my humble take on this is that in fact speed accuracy IS INDISPUTABLY as important as it "seems," and the issue at hand is not the table/arm/cartridge combination, but the table ONLY, and it's one and only function, which is to maintain as stable a speed as is possible to reproduce the time domain of the LP. to compare this to specifications of amplifiers is comparing apples to horse apples IMHO. the key is IMPLEMENTATION (as in all things), and the walker had better be optimized in this respect to justify it's price. to hear a properly implemented/optimized technics, lenco or garrard with the same arm and cartridge would be preferred, and i guess that's where things are going. this is getting exciting!
i would add that jean's lenco thread did not require endorsement by anyone, it has stood on it's own merits and by his (significant and ongoing) efforts since day one. not trying to be overly contentious, but that needed to be said. credit where credit is due.
I think you missed the point. When I posted at the Lenco thread it was very early on with lots of speculation as to the accuracy of Jeans comments. I put my money up, ordered a Lenco off Ebay, ordered a Decca tonearm from Holland, a new EAR 834 phono and Shure cartridge, just from Jean's comments. I even went on to design my own plinth and post it in vertual systems here at Audiogon. I am a supporter of Jeans ideas.
My results were wonderful, the Lenco is an inexpensive turntable that makes great music for little money. My comments were supportive of Jean and I take no credit for his thread.
As with all things high end, the performance differences seldom justify the price. For me, LP is my main source of listening as my library is mostly vinyl and the Walker is so far beyond any other LP playback source it defies logic.
What got this thread off center were comments that appeared to support the idea that speed accuracy was so important that it surpassed the "whole package" approach. I'm not saying speed accuracy is not important, but not so important that it can overcome all the engineering that make up the turntable package.
Having owned two Basis Debut Gold (Model 4 and 5) with both AirTangent 10B and Graham 2.2 arms with exact same Koetsu RSP I'm using with the Walker, I can state without doubt, the Basis is speed accurate enough to provide state of the art sound.
The Walker package is superior to the Basis and although the Walker is more speed accurate, it is only part of the picture.
An "equal" test is not possible between a Walker and a Lenco or Technics as the Walker arm is integrated into the foundation and design of the table. Any comparisons would be between the Walker package and whatever package was chosen for the other table.
Testing is fine and I will support it, but having heard the Technics tens of dozens of times, I know exactly what it sounds like. If anyone want's to challenge the Walker in a "dollar for dollar" match against the Technics, I concede defeat before the test begins. Just the same as Rockport must concede defeat against the Walker as it costs three times the price.