio community thinks that the BD design is the best way to go.

I know that your DD design is almost at the final stage and I know that because I don't have the opportunity to hear it I don't have the " feeling " of the quality sound reproduction, but I know very well other DD TT performance and I can imagine ( a little ) your DD TT design performance.
I always support the all metal TT designs against the non/full-metal designs and I already posted that the all metal Galibier or AS or other metal ones beats the Teres wood/acrylics ones. For what I read through this thread your DD design is npot an all metal one: is there any reserve about that preclude your DD design to be an all metal one? do you think that in this moment your non-metal DD design is a better one? or do you make it in that way because looks better than an all metal one?

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

I feel the need to correct here something I have said in my post above concerning the Lenco speed stability, and at the same time give some useful information to Lenco modifiers. In my post I complained about the wow and flutter of the Lenco turntable but I have lately learned the problem was elsewhere. When I modified my Lenco I built for it a very massive plinth (about 30 kg) and mounted the tonearm on this plinth. What I heard was very noticeable wow and flutter. I tried every remedy possible, cleaned and oiled the turntable everywhere, tried to install heavier tonearms (SME 3012), different cartridges, different Lenco motors, spindle, new idler wheel, nothing helped. Then out of despair, before dumping the thing on the street, I decided to mount the tonearm in the original hole of the turntable: this is supposed to have two drawbacks: wrong distance from arm center to spindle and incorrect vertical angle. However, the wow and flutter problem has simply disappeared and the turntable now sings! I know this might sound puzzling but it indeed shows, I believe, that tonearm mounting is very important to overall turntable accuracy. As for the sound, this modified Lenco does have a very full and neutral sound (I use now a moded Rega rb-250 with a Grace cartridge) and I certainly can live with it for many years. By the way, to check for the wow and flutter problem, I suggest using a piano piece like a Chopin waltz. If you have a wow and flutter problem you will hear the piano’s sound sour-like. For people who listen mainly to Jazz this might not be much of a problem, but I can assure you that once the problem is gone, your setup will sound completely different. So my apologies for the Lenco aficionados out there, although I still stand by my remark that most audiophiles cannot hear pitch problems even when it hits them in their face. Cheers.

"I still stand by my remark that most audiophiles cannot hear pitch problems even when it hits them in their face"

Then I guess it wouldn't shock you how many times there've been when I've gone to a seller's house to audition something or other for sale, and wind up informing the poor guy about which driver(s) ain't making any sound in which channel ;^)