I built my own Turntable and here are the results

"But what about when you quite accidentally brush the arm pod and you then need to stop everything whilst you get out the protractor and relive the unpleasant experience of re-aligning the tonearm?"

You are right Lewn, I had the exact unpleasant experience before. If I am forced to keep a table with separate armpod, I would find ways to drill a hole or bolt the pod to the platform. I think the Verdier simply bolt the armpod to the same platform the platter and bearing assembly shared so it's almost a hybrid. Cantilevered armboard has its flaw too - diving board effect. Anyway, I think we are on the same page about keeping tonearm and bearing as tightly coupled as possible. The separate armpod thing has better snob appeal. The same thing with thick and heavy platter, I cringe whenever I see platters thicker than 2 inches. Not my cup of tea, that's all.

Not even a cup of tea served on a 2-inch platter? (Sorry. Could not resist.) If the tonearm is on a cantilever, it had better be very sturdy well supported one. But a solid wood or slate or other plinth wherein the tt chassis also resides is a good place for a tonearm to sit.

If it's Oolong tea then I will take it.

Back to separate arm pods - from Oolong, ho'.
Firstly, both the arm-pod and the tt has to be 'hard' connected to the surface they stand on - plus it better a as level as it gets.
Now you have the issue with platter and arm-pod standing un-damped on a hard surface --- not so good at all, or?

The hard-connected tt will need to stand on some pretty well functioning damping platform, so does the motor too, and the arm-pod? - Too - and separately damped?! This starts too look pretty tricky now.

I think this separation-scheme is looking for trouble, never mind just getting pushed over or only just moved out of alignment. And nothing said about the motor-pod yet, standing on the same resonating slab as the arm pod?!

Greetings,

"I think this separation-scheme is looking for trouble, never mind just getting pushed over or only just moved out of alignment."

You can always check if the oolong tea is shaking in the cup to check for misalignment.

All jokes aside, I completely agree. Trouble, trouble. But then again, what fun is it if we audiophiles are not trouble makers? :-)

The armboard on the Continuum Criterion turntable uses, I believe, magnetic separation. I wonder how that sounds compare to just rigid coupling...