Teres Audio Verus Direct Couples Motor, Anyone?

I've got a Verus motor, but haven't had a chance to really play with it, other than set it up. It was a whip to set the O-ring so it would roll smoothly and didn't produce a "heart beat". With enough messin', it's now at a point where you don't hear it (with your ear pressed against the arm board). I'm using a solid acrylic platter. I'll post some thoughts after I get some hours on it.

I am surprised by your findings that the measured speed was inaccurate. In fact, I don't know how that can be since it has internal controls to set the speed using a strobe disc.
I was able to get it dead on without any variance at all. However, I haven't rechecked it since. I will today to make sure that it has remained the same.
As to the direct coupling coloring the sound, could be. But, I don't hear it. But then I have, thank God, never heard the subtle differences that many people hear changing the VTA. However, I am glad that you reported what you heard.

Hi Agaffer,

The speed controller only ensures speed stability of the motor. It does not guarantee speed accuracy of the platter, which will vary with the circumference of the platter (and the O-ring).

The controller steps are in .32% increments. At a concert A=440 Hz, a speed shift of .32% equates to about 1.4 Hz. A 1.4 Hz shift up or down might be inaudible to many. It was noticeable to me and much more than noticeable to Paul. YMMV, as always.

Exceptional pitch sensitivity is not necessarily a blessing. My mother and I have both walked out of restaurants because the piped in music was intolerable. Paul's worse. He hears it from the parking lot and refuses to walk in the door! ;-)

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The Verus's O-ring and feet act as rubber parts always act when constrained and exposed to vibration, they store energy and release it back into the platter, delayed and phase-shifted. The audio term for this is "feedback". Whether it would bother someone is probably music-, system- and listener-dependent.

Many rock music listeners expect and enjoy feedback. To them, music without feedback does not sound or feel "real". Tube microphonics and the waveform diffractions of some horn speakers are forms of feedback too. People who listen to any of these might enjoy or not notice the Verus's additional feedback - since they hear similar effects every day.

OTOH, we listen almost entirely to acoustic instruments and non-amplified vocalists. One of our major system goals is timbral and temporal accuracy (which requires VTA/SRA adjustment for each LP, unfortunately). For us, feedback of any kind is identifiable, artificial and unwelcome. Most of our system improvements/upgrades have been aimed at reducing it.

Some call it musicality and presence. We call it a coloration. It depends on one's perspective on music and sound.

There is a very favorable review just posted on Vinyl Asylum by an experienced listener. Doug, your first post kind of suggests that your particular Verus was defective in some way (maybe an out of round O-ring), but then you go on to suggest that perhaps the concept is fundamentally flawed (in the use of rubber feet and a rubber O-ring). All idlers that I know of use a rubber or rubber-like coating on their drive wheels. Do you dislike the sound of idlers in general, and do you think that their appeal is primarily to those who "like" feedback? Of course, you're talking about the misapplication of feedback, where the feedback results in a spurious but audible signal. My only hands-on experience of idler drive is via a Lenco direct-coupled to a very heavy plinth, and I do not hear the effect of which you speak.

What's a "holographic mylar belt"?

Dougdeacon, help me out here. I have read many of your posts and you seem to be very knowledgeable about turntables and their setups.

I am not grasping your explanation about the speed control. I followed the instructions Teres sent with the motor. Putting a strobe disc on the turntable. Turning on the motor controller and then adjusting it until the strobe disc held rock steady for a full 60 seconds.

Since the speed readings for the adjustments are taken at the strobe disc, how does that not translate to platter speed? I tried to get the same effect using my Teres Sig. Motor and mylar belt without success. I tried different tensions and two different belts and couldn't stop the speed drifts, although they are very slight.

My only complaint with the motor was that I had to build a platform to increase it's height. But, then, maybe the platform and the brass feet it sits on helped the sound?