A new TT from Steve Dobbins,"The Beat." ???

Lewm,

If I'd had my wits about myself I would've called you a week or so ago. I'll be driving to ATR Services on Thursday to attend my THIRD seminar and pick up my last machine. I've attended two seminars so far and feel as though I'm the dunce in the class, which I am. Everyone else is from the studios that record the music we all listen to. The techs and studio owners leave me in the dust but I'll keep on keeping on.
Ken

Hi Lewm,

I thank you for your reply and those that, not only spoke to the original thread, but digressed. To strictly stay on the line of the original thread would mean the thread would die out with a dozen or so answers.

My reason for the thread was not only to see how many others resorted to, for any reason, to move the TT to an adjoining space. Topics such as; cable length, walking to another room to drop the stylus, proper stands that abate vibration are all viable reasons to keep the table in the listening room. Last but not least was the design of the TT itself.

I viewed the systems of those of you that responded, no slouches here! The views echoed your replies.

If I may, I'd like to ask a few questions that will pertain to the original thread, but will also expand the answers from the Audiogon "Brain Trust," if I may call it that.

If it's heavy enough it won't vibrate, but different frequencies will excite the mass in different ways as everything has a resonant point or two or?

Some resonances are floor borne and need to be dealt with in a different way than those that are airborne.

Assuming that all floor borne vibrations are nulled out, it leaves only airborne vibrations and the drive motor and bearing to contribute noise.

Lets assume all drive systems contribute some, but very little, noise to the stylus: some are better than others. The platter then needs to address airborne vibrations. If you have a big system and love bass or a smaller system or a room not properly suited to your musical tastes, the platter design may be the deciding factor.

High mass, via Walker with a center clamp , constrained layer damping via VPI with a peripheral ring, TTWeights with a peripheral ring and copper matt and others, vacuum via SOTA and others, and the list goes on-- all attempt to address the problem.

If you choose to repost to this thread I know it will probably be because you have more personal knowledge of the vibrational problems you've dealt with rather than opinions only and that a three thumbs up!!! Yes three.

I for one, after reading Mike's posting, realize that I'm lucky in the fact that the table on my Denon 308 is not a part of the rotor. Is bolted to a tapered shaft and collar. I guess it means that I'd have options to modify the platter. Yippee!!. Nothing is worth having without options for a tweak.

Happy Easter, Ken

Hi T bone,

I'll attempt to address your points one at a time.

First off, the platter does, did ring like a bell. I threw out the flimsy rubber matt and ordered a new nickel plated copper, plastic platter from TT Weights. It came with their best peripheral clamp ring and heaviest brass center weight. I ordered it when Larry had just sent a prototype to Mikey for evaluation and that new design is what I got. Right now it's sitting on the base platter on the 308.

Not only did the platter ring but the 2 inch particle board plinth transmits every finger tap. Since the 308 was meant for playback of master discs at studios it was listen to on headphones, as loudspeakers had an effect on playback of master discs; from what I understand this was, or is, standard practice in studios. The dp 100, on the other hand was designed for use at radio stations and was fitted with a large spring suspension system; supposedly the biggest difference between the 100 and 308 but I may be wrong. In any cas the plinth, as it stands now, will have to go.

I don't know if it will be necessary to replace the platter with the encoding ring as I don't see how I could do any better than just laminating another layer to the existing platter but that point is up for discussion.

I tried to reach a tech at Denon Pro and got no place as they are separate from Denon America so you may have an in that could help. Since there were less than 100 of the 308s made and not many more of the 100s I would think they use the same motor and just tweaked it electronically, as you suggested to re adjust for a different torque application.

I would appreciate it if you could send a cut away and,or, any other information on the table as I have no manual and could not get one after I bought the table.

Last night I spent a good deal of time on the phone with Steve Dobbins. He was very gracious and is a true gentleman.

I began by asking him about his new tt," The Beat." His knowledge regarding direct drive TTs was obvious as he referred to the many facets involving the design of a direct drive table. He owns around 60 direct drive tables and has done quite a study of the best and worst designs that came down the pike. It sounds like his new table will be a killer with the design innovations he's incorporated.

I finally got around to asking about his custom platters for the Garrard 301 and the few other tables he's tweaked. It was my hope that someday he may apply what he's learned about platter mods and that may lead to an upgrade for my 308. Steve said his plate was full with his present projects but said since he felt the motor on the 308 was as good as any direct drive motor ever made, he may entertain an upgrade platter for my table in the future.

I first saw the 308, I now own, advertised on Audiogon a few years ago. It was impressive looking and I thought expensive for a vintage DD table. It was up for sale for a month and I noticed it didn't sell. A year or so later I saw it up again. This time it sported a cabinet that was redone with rosewood veneer and the price was the same. Peter of PBN Audio owned it and we were friends, so I called him. He told me about the table and what he did to the aged cabinet. After seeing a few pictures of the table in general and the motor and veneering he did it was on it's way from California to Va. The table is impeccable as was the shipping crate he built for it . One could've shipped a newborn baby across the country in it without a scratch.

Dr Howard Stern, the fearless leader of the Richmond Audio Society, hosts the unofficial website of the Kenwood L-07d direct drive TT. He does upgrades for folks that ship him tables from the four corners of the world. Howard has four tables up and running in his system and it didn't take too long for me to convince myself to try a DD table. When the 308 became available again I didn't wait to think about it.

Since there is no law in Audio that limits a guy to just one table I figured it would be a Christmas present to myself for the year 2021, I've done this before!

Ken