Some tables have soul and some not

Art Dudley has never really changed. However, he is recently in love with Garrard and Thorens and out of love with Linn LP12. (In_shore, "Linn Ittok" is a tonearm. The turntable is "LP12".) But as recently as last year, Art Dudley scoffed at all direct-drive turntables, remarking that putting the motor so near to the platter made no sense to him in terms of noise. Apparently he has never investigated the construction of the better dd turntables, wherein the platter is essentially the rotor of the motor itself. Ergo, there is no source of noise, only bearing friction can contribute noise, just as for any other type of turntable. How he can diss a whole class of products on the one hand and be so monotheistic about arcane Japanese electronics, like Shindo, on another, is beyond me. But I do think he is a fine writer, in contrast to many.

Prcinka, What's a "Melco"?

Lewm: "What's a "Melco"?"

Here's some Melco history and info:
http://www.soundfountain.com/beltdrive/belt-drive-turntable.html
http://www.melcoinc.com/english/business/history.html
http://www.soundfountain.com/beltdrive/melco_500.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v681/cids/MelcoTT.jpg
http://www.topclassaudio.com/web/eng/used_product_details.jsp?gid=5699
http://www.topclassaudio.com/web/eng/used_product_details.jsp?gid=5618

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HiHo other mid to late 1970s mass loaded designs, Melco including the Final Labs Parthenon from what I understand is a sophisticated advanced design for it's time also from the 1970s. Either ignored or mis-used by TAS if they ever had one to test. Instead the LP12 reins supreme at Sea Cliff during this time period.

Briefly more about the Final Labs member Dover uses one and I think Johnathan Carr of Lyra fame also has one if i'm not mistaken.
Topclass audio have some Melcos and currant production? Final Labs for sale if anyone want to buy one or two.

I can confirm the Final Labs Parthenon was reviewed by TAS, first by Harry Pearson and then by Warwick Mickell who was a TAS writer based in Japan. I own the unit reviewed by Warwick, a personal friend. Unfortunately HP insisted on putting a high mass turnable onto an unstable air platform, against the designers advice and although HP liked the tt he commented on the bloated upper base. It is still more advanced than most heavy mass tt's built today and the Micros & Melcos. The motor controller includes reconstructed power supply sine and cosine waves, to provide stability for the motor controller/motor, the ability to adjust the torque applied to the thread drive and precise independent 10 turn potentiometers to dial in 33 & 45.
In my experience both the high mass turntables and the top direct drives, the L07D and Technics SP10mk3, got poor reviews due primarily to poor set up and incompatibilities with tonearms of the day. Many of the tonearms in those days had resonances and required careful matching to the tt and armboards of the day.

Lewm: " I do think he (Art Dudley) is a fine writer, in contrast to many."

Yes, I agree and he's a delight to read. It's just a shame that such usually open-minded writer has such blindness towards one genre of products without even looking into their inner workings before dismissing them. Sometimes you just have to look for the "soul" of a turntable.

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