Is Direct Drive Really Better?

It is too bad that so many shoddy, cheap, direct-drive tables were churned out in the 70s and 80s. Many truly sound terrible and have given this drive system a bad name. Regrettably, most people have not had the opportunity to hear a properly set-up Denon DP-6000, or an SP-10. As these were motor units, the choice of plinth is quite critical. Feast your eyes on the direct-drive museum, http://de.geocities.com/bc1a69/museum_eng.html
here you will see numerous examples of correctly implemented direct-drive tables. Sonically, they offer a very different set of strengths and weaknesses than traditional belt drive units. I own both belt drive and direct-drive tables, but my Micro Seiki MR-711 really brings me a lot of joy as did my Denon DP-6000 and Micro Seiki DDX-1000 before it, and that's what it's all about. No joke.

I find it intigueing that Brinkman, who make one of the finest belt drive tables out there, recently introduced a DD model. Interestingly, they are also the US importer for the Norma-Hylee-Tech modded Thorens TD-124 idler-drive tables. Grand Prix also just started showing the new Monaco DD table, which appears to be out of of prototype form. Do we have a trend beginning? Can I get a witness?

Good to see that you wandered over here from the Vinyl Asylum. I am in complete agreement, though I never claimed that any technology was superior; I am more interested in fun than superiority. Oh, and I will need to be a beta tester for that nubian maiden sweat, BTW.

"...home despot thread" pretty funny, what kind of table does Baby Doc Duvalier use at home?

Is butter a better lubricant than nubian maiden sweat? Or is that only on left handed tables, and is it true that if you take them below the equator that they spin the other way? Whoa, dude, that would be like CDs!

Just because we kid a bit in some threads, hardly negates the excellent information posted. Some of us like a little sugar in our tea, some not. Perhaps some are a bit constipated and could use some Immodium.

Pabelson, if you think that the whole thing boils down to speed accuracy and rumble, you are sadly mistaken. Internal resonance within the drive system and resistance to external vibration and the period and frequency of those vibrations are just three more of the various factors that come into play. I am with David on this one trust your ears and just have fun.

For that question to be meaningful one would also have to know what the threshold of perception is for this phenomena. Measuring something is often easy. Correlating that measurement to perceived differences is often fraught with difficulty.

There is no reason to believe that micro speed variations in turntables would be inaudible simply for the reason than that they are of a lesser magnitude than those present in the lathe or recorder. After all, we can hear music around 15 to 20 db down into the noise floor of a record. The fact that there are other speed distortions that are present does not mean that those distortions have the same spectra and period as the ones in the turntable drive system. And, by extension, there are no clear reason to believe that other speed variations in the chain would "mask" variations in the drive system or even mitigate their audiblilty.

Zaikes, I just love your observation. But, if the playback slowdown does not exactly mimic the lathe slowdown, as would be the case here on Earth, then don't you get into constructive and destructive reinforcement of the waveform as pitch is shifted downward, at different rates during mastering and playback?

It's like shaking hands with the direct-drive Alexander Portnoy!