Lewm -
There are no sides here. I am reminded of the old doctor who unfortunately misunderstood a lady who wandered into the clinic and complained of acute angina.
I have been fortunate to acquire an exceptionable turntable that still outperforms anything I've heard, which includes the SP10's, L07D's and the big Micro Seikis. Ironically HP described the sound of the Final Audio VTT1 as "sounding like a direct drive TT" when he auditioned it in the 70's.
Artisan Fidelity does a fantastic job restoring and improving turntables. In my view the old direct drives need to be blueprinted and recalibrated in every respect, both electrically and mechanically, due to age.
The weak point of the SP10mk3 is a substandard plinth system that does not provide loop rigidity between platter/bearing/arm/cartridge. Artisan Fidelity build a new plinth with both far superior loop rigidity and and If you examine the Artisan Fidelity SP10mk3 upgrades - rigid plinth, energy drain to ground, copper record interface mat - the Final Audio had these attributes as standard back in 1971.
In 1971 the Final Audio had a rigid skeletal plinth, the base of which is 40kg slab of Superplastic Zinc Alloy, at room temperature this material grain slides at a molecular level when excited between 10-100hz. The gunmetal arm pod is bolt to this energy sink as is the inverted bearing. A platform made by Otai composed of a constrain layered structure of hardwood plywood and crushed stone ( used as a base under the bullet trains ) was the recommended interface to sink any residual noise to ground (earth).
The platter system uses 4.5kg copper mat and 18kg aluminium platter ( solid profile, not a ring bell shape ) and a gunmetal clamping system to drain unwanted energy from the stylus/record interface to ground. Final claimed at the time that even the shape of the underside of the platter had been designed to squeeze noise out.
The Artisan Fidelity Statement 301 - has a 19lb platter composed of aluminium/copper with an inverted bearing - again the Final Audio had this back in 1971.
As far as drive train goes - the Final implemented, back in 1971, a regenerated power supply that included sine and cosine wave generator, with infinite control of speed ( not stepped ) and control over the level of torque applied. The AC motor locks precisely, if an AC motor lags at all, it corrects sinusoidally, in a very benign manner.
This drive train is more sophisticated than any of the big Micros and Melcos that came about in the late 80's, some years after the Final was built. The energy drain design of the Final again is far more sophisticated the the big Micros and Melcos as is the speed stability ( the Micros use DC motors )
So I am not anti drive of any kind - it is more about implementation. There are only a handful of exceptional turntables out there in my experience.
There are no sides here. I am reminded of the old doctor who unfortunately misunderstood a lady who wandered into the clinic and complained of acute angina.
I have been fortunate to acquire an exceptionable turntable that still outperforms anything I've heard, which includes the SP10's, L07D's and the big Micro Seikis. Ironically HP described the sound of the Final Audio VTT1 as "sounding like a direct drive TT" when he auditioned it in the 70's.
Artisan Fidelity does a fantastic job restoring and improving turntables. In my view the old direct drives need to be blueprinted and recalibrated in every respect, both electrically and mechanically, due to age.
The weak point of the SP10mk3 is a substandard plinth system that does not provide loop rigidity between platter/bearing/arm/cartridge. Artisan Fidelity build a new plinth with both far superior loop rigidity and and If you examine the Artisan Fidelity SP10mk3 upgrades - rigid plinth, energy drain to ground, copper record interface mat - the Final Audio had these attributes as standard back in 1971.
In 1971 the Final Audio had a rigid skeletal plinth, the base of which is 40kg slab of Superplastic Zinc Alloy, at room temperature this material grain slides at a molecular level when excited between 10-100hz. The gunmetal arm pod is bolt to this energy sink as is the inverted bearing. A platform made by Otai composed of a constrain layered structure of hardwood plywood and crushed stone ( used as a base under the bullet trains ) was the recommended interface to sink any residual noise to ground (earth).
The platter system uses 4.5kg copper mat and 18kg aluminium platter ( solid profile, not a ring bell shape ) and a gunmetal clamping system to drain unwanted energy from the stylus/record interface to ground. Final claimed at the time that even the shape of the underside of the platter had been designed to squeeze noise out.
The Artisan Fidelity Statement 301 - has a 19lb platter composed of aluminium/copper with an inverted bearing - again the Final Audio had this back in 1971.
As far as drive train goes - the Final implemented, back in 1971, a regenerated power supply that included sine and cosine wave generator, with infinite control of speed ( not stepped ) and control over the level of torque applied. The AC motor locks precisely, if an AC motor lags at all, it corrects sinusoidally, in a very benign manner.
This drive train is more sophisticated than any of the big Micros and Melcos that came about in the late 80's, some years after the Final was built. The energy drain design of the Final again is far more sophisticated the the big Micros and Melcos as is the speed stability ( the Micros use DC motors )
So I am not anti drive of any kind - it is more about implementation. There are only a handful of exceptional turntables out there in my experience.