A new TT from Steve Dobbins,"The Beat." ???

ya mean like here......and maybe here, and then here.

yes, i do know about it.

then later here.

you just need to know where to look.

maybe i should post the basics about The Beat. it is a state of the art direct drive tt with a separate power supply. it comes with 2 arm boards. it has a bearing separate from the very high torque direct drive motor.

i had one in my system for 2 days about a month ago. fantastic performance in every way; it sets new reference levels in overall musical energy and particularly bass performance.

i purchased one.

i currently own 2 vintage tt's which have been re-worked and had plinths supplied by Steve Dobbins....who is the manufacturer of The Beat.

Mike, Do you know or can you say here just how is the bearing isolated from the motor? It would seem that the very definition of direct drive carries the inherent requirement that there is some degree of association between bearing and motor. I guess the semantics make for confusion. To put it another way, how is it different from the Mk3 as regards the degree of coupling between bearing and motor? Thanks.

Lew,

Do you know or can you say here just how is the bearing isolated from the motor?

very good question.

Steve did not explain that to me (or if he did it went over my head).

obviously Steve has made plinths for dozens of (Technics SP-10) Mk3's and experimented with various ways to optimize them. in his efforts he ran into a limitation of the Mk3 design, which was the noise which was transferred to the platter thru the bearing which is part of the motor. he determined that isolating the bearing was a key to improving that aspect of the performance.

my Rockport solves this problem with an air bearing.

i can say The Beat is a little quieter than the already 'quiet' Mk3.

Yes, some isolation could be achieved by air bearing as in the Rockport or by magnetics, as in the Clearaudio monstrosity. I don't think Steve used either of those methods. So it's a fun thought experiment to figure out how it might be done otherwise. The simplest thing would be to isolate the bearing from the motor coils as well as possible. Then the magnet/stator could still be attached to the platter, as in the Mk3. No part of the motor physically touches the platter/ bearing in this scheme, so unless there is induced vibration in the platter via the magnet/coil interaction, the goal is brought nearer. With a Mk3, you would have to deconstruct the bearing/coil assembly to get there, which is not easy to contemplate in such an expensive and rare piece of gear. But my goodness, the Mk3 is freakin quiet already.