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TTWeights new Black Onyx Idler drive Turntable

About three weeks ago I drove to Newmarket. It is about an hours drive from Brampton, but I wanted to listen to Larry's 'Christine' turntable. When I got there I found Larry all excited about his newer turntable. A less expensive, more heavily damped version of Christine (and much less expensive). He explained to me how Christine was way overbuilt. There is no reason for a one horsepower motor, way overkill. His 1" carbide main bearing shaft was also way too much, and the shape of Chrisine's plinth did nothing for resonance control. Along comes the Black Onyx, still in R & D, so off I went back to Brampton.

I went back three weeks later, that was a couple of days ago, and with an armful of albums, sat down for a long listen. I will say that a long listen is not necessary. It took about ten seconds to realise this was something very special. Everything from Cat Stevens, Bruce Cockburn and Jeena Lodwick to Dire Straits and YES. Without fail, every single track on every album left me with goosebumps. Singers seamingly playing for me in his office did nothing for my bank account. He now has my deposit, and I wait patiently.

My turntables have all been belt drive. Many years ago I purchased a Heybrook TT2. This was commonly referred to as a baby Linn. My next table was a JA Michell GyroDec (mostly because I thought it looked wicked), and finally to the Teses 340. I will say the jump from the Michell to the Teres was only equaled by the next jump to the Black Onyx. I think I can safely say Idler Drive turntables are a wonderful idea. The Saskia is highly regarded, as is the new VPI. Both idler drive. If you can get to TTWeights for a listen, you'd be doing yourself a favor.

The rest of my system is thus; ZYX Universe cartridge, TriPlanar and Schroeder DPS tonearms, Atma-Sphere MP-1 mklll preamp, Atma-Sphere MA-1 Silver edition amps, EMM Labs CDSAse, Magnum Dynalab MD-108T tuner, and an older pair of ProAc Response 2 speakers. I sold my Coincident TVll'2 and am building speakers using Accuton mid and tweeter, with SEAS 10" woofers. Still months away.

My listening room is almost complete and should be finished about the same time as the Black Onyx. I will get back to you after that.
cousinbillyl
lewm
6,770 posts
 
So in the most well known vintage idlers (Garrard and Lenco), the motor drives a separate and discrete idler wheel via friction between a driven shaft and the idler wheel. The idler wheel in turn contacts either the inner rim of the platter (Garrard) or the under horizontal surface of the platter (Lenco) and drives the platter via friction. The Black Onyx is more like a formalized version of adding a Teres Verus or VPI rim-drive motor to an existing belt drive. In those set-ups the wheel that drives the platter is an integral part of the shaft of the motor. There is only one interface that depends upon friction, between the wheel and the platter. I guess this is why TT calls it "direct idler drive".

Just to generate a discussion, I would guess that there may be some advantage to the Garrard/Lenco idlers in that the separate and discrete idler wheel provides an additional amount of isolation between platter and motor. On the other hand, the motor in the TT is likely to be so hugely advanced in terms of noise, vibration, and speed constancy over either the Garrard or Lenco motors, that this small advantage is swamped out.
cousinbillyl OP
161 posts
 
I would agree with you Lewm. The motor for the Black Onyx is probably so quiet, that only one interface is needed. All I know is I feel in love with it as soon as I heard it.
lewm
6,770 posts
 
Besides that, it seems the subplatter is used to provide an additional degree of isolation of any motor noise from the platter itself, although we don't know much about how the subplatter and platter are linked. It's pretty cool that in this day and age someone thinks it is worth his effort and investment to even build such turntables. I am excited too. My tweaked up Lenco is certainly competitive with anything I have ever heard.
alectiong's avatar
alectiong
110 posts
 
Hi Lewm,
what are the sonic benefits of direct drive vs belt drive TTs?
Rgds
lewm
6,770 posts
 
Dear Alec,
I really am not qualified to give you a general answer that covers all the bases. I can only say that in my limited experience, highest quality vintage DD turntables sound better than "very good" modern belt drive-turntables at around the $5K cost point. This means I hear better pitch definition, a more "lively" sound, better definition of individual musical instruments. The belt-drive tables in this price range can however deliver a "big" soundstage compared to a DD table. To get the DD tables to compete at big sound you have to experiment with plinths, either heavy dense ones made of slate or hardwood or minimal ones, which I am told also work. IME, my Lenco idler drive in a slate plinth is also quite wonderful and delivers a huge soundstage, bigger even than my Notts Hyperspace was ever able to do. The Lenco beats the Notts in most other ways, too. Piano is divine.
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