Why will no other turntable beat the EMT 927?

Thanks bydlo.

are you familiar with the Jean Nantais Lenco L75 - EMT927

Haha! The guy sounds like a typical megalomaniac. He claims his Lencos outerformed this ot that TT without any concrete evidence: in what areas and how exactly outperformed, what was the rest of the system, what was the material played, how many listeners and with what background, etc etc. Without such a precise data, inevitable if one challenges a reference, this is just a pure megalomany

Always a lot of discussion about speed and speed control. I'm no expert and do not claim to be an authority here. I'm just not convinced that the differences in how these turntables sound is due largely to speed control. I believe that the majority of our hifi turntables have speed and speed control nailed down very well. The key is having the right tools to accurately dial in the correct speed, but our tt's have the motors and control circuits to hold speed as required. We have discussed this in other forums. Most tables are capable to hold speed within +/-0.05%. This is as good as the master reel to reel tapes that the records were made from.
I believe the majority of the sound differences can be attributed to both isolation of the record and stylus and the dampening or sinking of the vibrations generated by the stylus (internal born) as well as external vibrations (feed back from the speaker output). The platter must be acoustically black. ie. no response to the stylus vibrations can be allowed to be fed back to the cartridge. The platter bearing, tonearm bearing and tonearm mount must be acoustically black. Any reflections back to the cartridge is going to muddy the sound, smear images and reduce detail. Looking at pictures of the EMT turntable convinces me that its massive chassis, platter and bearing probably makes this tt incomparable among tt's to asorbing vibrations and eliminating reflections back to the cartridge.
I don't think drive type matters that much either as long as vibrations are isolated and absorbed. Some of the advatages of rim drive might simply be the rim pulley sinking vibrations from the platter. Belts have their own way of isolating vibrations. I think DD is the biggest challenge for isolation and sinking of vibrations. These are just opinions on my part and I would like Halcro and Thucan to weigh in with their much more vast experience.

I've heard a number of idler drive tables-927, 301, Thorens, etc. and they do share an appealing quality--a bold, dynamic, prick-up-your-ears quality. I have also heard a belt drive table that had that same kind of sound--the monster Audionote table with three 2 hp motors. A common element seems to be pretty high torque motors.

Not having heard many tables in side-by-side comparisons, I could not even begin to speculate on "best." Even if one heard direct comparisons, one could only pick a personal favorite for that particular system. The very notion of a universal "best" is not worth debating.

There a plenty of great sounding vinyl systems that I've heard built around a vastly different set of tables--Audionote, Garrard, Gabriel, Verdier, Basis, Kuzma, to name just a few.

In my own system, I enjoy a Basis Debut with vacuum clamp and motor control. I have no idea how it compares with other tables in my system because I don't switch tables at all (WAY too much trouble)--I just know that I like the sound.

Ct, I have to agree with Bydlo. I read that "review" back when Jean published it on his lengthy Audiogon thread. There was not much in the way of objectivity. Good as Jean's Lenco turntables are, it is a stretch to say his comparison to the EMT 927 proves anything. At this juncture, I am not sure I would even agree that Jean makes the best Lenco, let alone the best idler in the world. But don't misconstrue this as dismissal of the Nantais Lenco's. They are excellent. I have owned one of his and now own one of my own concocting that uses a slate plinth, Reinder PTP, aftermarket massive bearing, treated platter. The idler has a certain unique quality that does indeed make me wonder about the 927, from a distance.