2020 update : JC Verdier La Platine

@mr_gray

Enjoy  your Delos, for 450 USD, you cannot do any better. I have a 450 USD cartridge that I cherish, an Audio Technica AT-170 ML mm vintage. Probably not as capable as a Delos, but shockingly good.

i doubt you will hear the difference between linen and silk. I pretend to hear a difference between my black silk and red viscose threads, but in truth they are both good. I think thread drive is the way to go with the original motor. But do share your thoughts when the silk threads are installed.

well surprisingly it was very easy to hear differences between the threads.

- have been running silk or linen thread.  as i suspected silk is much quieter than linen thread.  in fact after returning to linen thread for perceived dynamics, i got rid of it.  much better with silk.  extraordinarily quiet.  also using shaknspin2 the silk achieves better W&F readings and better speed stability.

- i thought to myself maybe i need to drop the spindle so i am all magnet.  i don't know how i got here but i don't think i'd heard it with zero bearing.  anyway i did just that and lo and behold!

- suddenly the music was completely "free".  i don't know what this really means but that was the sense of it.  the music unfolding with zero sense of mechanical device running.  much quieter again.  

so here we are: motor on footers, la platine on its own footers, about a mm or so play between platter and spindle, the Rocol X5 lubrication as the maker intended.  great speed stability but very much at upper end of range for motor to achieve 33.3.

- with the linen thread i had 33.3 and 45 easy.  i think with silk i will struggle to hit 45.  this is a problem but currently worth it to explore benefits of silk.

- extraordinary transparency of voice.  variable stage width according to what record i'm playing.  

All in all i reckon the la platine has many faces.  with a thick rubber belt and bearing contact it sounds alot like my garrard 401.  with silk thread, loose, and no bearing contact, it pretty much disappears and the music unfolds without impediment, without seemingly any "flavour" from the turntable.  early days but seems very nice.

@mr_gray 

Your experience on the silk drive mirrors mine. It’s very quiet, though I have not done A/B with linen in a while. And holding speed on  45’s is a struggle with loose fit. I cheat and tighten up the tension on the silk thread. 

I tried a Micro Seiki belt made by Original Live today. And sure enough it produced more noise and sounded slower. 
 

@ledoux1238 this is good. If we hear the same things then I think that is very reassuring. Because frankly with so many variables on the la platine, and it being quite sensitive to these variables, one could easily trick oneself. It’s perhaps tedious of me but I returned to thread lastnight due a perceived lack of dynamics with the silk. A sort of listless sound unless I had the volume turned right up. 
 

anyway at some stage thought came to me to try a double loop of silk. I’m now listening to exile on Main Street. At relatively low volume. It sounds alive. Dynamic. Transparent. And has jump. I think you should give it a shot. It’s toe tapping without sounding all thick and plastic like garrard did. 

also dover had the same thoughts although he identified "surgical" silk and said if loose it could be "chalked" (presumably to give grip).  i have the motor partially under the turntable now and a double loop of silk thread and it is driving!