Is Direct Drive Really Better?

Screw the numbers. Trust yer ears. I don't see why at least a very close approximation of a controlled setting which would allow a one-to-one-to-one comparison of table/arm/cart combos could not be accomplished. At least enough so that one could make a case for THEIR listening preference (what counts most). Many have done so informally and anecdotally. And, to the extent they are satisfied with their choices ends the argument in their minds. Personally I’d rather sink my teeth into the music I hear than the numbers I see on a sheet of paper, but I understand you desire to have something more seemingly solid.

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.

Tom, my arguments address the conversation that deals with why one technology is better than the other, which has been the dominant conversation in this thread. That's not the question you asked, but it's where the discussion has gone.

I don't count myself among the audiophiles who do not care to ask why but just accept what they hear as true. It's a fine line, of course, but to abandon reason and critical thinking is unacceptable to me. If belt drive superiority proves to have been a distortion that the market adopted wholesale 25 years ago, it is partly because we accepted the erroneous arguments for why it was superior. Same will be true here if we buy into statements such as "pushes the platter instead of pulls it" without critically examining their merits.

Paul: I agree that the remarkable longevity and popularity of the SL-1200 says exactly nothing about either the worth of that machine to audiophiles, or the worth of DD in general to audiophiles. Now, that fact may say more about audiophiles than about DD (or the SL-1200), but the argument's a false sylogism nonetheless. Granted, perhaps not a lot of products without some sort of fundamental merit do as well over decades as the 1200, but a few do -- witness the Bose 901. But the 1200's endurance springs mostly from people who must depend on it in a professional context, so that the machine has its virtues is uncontested; the question is whether one of those virtues is actually sound quality. I have my inexpert opinion on that, but no "bubble" to burst, trust me, and I do not "bash" BD. If you count my response among those you classify as not being sensible or coherent, then that's your privilege.

So what we mostly have are reports from guys who've owned both. It seems noteworthy to me that among the A-goners who've given good DD a chance and also have experience with good BD, I don't think there are any who dismiss DD out of hand, and a few who specifically extoll the potential of the 1200. (If you want to take Psychicanimal off the table from the start, be my guest; we all know where [and how] Francisco stands, and still life goes on.) In the final analysis, online anecdotes mean less to me than what I hear in my living room, and that I find almost entirely satisfactory and beautiful, especially since the KAB mods. Which shouldn't necessarily say anything to you. Anyway, regardless of the motor/drive system, the 1200 still can't sound better than the basic competence of its plinth, platter, bearing, and tonearm, which *ought* to mean it can't bat in the same league as the big boys (but not because any of those things, save perhaps the platter, is notably deficient IMO). But please feel free to take a stab at any of the theoretical points in favor of DD I raised above.

Macrojack: Your last post, it seems to me, actually bears little relation to the question you appeared to ask at the top (reread it), or the debate you seem to have been encouraging since. I think a discussion of theoretical potential and pitfalls is totally appropriate, and in many ways a good chew over theory is the best thing you can read on a forum like this. It can teach you new ways of thinking about what you hear. If you expect to settle anything by people recounting their personal experiences and opinions, you're probably going to be disappointed. Online forums are about discussion of audio and batting around of ideas in addition to experience and opinions, and the whole activity is an entirely different animal from actually listening to music or gear. In any case, there are too many people here lacking both the carts and the horses to put one before the other... ;^)