Raven One Motor Noise Problem

Those are good words of wisdom Jaybo, and I'm sorry to hear of your experience. I'm currently going through a similar situation with another manufacturer but more on that later.

I'm working with the importer who is also the sole dealer in the U.S., and he immediately suggested an exchange. However, we no longer feel the motor is the direct cause since the noise disappears after a Vibrapod is placed under the foot. Instead, it may be a bad Stillpoint or an issue with the combination of materials I'm using for my shelf. So...more experimentation.

I'm no longer freaking out, and I know Jeff with High Water Sound (the importer) will do whatever it takes to make it right.

Without ever having seen a Raven One, but just from my past experience with turntable motors, I do not think that your experiment proves that your motor is OK. It would seem to me that the motor should not need a Vibrapod to make it quiet, and I don't see how a faulty Stillpoint could induce a noise, either. It's well and good that the Vibrapod ameliorates the problem, but I would still think you should opt for a replacement motor. If you then find that the same conditions persist with both motors, THEN you might blame things on the Stillpoint, etc. By the way, is there any noise when the motor is sitting on a bare shelf? But also, check Aoliviero's idea about the pulley, if you have not already done so. These are my bystander 2 cents worth of advice.

You have good points. The pulley's set screw is tight. What makes real sense is to move the table to another platform to see if there's noise.

Raven One owners, when you put your ear right up to the face of the Motor Control can you hear the tranformer. I was getting a slight buzz with it sitting on a wood shelf. I placed two TTRisers by TTWeights Audio under it and this completely eliminated the noise.

Update - I followed Lewm's lead (question) and moved the TT to my wood floor. "No noise."

This is a big shot in the dark. I don't have any experience
with your raven. But I did have a sme 20/2 with a noisy
motor at one point. Turns out I had been putting 2 drops
of oil in it over time vs one drop a year. I thought for
sure it was a bearing going out. Sme sent me some
instructions, 30 min later and a few q tips noise was gone..