New Teres Direct Drive Motor Available as Option

Johnbrown, contact from the o-ring will cause some wear on the platter, but so do belts and strings. It seems that the amount of wear would be proportional to the size of the contact area. So the amount of wear would probably be about the same as with a narrow belt or a string. But the forces involved here are very small so this is not a big issue.

I have no concerns about the o-ring damaging wood platters. Cocobolo is very hard and is considerably more durable than PVC and would have about the same durability as aluminum. Cocobolo is quite unlike common north American hardwoods. It is one of the few woods that sinks in water and has rigidity and hardness that approaches brass and aluminum. So there is no need to add a contact surface.

Chris

Just curious. How much force does the o-ring apply laterally against the platter? 1/10 gram? 1 gram? Other?

What keeps the o-ring from moving away from the platter over time? The weight of the motor? Other?

As the o-ring wears due to friction, would the user need to move it closer or otherwise adjust its distance to the platter? Or does it matter so long as the o-ring is in contact with the platter?

Thanks for considering the question. Jeff

Jeff, I don't know what the force is on the o-ring but it's more than a gram.

We use a very simple but effective method to keep even pressure on the o-ring. The motor pod simply leans against the platter. There are two small rubber feet under the motor pod that are offset from the center that causes that pod to tilt. The pod stands straight up and rests on three points, the two feet and the o-ring. really easy to setup. No springs, pivots or hinges, just gravity.

Chris

"No springs, pivots or hinges, just gravity."

Sometimes the old ways are still best.

Thanks for the info Chris.

Gee, the opening statement in the advertisement for this new take on the idler wheel/rim-drive could have been torn out of my earliest - and current - writings on the subject...except for the inclusion of idler-wheel drive as a victim of speed instabilities. Ironic, in a way, since it is the controversy I started a few years back about the speed instabilities of belt-drives - which Teres built their name on - which started the whole debate about which system was superior, sorry if this is boring you, Viridian, I realize that belt-drivers are feeling severely put-upon these days.

Long ago and still now, the bedrock of my insistence the idler-wheel system was superior to the other two systems (DD and BD) was based in simple and actual verification, simple (the lesson in science I kept/keep talking about): comparison in the system of your choice. A theory stands or falls by the experiment, which either proves or disproves it. If experiment/comparison/verification proves a theory wrong (i.e. that belt-drives are not adequate to combating the VERY important and nefarious Stylus Force Drag, which idlers were actually and specifically designed to combat), then it is time to abandon theory. Apparently, by the release of this variant on the rim-drive, Teres now admits I was right, implicitly.

But is this new system superior to the venerable idler-wheel system in terms of speed stability, as advertised, which I have insisted from day one was THE Prime consideration in designing turntables (and only idler-wheel drives designed to provide adequately)? Only verification/experiment/comparison will tell. As with the growing list of megabuck belt-drives falling before the Lenco and other fine and properly set up idler-wheel drives in front of witnesses, this new Teres system will have to face the music, and eventually be compared to a properly set-up idler-wheel drive.

The Teres system is designed in such a way that the motor CANNOT provide the torque of idler-wheel drives, which with their massive 1800 rpm motors can actually lift an 80-pound plinth when engaged at high speed (i.e. 78 rpm), since such a powerful motor directly applied would guarantee rumble (which is non-existent in a properly rebuilt idler-wheel drive, due to its separate and spring-loaded wheel). Not only is it about SPEED STABILITY, it is also about TORQUE.

That said, it is music to my eyes/ears to see the speed stability of belt-drives questioned in a advertisement of a spin-off of the rim-drive technology (sorry again if this is boring you Viridian ;-), and to Teres I say Bravo. I also wish you luck in the coming comparison :-).