Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ucdavis.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!ucbvax!ucdavis!ccrse From: ccrse@ucdavis.UUCP (Steve Ehrhardt) Newsgroups: net.audio Subject: re: re: re: turntable controversy Message-ID: <340@ucdavis.UUCP> Date: Mon, 8-Jul-85 13:33:50 EDT Article-I.D.: ucdavis.340 Posted: Mon Jul 8 13:33:50 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 9-Jul-85 06:39:43 EDT Distribution: net Organization: University of California, Davis Lines: 30 > The station I used to work for Used turntables driven by a fairly large > synchronous hysteresis motor and an idler wheel. They were reasonably > quiet, started quickly, and had plenty of torque for slipping. > > I haven't seen any direct drive turntables with anywhere near the > torque that is needed for broadcast disk jockey use. Most of the stations that I have seen/worked in still used idler wheel tables. I wouldn't accuse any of them of being particularly quiet, though. Some were mounted in cabinets that contained 100+ lbs of sand to damp out the rumble. (I'm not certain how that was supposed to work, but that's what I was told it was for...) The only direct-drive turntable that I have seen used in broadcasting is the Technics SP-10. Only a comparatively few stations are quality- conscious enough to lay out the kind of money that one of those costs. I think that they're over $2,000 apiece now, less arm. They have more than enough torque for the job, though, and come up to speed almost immediately from a standing start. As regards what I think was the original question, I've always been under the impression that it was easier (and cheaper) to build a good belt- drive turntable than it was to build a good direct-drive table. The direct-drive tables appear to be most competitive in terms of performance for the money in the lower end of the mid-price range, then lose out to belt-drive again above that. On a related topic, someone once told me that direct-drive turntables end to become more rumble-prone with age. In other words, their performance deteriorates over time. Can anyone comfirm or deny this?