Lewm: "Life could have been simpler if they just made a direct-drive turntable instead"
That's what I've been saying! But audiophiles always have a hard time grasping the concept of direct drive that it is "magnetic drive" -- instead of driving the top platter with another set of magnets, it can be driven by magnetic field generated by coils, which is a stator in a motor, and this system is called, voila, direct-drive! Granted it comes with its upside and downside but, yes, life could have been simpler.
Regarding the TMD, I am curious why the secondary bearing, the ballrace bearing (maybe the technical term is angular contact bearing"?) is attached to the platter bearing, at least according to the diagram. Wouldn't it be better to have the collar bearing decoupled from the bearing shaft to have better isolation? Perhaps, I am not interpreting the drawing correctly.
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