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RE: so can you give us a Win Place Show from your point of view ?

Contrary to all of the reactions this is much more about motors than it is drive mechanisms. It seems to me that a turntable drive design comes down to a balance between two competing objectives. Tight coupling of the motor and platter is a good. Motor cogging and vibration are bad. And the way to deal with the motor cogging is to provide isolation, and less coupling. So drive mechanisms are usually a compromise and the key to a good one is to get the compromise right.

If you have a motor with less cogging you can more tightly couple the motor and platter and get better, less compromised results. I submit that the key to success is to apply the right amount of coupling for a given motor. But it's the quality of the motor that dictates what drive mechanism will be optimum. For example using a typical AC sync motor with direct drive would produce terrible results. Not because the direct drive is bad but it's the wrong compromise for that motor type.

So our pursuit has not been so much about drive mechanisms but rather about producing low cogging, low speed motors that in turn allow for tighter coupling.

Here is the rub. Low cogging motors are both expensive and difficult to produce particularly if they need to operate at low speeds.

With that background here is how I see the hierarchy.

1) I believe that direct drive is king. It seems to be the best possible technology and results in the least amount of compromise. But it is the most unforgiving design and requires a superb motor to get top shelf performance. It's a path with a lot of pitfalls, I know cause I stepped in a bunch of them. Oh yes, be sure to bring your wallet because this is also a very expensive approach. With Teres price of admission starts at $13k.

2) Rim Drive is in my opinion the next best thing to direct drive. It offers some motor isolation but far less than a belt drive. Because of the limited isolation a low cogging motor is needed for the best performance. In my opinion vintage idlers suffer from cogging and noise problems. But the positives from superior coupling are for many compelling enough to outweigh the negatives. BTW, I am not talking about rumble. Rim drive is far less expensive than direct drive to implement and the demands on the motor are far less. With Teres the price of admission is $1690.

3) Good old belt drive comes in third for me. But it would be absolutely incorrect to say that I am not a fan of belt drive. Belt drive certainly has a place in high end audio. Belt drive is a very forgiving topology that works well with almost any motor. You can even use a rattly AC sync motor with a rubber belt and get reasonable results. But again it's about getting the coupling compromise right. A low cogging motor allows for tighter coupling even with a belt drive so it's still the same principle.
The Teres price of admission is $750.

So for me it's like cars. Because a BWM M3 has better performance than a VW Jetta it would be ridiculous to assert that Jetta's are junk, or to stop making Jetta's.

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