A belt drive has the motor off to the side with a pulley for the belt, that motor is calibrated to either do 33.3 with the 45 change done by moving the belt on the pulley, OR their is a switch circuit involved that can do that. A DD has a bit more sophistication built into the motor with regards to isolation and shielding because it has to sit directly below the platter, so it needs to be sheilded from interference with cart. and isolated to not affect the platter/cart.. Speed changes are fleshed out with a bit more thought as well requiring adequate circuitry and should include 78 rpm. A Technics DD has different settings for how the TT comes to a stop as well. If you think about it, having the motor centered directly below the platter is inherently more stable on a micro level than having the spinning force focused on one side of the platter which on that micro level causes an uneven force on the platter.
Interesting. I can't imagine a deck having 78 at this point. How much of that shielding is there to compensate for any vibrations from being direct drive? Meaning, how much of it is simply to fix known issues with the system, and which actually make the thing "better"? I'm sure you're well aware of the pros and cons of either method. The decks I've had have always been belt driven, except back in the 1970's when all cheaper systems were direct drive. Can't say I can see any reason to change now....
I've owned an electric motor repair/rewind business for 35 years....like i said i don't necessarily agree but you asked.
Which is why some more upmarket turntables now have idler pulleys distributed around the platter base to distribute the loads. However the sideways load on decks with weightier platters and compliant motor drives is probably such a small percentage compared with the other forces at work, I wouldn’t lose any sleep about it!
The arms are medium weight not heavy. You need to see a 1200G in the flesh. Finish is fantastic and doesn't look flashy. They did miss a trick in not incorporating strobe defeat other than on the limited 1210GAE. In daylight it doesn't notice. May be annoying if you listen with lights out. I find flashy amp meters more annoying.
That is obvious I would think. Just get a cheap Philips AC motor and fit a belt to simple spindle v complex coil winding arrangement. DD can only be designed and produced by a large company that can invest very large sums of money.
Do all motors vibrate to a lesser, or greater degree? Any vibration, from a belt, rim, or direct drive motor gives a loss, blurring and colouration of musical information. Sad but true.
Yes, maybe a strobe defeat would be a nice touch, but just like the looks, I very often listen with my eyes closed, or focused on something other than the turntable. The SL-1200GR and even more so, the SL-1200G sound very good. Yes, I prefer the styling of Rega, Linn and Michell, BUT, if it sounds good, it looks good!!
This is true, but several belt drive manufacturers have demonstrated over the years, that making a quality drive belt consistently, to exacting standards, is actually a major challenge.
Here’s an image of the Technics top plate. The tonearm, bearing, platter, motor, power transformer, circuit boards. Pretty much everything are all screwed to it.
I am currently trying to remove all screw fixings from my turntables! By the by, what is that top plate made from? Clearly not many here are tired of the Technics vs Rega debate........yet! I do tire of measurement talk though. Slightly off topic; I met the very clever motor cycle engineer and inventor Allen Millyard at a bike meet earlier this year and he told me that he rarely measures anything. He just knows what will work.
You really have to hand it to them; the Technics turntables are a technological marvel especially when you have the investment capital from a company like Matsushita whose pockets are extremely deep. Consider though for a moment what a company like Rega or Mitchell for example and what they do comparatively on a shoestring, develop a much more modest but outstanding sounding products. That's creative genius!
I bow to your assessment, but it's not like they're inventing these motors, right? They've been used and manufactured for decades. I can't imagine it costs that much to make one in 2022, but perhaps I'm wrong. We should be careful here not to fall into the binary position of "good" and "bad". It's not like a lot of design and work doesn't go into belt-driven turntables. In fact, many here experience excellent belt-driven turntables every day.
