How much does rock-solid speed stability cost?

I think you need to look at something with a non-cogging DC motor system. And also with a "non-hunting" speed controller.

As you have noticed, the ear is much more sensitve to flutter variations, than to the much slower wow variations. AC synchronous motors have a cogging effect that causes this flutter, and it can be noticeable. A properly made DC motor can be non-cogging and relieve this problem. However, these can suffer from problems too, depending upon how the speed regulation is accomplished. But generally, they have variations primarily in the wow area. And they can be made to have very low wow variations. This combination of low variations, combined with the confining of the variations into a less-sensitive type of variation(wow) , can lead to better sounding speed stability.

No motor system is perfect on a turntable. There are drag forces which tend to slow the platter in regular and irregular ways. When the motor system attempts to correct for these slowdowns, it must speed things up slightly. It is the method employed for driving the platter, AND the speed control system that affect things. Rapid corrections lead to flutter, slow corrections lead to wow. Cogging motors lead to flutter, no matter what the speed control consists of.

Heavy platters can also do some good in keeping speed regular, by inertia. Normally these are found in the higher priced turntables, although there are some heavy platter models in your price range.

3 turntables in your price range, that I am aware of, use non-cogging DC motor systems. They are Teres, Michell, and Origin Live.

The Teres Model 135 is unsuspended and string-driven, which leads to less speed interaction between the platter and belt. It also has a pretty heavy 15 pound platter. It has a closed-loop optical feedback system that constantly monitors platter speed via a optical strobe sensor on the platter, and keeps the controller aware of the actual real-time speed conditions of the platter and not just the motor. The controller is programmed to respond very quickly, but apply speed change very slowly. This eliminates the "speed hunting" which can lead to flutter from the controller. Alot of design went into the Teres motor system, and since it is a modular design, it can be purchased separately, and applied to other turntables with good effect. I am aware of improvements in speed control being made to VPI, Basis, Verdier, and others, by replacing the motor and control systems with Teres units.

The Origin Live Aurora turntables use a lighter platter and a suspension. They rely more on the motor for speed control than platter inertia. Speed is regulated and monitored at the motor, and not the platter itself. However, their DC motor and control system is fairly highly regarded, and is available separately also. It has been applied to Rega, and Linn Sondek turntables with good success to improve their speed control and sound quality. They have a couple of DC motor and controller kits on their website. Also their turntables can be seen there.

The Michell Gyrodec has only recently changed to a DC motor system. It apparently also uses a speed controller that senses speed at the motor, not the platter. Reports are that this system is an improvement over the previous AC motor system they used. Their platter is lighter than the Teres, but heavier than the Origin Live.

Oh, and there are a couple of other less-known units out there that use DC motor systems to good effect, such as Redpoint, Progressive Engineering, Bogdan, Pink Triangle. Most of these are not in your price range, except Pink Triangle Tarantella.

In the higher end tables, there can be some mitigating design criteria which will allow AC motors to sound more acceptable. However, I am still of the opinion that a well-designed DC motor is inherently better for this application.

If you have such sensitive ears you might need to spend a lot of money for something like a VPI with flywheel (around $6K). The upper end Technics are really good but their power supplies are not very stable and Technics stopped making the replacement chipsets. KAB electroacoustics makes a beefy outboard power supply for the 1200 which I intend to get in the next few months:

SL-1200 power supply

There is the possibility that you have a lot of electrical noise and (perhaps) voltage fluctuations in your listening room. Even a quartz lock mechanism has to fight the noise background in order to regulate speed and is taxing on the system's performance. There was a really good discussion on the subject of TT power supplies and their effect on the music:

Turntable Power Source Benefits

I think that in your budget range the Technics 1200 w/ the outboard power supply is as good as it gets. Otherwise get ready to spend a lot more (perhaps a Teres will please you). I recently listened to a friend's system that has an Oracle fed by a Hewlett Packard laboratory grade power supply and although good, clean and musical sounding, it did not have the pace and the steadiness of my modded 1200.

My guess is that an LP12 with the Origin Live DC motor control would fit the bill. A Linn that is set up correctly is difficult to beat for the dollars invested and the Origin Live is purported to be more accurate than the Linn Lingo power supply. Audiophiles love to hate them which works in your favor to drive the price down. You can afford a used LP12/Origin Live DC/Ittok/Shelter 501 and, set up correctly on the right stand, you'll be happy for years.

I wonder how much of your problem stems from off center holes in records.

Am in agreement with what others have written, but would like to suggest another view of this topic.

I'm curious: do you have absolute pitch? One of the definitions of AP is the ability to identify the names of the notes of a tone cluster played on the piano. If you do have absolute pitch it also may be very acute e.g. you are able to detect instantly the difference between a 440 A and, say, a 441 A. This ability is extremely rare.

Myself, I'm a professional musician with strong relative pitch. I rely much more on overtones and resonance to sustain a pitch. I do not possess absolute pitch.

At home I use a Linn LP12 with Lingo and find that it suits my need for resonance and to hear the effect of overtones much more than any other table I've tried. One of the overall effects of the Linn is that notes are more 'centered': this must have to do with speed stability and its ability to retrieve low level information (harmonics, attack, etc.) My CD player is an Audio Note CD3.1x, and I find it does much the same.

What about rhythm? Do you find you get more 'kick' out of listening to CDs than to LPs?

Also keep in mind that we all hear differently, and what you may be reacting to others may hear as 'lack of center'; miniscule changes of dynamics through the duration of a note (which others may perceive as very slight pitch changes); increasing/decreasing overtones throughout the duration of sounds (e.g. a long french horn note). From my experience, I've concluded that these subtleties are more apparent with analog sources, as opposed to their digital counterparts.

I'd also be interested to know whether or not you perceive pitch fluctuations when listening to different CD players, say mid-fi to extreme highend. If your ears are acutely sensitive to pitch variance, miniscule dynamic changes, presence/absence of overtones, you may notice the same effect from the very best digital setups. This obviously is a contentious statement, but I do think it's possible. Live music is full of these varying factors, but when we listen to live music (say a string quartet, symphony orchestra, or jazz group) we get much more information than any kind of recording can recreate. With live music pitch does fluctuate somewhat, as do the presence of harmonics, and minute dynamic variances, etc. however, they are not perceived so much because hearing live music is such a different all-encompassing, sensual experience. Nothing is like listening to live music. It's only when live music is recorded and then played back are these subtle 'imperfections' usually noticed. I've experienced this time and time again when in recording situations.

Many musicians are notorious for having inferior stereo systems in their home. I mean really bad. Stereophile and other magazines have interviewed musicians who owned what many audiophiles would consider appalling stereos. Yet they enjoy listening to recordings immensely. Perhaps some of the things I've discussed above have something to do with this fact.

You have brought up an interesting point, Nighthawk.