Upgrade from TW Acustic Raven AC-3 to what?

Dertonarm,

Fine, but the reality is that it isn't so much the drive method, as it is the implementation of ideas. This isn't really a debatable point. Rather, it is a question of hearing a great many turntables, and listening to them in a critical way. For a long time, I believed that one way was surely best, but then I was exposed to various turntables past and present. The surprise was that the ones I liked best did not share a similar drive method. It was more a curious case of designers who share a similar vision. A turntable is more than a collection of parts, far more. It is more like the audio chain in that it is only as strong as its weakest link. Therein lies the rub.

Best,
Win

Mosin,
there are many parts in the audio chain. With some of them "quality" can not be judged "objective" in any way, but is a matter of synergy or "taste". Well, a turntable may be a mysterious machine to some. The drive method - and you got me wrong in that point - is not paramount in any way. It is just, that certain technical features which are paramount regarding the ultimate performance of a turntable for phono playback can not be implemented with 2 of the currently in use 3 drive mechanism.
A turntable is no mysterious machine. It is a machine. Nothing else. No voodoo, no secrets, nothing supernatural.
Applying all the physical aspects in a correct - and consequent - way will always result in a very heavy device with a high mass platter and an isolation from mechanic periphery (underground) below 1 Hz resonance frequency.
This device will never come cheap. The drive mechanism will be a logic choice following the high platter mass and the resulting inertia.
I have listened to all turntables which I found worth listening to after inspection of their technical design. I do not believe in philosophy or implementation of "ideas" in turntables. It is all about constructing a machine with consequence. To do so I apply physics without taking into account whether it looks good in the shop or whether it fits a certain price range. Its about performance and consequence. Two things lacking too often in too many fields and minds. And the turntable is NOT a link in a given audio chain. It is the very foundation of the extraction of the audio signal from its mechanical matrix. Looking for synergy or compensation effects here is inconsequent and will means to abandon the search for maximum performance right from the start. What is lost here is never again found.
Others will have different point of views and different approaches and will certainly not share this view in some or all aspects. But that is not my problem. It is totally fine with me.
Cheers,
D.

>But that is not my problem. It is totally fine with me.
Cheers,
Dertonarm<<

If it's fine why do you continue the long lectures Herr Blowhard?

Audiofeil, if you do feeling lectured by >Dertonearm`s long explanations you may not draw any positive or additional information for you. In this case you either are more sophisticated in TT design as Dertonearm and the discussion is boring you or you believe in the mysterious of TTs and do not accept any other view. Hope you are refering to option ONE.

Dearest Thuchan,
Option One is correct as you had hoped. Happy holidays on that.

When he's been doing it for 50 years, I'll give a listen.

Thanks for your kind words.