Tables That Feature Bearing Friction

Hey Dan_ed, really ? I expected my post would provoke something like this. After all nobody likes big mouth with no proof behind...........
Any other Agoner interested in this ?
Specs including given reasons - or plain specs ?
Including material selection?
If some interest for this I will gladly unfold a brief but detailed enough "roadmap".
Let me know your mind.
On the other hand this is far going beyond the original thread about the bearing friction.
Maybe we should start a new thread ??

Absolutely. Start another thread on TT spec review, or something like that and let's see where the discussion goes.

I'll second the motion for some discussion on these topics . . . regardless of where we stand as individuals, the enthusiast audio industry these days is very much threateaned by the stagnation of ideas, and open discussions are an excellent way to combat it (or each other:)).

Dertonearm, You wrote, "Stylus drag is a very small sliding force in constant motion and is - coupled with any serious platter (of course not if the LP lays just on the platter and is not firmly clamped down) - really neglectable. Its a force smaller by several magnitudes compared to the energy the stylus puts into the platter while modulating the groove information. A force smaller by several magnitudes compared to any motor generated vibration."
In writing thus, you are implying that you know the approximate magnitude of the force of stylus drag. I would be interested to know what that is, so I can compare it to the magnitude of the other forces you mention. I tend to agree with you, that the force of stylus drag cannot be THAT great, since, if it were, cantilevers would be ripped from their insertions into the cartridge.

I don't think anyone would take issue with your definition of the function of a turntable. The problem is that many of us have heard or think we hear deficiencies in LP reproduction that are attributable to "something" that is at least partly overcome by the use of direct- or idler-drive, as opposed to belt drive. In this tiny little world of vinyl audiophilia, that "something" has been identified as being the result of stylus drag, because there are no data to indicate what else it might be. By the way, I don't think you meant to infer that stylus drag is a constant. Would it not be expected to vary according to groove tortuosity and distance of the stylus from the spindle?

Lewm, "distance from the stylus"? Why would there be component that varied with this distance? Unless we're jumping to AS?