Pheonix Engineering Road Runner

Goofy,

Dont know your budget for tonearm - but definitely look into the new Jelco TK series of tonearms - they are s bargain at their asking price.

Good Listening 

Peter 

I find this discussion interesting since I ditched my belt drive VPI's for idlers-a hot rodded Thorens TD124 and a Garrard 301. When I owned my VPI Prime, I heard a distinct jump up in SQ with the Phoenix Engineering Falcon and Roadrunner, but after about a month my ears/brain became accommodated and I was no happier, sonically speaking, than I had been before. The Thorens on the other hand, once Greg Metz of ClassicThorens installed his custom designed huge main bearing and top platter along with a complete rebuild of everything else mated to a Reed arm has continued to thrill me for six months and I doubt that thrill is going to go away. Greg is fond of saying that the strobe on the Thorens is more of a curse than a benefit. Users make the mistake of obsessing over the strobe and continually adjusting the eddy brake and in doing so they undershoot and overshoot the speed. Greg suggests just setting the eddy brake at the correct speed once the motor has been running for an hour and then each time you intend to play music, get the table warmed up ahead of time and ignore the strobe. That is exactly what I do. Any variation from perfect speed is not detectable as affecting pitch. Someone above mentioned picking your shortcoming as all drives have them. I look at it just slightly differently; each drive method has it's strengths. Pick which strength you most want rather than pick which shortcoming you wish to avoid. 

If I'm not mistaken, the Falcon would detect a basic sign wave and would adjust the rotation speed if the form and curve of the sound wave was irregular. Or maybe I'm thinking of a different unit.

@goofyfoot

I had an SME 3009 11 improved with the removable head shell on the Thorens TD145 I had back in the seventies. That was the only arm I used on it while I owned it and it played well with the 145. If your hearing wow and flutter in the music , address that first and foremost. I never had any speed issues with mine so I know that when all components and circuitry is at spec they perform well within reasonable acceptance.
There are those that consider your arm underrated , but that is a personal choice of biased requirements and reasonable mating of neither the table or the arm underused or overvalued in playback. Equal to each other...

@fsonicsmith
Someone above mentioned picking your shortcoming as all drives have them. I look at it just slightly differently; each drive method has it’s strengths. Pick which strength you most want rather than pick which shortcoming you wish to avoid.

Actually that is not what was said at all. It was never alluded to as picking the short comings. It was highlighting the FACT , they all have short comings and different presentations to the same recordings. Quote...

Has2be quote....
" The only thing wrong is that many " music lovers " make out that one drive is better than the other, empirically. They are not , they are options that offer different presentations and interpretations of the same recording, and they all have strengths and weaknesses and they all are made in different levels of quality, and addressing or focusing on different obstacles from designer to designer.
The caveat is , CHOOSE "YOUR OWN" MEDICINE, or pick "your own" poison."

The last sentence, I capped for the point made. That is picking your preference of sound choice (medicine) , not trying to make something it isn’t and never will be like many "poison" themselves to believe they can. You brought up idler drives which is a perfect example. I spent a lot of time with Garrod 301’s and no other drive method can replicate the sonic drive they and other sorted idlers have. Turntables don’t sound better or worse because of the drive method applied. They sound better or worse because they are poorly designed or built regardless of drive, or are well built and designed, but poorly set up and operated. The later is painful to see and hear while the owner blames the product or drive method.

They sound better or worse because they are poorly designed or built regardless of drive,

To put it diplomatically, you are naive. As with all other components in the chain, no amount of engineering can do away with the flaws inherent in recording and playing back vinyl. Perhaps you suffer from Mike Fremeritis. It's a condition where someone who used to embrace the limitations of vinyl suddenly aspires to and strives to challenge the theoretical limits of digital reproduction. In other words, a simple form of deluded madness. This syndrome is most often seen in 65-70 year old men who can not accept the simple notion that their time is nearing an end.