Brinkmann Bardo

The slow start up time of the Bardo was technically intentional by the designer to combat cogging so it's rather unfair to criticize it for what it wants to do; it's a design feature. Here is the reason explained in their, again, white paper, if people bother to read it:

Studios (radio stations in particular) demand quick start-up times – turntables typically have to reach theircorrect speed within half a revolution. For LPs this means 0-33 1/3 rpm within 0.9 seconds. Such acceleration figures can only be achieved through use of high-torque motors and correspondingly tight coupling between the drive and platter. It isn’t a surprise then that for decades idler wheel drive designs were the de facto standard in studio applications.

But idler wheel turntables also had seriously high maintenance costs in order to be up and running 24/7 and to avoid rumble and other sound degrading issues caused by worn out idler wheels to affect the sound negatively. Thus out of necessity, in the late 1960s manufacturers of studio turntables began to look for low(er) cost maintenance alternatives. They came up with direct drive, whereby the platter was placed directly on the motor’s shaft, ie the stator was mounted around the bushing and the shaft was used as the rotor and voila, the goal was achieved; at least in theory.

But start-up times of less than 1 second necessitated high torque motors, which designers achieved by using motors with 32 and more poles. The penalty they paid were heavy cogging effects accompanied by high wow & flutter numbers. The cure was found in quartz locked motors and phase locked regulators; which corrected for any deviations from their preset with an iron fist.

On paper at least, these “corrected” direct drive turntables boasted hitherto unimaginable low wow & flutter numbers down to 0,001%. But the rigorous iron fist regulation prevented the platter from spinning smoothly; instead, the regulation caused the platter to oscillate continuously between speeding up and slowing down. These start/stop motions translated into an unpleasantly rough and hard sound; odd as wow & flutter numbers in the 0,001% range are deemed inaudible.

Once the direct drive technology had gained a foothold in pro audio applications, the benefits of mass production (ie. trickle down effect) made sure that very soon even $100 turntables were equipped with direct drive and advertised as having less than 0.01% wow & flutter. This is precisely where direct drive got its bad rap sheet.

Under closer scrutiny however, this assumption were based on some misunderstandings. For one, in home audio application use, turntables are not really required to reach 33 1/3 rpm in less than a second, thus 32 pole motors and phase locked regulators are not really necessary either.

I have a Kenwood KD-770D that has rather slow start up (approx. 6 seconds) and lower torque, in similar spirit to the Bardo, compare to my other direct-drive tables and it also has the smoothest silky sound and is speed stable that I really have no complaint. Direct-drive does not have to have fast start up but if you can't live without that feature then the Bardo is not a table for you. For me, I certainly appreciate Brinkmann taking on a different approach. I also like its simplicity and rugged construction.
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Hiho

The cut and paste white paper you put up here is more a simple narrative lumping all DD's into the $100 bad rap sheet.

I certainly do not hear any of the so called negatives Brinkman have brought up in my two DD tables I currently have- just the opposite, then again I am not comparing to any $100 DD's either which I agree with Brinkman on.

BTW, I am glad Brinkman have brought back the DD approach, but lets not confuse an advertorial with a true white paper.

The white paper will do its job in distancing Brinkman from those nasty mass produced $100 tables of yesteryear.

My point is that Brinkmann intentionally taking on a different approach from the direct drive tradition. Whether they are successful in sonic terms is a different issue. You are bother by the slow start up so I simply direct you to their reasoning behind it. I like turntables of all kinds including tables with fast start up; I like novelty and if any brand trying to do something different from the norm I appreciate it, sonically successful or not. That's all.

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>>06-16-10: Downunder
Lew, for me, yes it would.
I use my two DD's and really appreciate the ultra quick start up/start down time.<<

Right. It's very important to begin and end a listening session with as few delays as possible.

Let's assume for grins and giggles that you listen to 8 (eight) album sides in a listening session. Assuming each side is 20 minutes, your total listening time is 160 minutes or 2 1/3 hours.

Now the difference between the Bardo start up time (12 seconds x 8 album sides= 96 seconds) and your table (0.3 seconds x 8 album sides= 2.4 seconds) is 93.6 seconds or 0.9% of your listening time.

Makes sense to me. You could spend all of that extra time cutting your toenails or perhaps taking a bathroom break

Downunder: "I certainly do not hear any of the so called negatives Brinkman have brought up in my two DD tables I currently have- just the opposite, then again I am not comparing to any $100 DD's either which I agree with Brinkman on."

It's all about YOUR turntables, all the other turntables under or at $100 are so beneath you, so not high end, regardless of what technology they use. The innovative Dual EDS motor or the Lenco tables were (or still are) all under $100 used at one point. Hey, if it's not about something you own, you obvious have no interest so what do you care.

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