Direct drive vs belt vs rim vs idler arm


Is one TT type inherently better than another? I see the rim drive VPI praised in the forum as well as the old idler arm. I've only experienced a direct drive Denon and a belt driven VPI Classic.
rockyboy
Mosin,
an excellent summary you made which I will fully underwrite. Especially on idler drives many among us seem to have made not the best experiences and this is definitely due to the equipment they were working with. If you put a lot of efforts in carefully designing and implementing designs on belt drives (best with two excellent motors and a perfect steering) as well as idlers you reach wonderful results. It is more the concept and its implementation rather than the difference between the various drive technologies which makes the difference!
Quote:I believe a great direct drive is the most difficult to achieve because of audible artifacts introduced by most implementations

I would have to say this is the total opposite IMO Idler would be the most difficult because of all the mechanical things it possess..... motor. idler wheel..idlerwheel arm etc. etc...I personally played with a few Idler TT but mostly the lenco...problem is these tables will not play the bottom end like a good direct drive period! most people that use idler tables use horn systems with limited bandwidth so they do not understand what i mean...the idler (lenco) can give you a false impression of bottom end because its shelved up in response in the 40 cycle range but homogenizes the last octave....please do not kid yourself they are very nice sounding but not IMO in the same league that the upper best DD are

win we talked about this remember...I think you may have taken offense and if so I am sorry... I hear what i hear and i know what i know

Lawrence
Fidelity Forward
Lew,

You you may be right. I spoke out of school because I lack the extensive firsthand experience that you have.

Thuchan,

You are right.

Lawrence,

I took no offense, but you haven't heard them all, and I'm here to say that an idler can be made that can do anything the others can do. I am sure of it.

Now, if I can only convince Syntax. Then, the fight will be won! That will certainly take some convincing, won't it? At least he and I agree about string drive! ;)

.
Mosin
Now, if I can only convince Syntax. Then, the fight will be won! That will certainly take some convincing, won't it? At least he and I agree about string drive! ;)

Hi Mosin - seems like an easy fix.

Send him one of your tables to hear, and see if he returns it.

No?
Dover recently I had a demonstration of a Nakamichi 1000 table and was impressed, I just got caught up in the hoopla about it thats all,I should read this site more and I'll shut up .I know a reference position is needed of course to use a centre correcting jig and much more work can be done on my attempts.
Mosin I agree with Lewm on the issue of direct drives, Halcros nude thread on plinth-less dd is a shining example of the influence poor plinth design and material used can directly effect performance. On the other side of the coin is the plinth of the fantastic Kenwood L07D.