The 1970s and early 1980s represented the heyday of direct-drive turntable manufacturing. Brands from Kenwood, Pioneer, Technics, Nakamichi, Sansui, Sony, EMT, Micro Seiki, Luxman and Denon all competed for domination. These turntable products were in direct opposition to belt-drive tables from Linn, Thorens (even Thorens had a Direct Drive Turntable in the 70's, the TD- 524) , and Rega. Direct-drive turntables were massive, over-engineered, and technically sophisticated in comparison to belt-driven models which were quite simple. The emphasis with Direct Drive Turntables was placed on perfect speed stability and isolation which makes perfect sense to me.
From a TNT article: The direct-drive principle has often been met with disdain and contempt from the audiophool quarter. This was probably and rightfully fueled by the tens of nasty cheap turntables Japan Inc made in the eigthies. But the other, less correct, cornerstone of this disdain was the notion that a quartz-locked DD would always be hunting for the correct speed, as opposed to the much safer and cleaner belt drive. The champions of this theory then blissfully ignored a number of belt-drive basics, namely that 1) a motor with an elastic belt driving an inert platter constitutes an underdamped mass-spring system, and thus resonates and 2) that the more sophisticated belt drive motor control units out there are remarkably similar to the 'hunting' controllers of good DDs and thus suffer the same 'faults'. But as usual, self-deception works wonders in this business and in the western hemisphere the direct-drive was effectively banned from the audiotype's world, in firm favour of a solution that entailed cheap motors on cheap plinths driving cheap platters on cheap bearings with cheap rubber belts.The actual reason for the massive adoption of belt drive, of course, is that it allowed low-key cottage-industry types to enter the turntable market without investing in the research and tooling required to make a really good direct drive: had any of the presently-established European and American high-end turntable manufacturers tried to design a top-end DD model in the late seventies or early eighties they would have gone belly up in no time through lack of funding. No, they settled for belt drive, and flaunted it with the aid of the local audio press. There’s something to be said about the merits of the direct-drive engineering prowess.
A belt drive turntable's platter rests on top of a bearing as it rotates, with the motor mounted off to the side. The platter connects to the motor that spins it by an elastic belt. The belt also acts as a shock absorber to prevent the noise and vibration generated by the motor from reaching the platter. Isolating the platter from the motor in this way results in less noise being transmitted to the tonearm and out through your audio system.
Direct drive models place the platter directly on the shaft of the turntable's motor, so it requires no belt to spin your records. This design offers highly consistent speed for accurate sound with reduced wow and flutter.
The main point of this Blog is to drive home the omnipotent power of the the Audio Press in their ability to influence your purchasing decisions. Trust what you "Hear", not what you "Read". They were responsible for supplanting the superior technological Direct Drive turntable concept for the Belt Drive allowing many more low-key cottage-industry players to enter the turntable market with a product that did not require the investment in research and tooling necessary to further advance the Direct Drive turntable system. The so-called Audiophiles were convinced that a technically flawed Belt Drive system was the de facto standard for extracting the best high-end sound from vinyl.
Today, Brinkmann, VPI, Grand Prix Audio Monaco, Rockport Technologies System Sirius III are examples of manufacturers that are swinging the pendulum away from Belt Drive. Here is an except from my review on the Monaco Turntable: The industry has so maligned direct drive that a person would be led to believe that it is impossible to produce good sound without a belt drive and big, bulky, heavy, and complicated contraptions. With careful study of the problem one quickly learns a very different lesson. In fact, belt drive is a hopelessly flawed method of turning a platter, because it cannot maintain a constant and perfect speed. This may be the reason the state-of-the-art in turntables has remained underdeveloped and far from its zenith even after more than 50 years. The designers keep trying to make a fundamentally flawed design do something it simply cannot, which is to deliver a highly consistent and accurate platter speed. The current turntable designs simply do not maintain a consistent speed when measured at the platter. I find it amazing that once the Audio Press deemed Direct Drive Turntables "Non Audiophile", any Music Lover spinning vinyl with this system could not be an Audiophile. I am a Music Lover whose sole objective is to enjoy the "MUSIC". I own a KAB Modified Technics SL-1210 Direct Drive and a vintage Thorens Td-126 MKIII Belt Drive. Enjoy the Music!
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