"Other $1,500 tables might come closer of course, but I don't know any that would match it."
I understand, very few people have a KAB modded Technics SL-1200MKII. The day before I took my 1200 to Kevin for installing the outboard power supply I was at an antique steam & gas engine show in Blue Mountain, PA. There were all these single piston engines with massive flywheels and I started thinking about TTs. Hmmm, to get the belt drive TT spinning right one needs one--preferrably two flywheeels, just like VPI does. That's a good, albeit primitive solution. Just like modern, lighter and powerful gasoline engines which have inboard sensing/correction computers, the linear quartz lock drive can do an effective job w/out relying on massive amounts of lead and/or a flywheel. It just uses a flared platter to lower the center of gravity and add rotational velocity. There are two issues at stake here:
1) How do you take care of speed control issues as the stylus tracks transients (stylus drag).
2) How is speed kept constant while modulating a groove?
One lesson I've learned since having the outboard power supply is that in my TT I can get OUTSTANDING performance with the modded Stanton Groovemaster II. It is a moving magnet design and sounds better than my Ortofon X5 moving coil! Aren't moving coils supposed to be faster, more natural, etc? The answer is simple: the platter can drive the magnets & cantilever assembly rather effortlessly.
The more I look at the Teres the more I see it as a direct drive wannabe!