Turntable with stable speed.

No_regrets, Don't overlook locking into to pure 33.3. If you listen to classical music, and music with acoustic instruments played with complementing harmonies, any slight deviation from 33.3 will corrupt the listening experience.

I doubt that a TT exists that will not have some amount of speed fluctuation due to varying degrees of drag. However, there are TTs that minimize the speed change such that they reproduce music that is pleasant to hear.

I found great satisfaction with a Luxman DD that was designed by Micro Seiki. Lewm, Audiogon member, has extolled the virtues of the Kenwood L07D amongst other vintage DD turntables. From his threads, he completely understands the merits of speed accuracy and constant pitch. I recommend you review his threads.

Perform a little research on vintage DD tables (JVC, Sony, Kenwood, Luxman, Technics). They may not have the audiophile cache. However, in your price range, they offer unexpected value, especially, when compared to new DD.

Note: I have tried belt, thread, idler, rim-drive. My wife and I are very sensitive to change in pitch and true pitch.

SL-1200.... There I said it!

Add a SME arm and you should be set!

I should have added Denon DDs and spelled it "cachet" rather than cache. I would like to hear a Technics 1200. I understand they are an excellent TT.

Hi Redglobe,

In a perfect world, yes I'd love to be able to lock in on the 33.33333 but what I meant to say is that if the speed accuracy is to be off, I'd much rather it be that the speed is off by 1/100 of a percent and remain steady at that speed than to be 33.33 but fluctuate +/- of that 33.33 as that is extremely noticeable and irritating to me. Thank you for sharing your suggestions with me on the various direct drives.

Rlawry, Thank you for your mention of the SME 20/2. That is a very highly regarded table and I'm sure you are loving it immensely. Unfortunately, they are more than what I'd like to spend at this moment, however if I cannot find what I'm looking for in the $3K range....I have no problem waiting until I can afford something nicer such as this.

Drpank, it seems that most of the various technologies tried to address the problem from different angles, yet still struggle with the aspect of speed stability. Do you have any suggestions you would like to share?

No regrets, You have brought up the most commonly discussed issue on the Analog site. There are two or three active threads devoted directly or indirectly to this subject. Look at the current top ten threads, and you will find in several cases lively and acrimonious discussion of your topic.

DrPank, I can only agree fully with one point you made: drive technology is not the determinant of speed stability. It can be done with BD, DD, and Idlers. But not all turntables do it, nevertheless.