wow and flutter

"Belt-drive turntables will always be subject to speed stability issues caused by stylus drag because of their relatively weak motors."

A 20+lb platter should make this a non-issue. And that I believe is why practically all high end belt drive tables have high-mass, often periphery weighted, platters. I would wager that the polar moment of inertia of these platters is a lot greater than the torque generated by the motor of a direct drive deck.

Seand, it's not all about torque--it's speed stability. That's why I mentioned *linear* when suggesting direct drive and that's why VPI uses flywheels in their top end belt drives. In fact, their top model uses two motors and one flywheel. Why not go for the simpler, single motor, 20+ platter approach that you suggest instead? Because
it takes more than 20 pounds. In my belt drive transport there's a weigh on top of the CD and that's enough once I had the power supply modded by Dan Wright--but in a turntable it's a whole different game. Think about it.

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I must admit to making a somewhat general statement here and I am sure you can address this issue with a heavier weighted platter.It does not become a non-issue though, even with high-end turntables and I crave your indulgence as that is one of the things that make the idler-wheel Lenco very competitive,as is being dicussed over at that thread about building high-end on the cheap at home depot.Basically no matter how sophisticated your motor or platter/bearing system is,you are still relying on a rubber belt that is subject to cogging,stretching and wear etc. The idler wheel method provides a superior constant speed stability.For more on this and a better explanation I can only recommend the above-mentioned thread.

Get a new belt, clean the bearing and add some new oil, that's it. Now you have a great entry-level turntable.
With a good arm that you can put a good cartridge on.

pbb and others have said don't get to worked up about test records listen to the music, they are right also.