Home Vinyl Asylum

Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ.

RE: Interesting thoughts

JD, Interesting points.

*** Smoothing function of the Intermediate Wheel (idler) Mechanism on cogging, stylus drag
Yes, an intermediate wheel will increase the amount of isolation between the motor and platter. That is good if you have a motor the has a lot of cogging, as do most vintage designs. A belt drive provides a lot more isolation. Isolation also has a detrimental effect in that it delays delivery of torque limiting the motors ability to counter stylus drag. The Verus motor has several orders of magnitude less cogging than a typical idler motor so much, much less isolation is needed. In this case adding additional isolation via an intermediate wheel would almost certainly make things worse.

"*** Ability to Mechanically ensure precise speed, (generally conceded to be more stable than, say, beldrive)--"
With the Verus direct coupling there is only one friction surface rather than two, but otherwise the concept is the same. Is there any reason to think that adding an additional friction surface would deliver better speed accuracy? It seems logical that the reverse should be true.

"*** Rendering a turntable that has speed integrity on it's own without the $K electronics box"
Most idlers do not have a speed control box and that is certainly good from a cost perspective, but how is that a technical advantage? This has nothing to do with the superiority of idler drive. I have no doubt that a vintage idler would sound considerably better if the noisy AC motor were replaced with a low cogging DC motor or better yet, a multi phase sync motor... Hmm, that has me thinking...

"*** No need to rely on precision or security of user placement, or physical drift in motor site & coupling characteristic"
Well, this is only an advantage if precision placement is needed. The Verus motor does not require precision placement. You do have a point however about speed drift with wear. But as has been stated elsewhere the drift from wear is so small that it is really a non issue.

"*** No expectation of Speed Deterioration due to wear on compliant drive surfaces. Metal-rubber-metal intermediate wheel contacts anticipate and obviate concerns"
You lost me on this one. Wear and deterioration of the drive surfaces is an issue with any idler or rim drive implementation. If the rubber wheel hardens, gets flat spots or cracks it will always be a problem. I sure don't see how an idler wheel can fix this one.

"*** No independent, and possibly conflicting oscillation --uncontrolled micro-wobble-- afflicting the two (table, motor) independent structures, due to motor-integral design"
Another good point but this is a general issue that applies to any rim drive methodology. So are you trying to imply that a spring loaded idler wheel coupled to a spring mounted motor would be less prone to this type of problem?

"Controlled, adjustable, micro-tension-able COUPLING of the drive-capstan to the platter."
So how exactly does one control the coupling of the drive-capstan with an idler drive? Maybe it could be done by bending or stretching springs. With the Verus motor precise and repeatable control of the drive wheel pressure is obtained by placement of the rubber feet under the motor.

Don't get me wrong. It is not my intent to criticize vintage idler designs. But our goal was not to reinvent what has been done but rather to come up with something better.


This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  The Cable Cooker  


Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups

FAQ

Post a Message!

Forgot Password?
Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
  Remember my Moniker & Password  (What's this?)    Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:
Message:   (Posts are subject to Content Rules)
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:  Automagically notify you when someone responds.