Micro Seiki, or TW AC-1

Thanks Dev for the informed comments. They tally with what I've heard in terms of the superior speed, articulation, noise floor of the Micro 5000 v the Raven AC1.

Lewm you are correct it's a perceived feeling of perfect pitch and yes this was hard to initially tell until it was heard and then it's easy to understand. It's like most people don't understand or hear polarity but once understood I can tell if a song is in or out of phase.
Listen to an SME 10 then a Lenco or most DD tables and you begin to understand having a correct speed is extremely important to the sound of a piano. I'll be the first to admit I never understood this until I moved away from a belt drive table myself and with the help of others opened my ears and it all became clear.

10-14-12: Dover
The verdier platine comes with an option to use a ball and thrust plate. Essentially this means the platter is grounded, and provides an energy path to ground for unwanted energy or resonance. In this mode the magnetic repulsion is still employed, but it means the tt has a high mass platter, but the grounded bearing only sees a fraction of that weight. This is a very elegant solution and is used in the Continuum. I prefer this mode, the grounding tightens and focus' the sound, increases resolution and articulation if applied properly.

Dear Dover, I have opposite info about PV ball support:

"When Verdier changed the bearing from all-magnet to ball support in 1992 he did so because he no longer got the full-force and high quality magnets from J. Mahul needed for the PV. He had to change to other magnets from Slovenia and they were not as constant nor as powerful. Consequently he introduced the ball support to address the problem of unstable gap height with the "new" magnets. The ball support introduced additional noise in the sonic performance as well as robbed away most of the "air" the original PV supplies. The original bearing provides more live-realism, speed and micro-dynamics."

Best regards,

Rsf507, I agree with you, speed instability is most easily detected while listening to piano music, for anyone who has ever played the instrument or who has a decent sense of pitch. (I studied piano for several years, and I am an amateur jazz singer, but I would say that I have only a "decent" sense of pitch, certainly not perfect.) Because I love piano jazz, I have become a total convert to DD turntables and to my highly tweaked Lenco, so I am in the same place you are. But I would submit that, at least to my ears, piano can sound absolutely "right" on some turntables that do not pass the Timeline test with flying colors. In other words, the Timeline is more demanding than is actual music. Which is why I conclude that, at least for me, I cannot be certain that a given turntable is "Timeline-worthy" just by listening to it. But since listening to music is the actual goal, I really don't give a hoot about Timeline perfection. (I don't think the Lenco is perfect by Timeline standards, but it does piano as well as my DD turntables, all of which ARE perfect by that standard.)

Marill555 ---You should recognize that compromise is an inherent aspect of design and no turntable (or anything else for that matter) is perfect.
There will always be compromise between competing design objectives and these compromises will affect the ultimate sound.It is for you to determine which design best fulfills your personal objectives.
As you can already ascertain.Each poster,although they have opposite thoughts,may also be correct.
They can speak to their experiences only.
You are an experienced listener
$10,000 is quite a bit of change.Listen to each table and
then decide.
Best of luck