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Turntable speed accuracy

There is another thread (about the NVS table) which has a subordinate discussion about turntable speed accuracy and different methods of checking. Some suggest using the Timeline laser, others use a strobe disk.

I assume everyone agrees that speed accuracy is of utmost importance. What is the best way to verify results? What is the most speed-accurate drive method? And is speed accuracy really the most important consideration for proper turntable design or are there some compromises with certain drive types that make others still viable?
peterayer
tonywinsc
583 posts
 
Keep in mind that the effect of the vinyl record runout is worse at the inner groove. As the needle is further out from the spindle the radius of the runout is proportionally smaller so Wow will be less at the outer groove of the record. So effectively another problematic issue when playing the inner grooves of records. Does anyone notice a rhythm/timing difference in the music from the outer to inner tracks?
thuchan
1,009 posts
 
Henry,

you made a good point with the Timeline & the Nakamichi. The red signal keeps stable even when the needle runs down on the record. Ths is an advantage of the DD design (and I have to correct myself - no manual speed correction is necessary on all my TTs).

Tonywinsc,

if we start a competion by using a stopwatch I might win with the EMT ;-)

Frogman,

you are right, precision control is the one thing but musicality and a sonic footprint is the other one. Therefore I find it hard always following the neutrality apostles in our community - but there are not so many in this thread. Am I right?

best @ fun only
lewm
13,165 posts
 
Thanks, Tony, for introducing some science to the foregoing discussion. I know I am going to sound like one of Syntax's "fanboys", but I have been listening to my Technics SP10 Mk3 for the first time in extensive sessions over this past weekend. And I am astounded by the rhythm and drive this table can impart to music on LPs with which I am very familiar. Try "Art Pepper + Eleven", which contains just about every bebop rhythm one can imagine. There were tears in my eyes, literally. Yes, Tony, the Mk3 can bring its 21-lb platter up to speed in one rotation, probably sooner. I have been arguing this stuff on a theoretical basis; now I am a true believer.
frogman
7,472 posts
 
Thuchan, I reluctantly admit to being a "neutrality apostle". But I am reluctant only because, IMO, the term neutrality is usually misunderstood. In your comment you pair the term neutrality with sonic-footprint. From my vantage point, sonic footprint is, by definition, usually the result of distortions. Neutrality (or however close a component gets to it) is a measure of musicality. In other words, a component that is truly musical IS closer to neutral. "Precision control" allows musicality.

Regards.
thuchan
1,009 posts
 
well said Frogman, but I am not pairing sonic footprint and neutrality. Sonic Footprint in my understanding is that you recognise the turntable's abiliy in producing fine music. Just take the EMT R80 (927) as an example. Agree completly that Precision Control allows musicality. I for myself need both!

Some people argue that a turntable should just reproduce which is a funny statement. A Linn Lp 12 and some of the smaller new Thorens tables e.g. also reproduce - but with what kind of result. Of course some people may like it. good. Distortion is a wide field and I know someone in this community who loves the term.

In my understanding sonic footprint is not the result of distortions at all. The Nakamichi, or the EMT as well as the Micros do have a sonic footprint which is different. Does this mean I am surrounded by distortions, God beware. I would jump from the bridge...

best @ fun only
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