Continuing on with my parade of turntable pornography---and in the spirit of my diatribes on design methodology and implementation---I thought I'd take a moment to post about different drive systems.
Recently I discovered a brand I had never heard of before called TTWeights. They manufacture "rim drive" turntables with optional copper platters (weighing 40lbs!).
The last picture shows a close up of the "rim drive" system.
Transrotor makes some really impressive magnetic drive systems.
La Roccia Reference TMD
Has a solid stone plinth... very handsome.
Rondino FMD
Comes in black and white/gold finishes as well.
Fat Bob Reference TMD
I had a chance to listen to the Fat Bob not too long ago, and IMO it bested a similarly priced table from Avid and TW Acustics.
Another example of magnetic drive is the exceedingly minimalistic Brinkmann Bardo...
It uses a direct drive system with a motor that has field coils, so direct magnetic drive in some sense. I think there's definitely something to direct drive, and in theory it provides a number of advantages over belt drive. However it comes down, once again, to implementation. That should be my mantra:
implementation.... implementation. The demands it puts on the motor are intense, so the motor has to be extremely high quality and quite advanced to cope without having any cogging effects. For the most part, direct drive was found among lower cost decks in the 70s and 80s which did not have the requisite motor technology to really take advantage of it. The world class (and quite costly) Goldmund Studio in the 80s was direct drive however, and since then it's shown up in some of the very best tables. These days it's especially trendy in the high-end market. VPI makes a direct drive version of their Classic that costs roughly $22k. That's $18k more than the standard Classic!
Kodo's turntable is exceedingly awkward to type and say.
It's literally called "The Beat."
Not
The Kodo Beat, but
The Kodo The Beat.
It's quite a lovely table, and included in its hefty price is a service where the designer will travel to your home to set everything up for you and teach you how to do the same. He'll even eat your food free of charge! I kid. Maybe.
What makes The Beat such an interesting contender is its magnetic drive system that neither uses belts (like the Fat Bob) or is direct drive in the tradition sense (like the Bardo). That's
because the motor never comes into physical contact with the platter.
Really though, it's another belt drive table that has caught my eye... the AMG Viella 12 and matching tonearm:
The tonearm in particular has a curious piece of engineering: a vertical bearing whose inspiration came from the rotorheads of helicopters. Overall, I like the pulled together look that is self-contained but still have a bit of flourish.
Thanks in part to Donald's endorsement, I'm really anxious to try linear tracking again. The Kuzma Stabi Ref. and Airline are practically ubiquitous now.
I've just never been that fond of Kuzma's aesthetic, particularly in the Stabi Ref.
In contrast, the airbearing turntables from Bergmann are achingly beautiful in their simplicity.
Because, y'know, the Walker Black Diamond is out of reach for me at this point in time...
Though the Transrotor Argos is prettier IMO.
