Direct Drive


I am firmly in the digital camp, but I’ve dabbled in vinyl.  Back in the day I was fascinated by Technics Direct Drive tt, but couldn’t afford them.  I was stuck with my entry level Gerrard.  I have been sans turntable for about 5 years now but the new gear bug is biting.  I am interested in the Technics 1500 which comes with an Ortofon Red and included pre amp.  I have owned Rega P5 which I hated for its speed instability and a Clearaudio Concept which was boring as hell.

  Direct Drive was an anathema to audiophiles in the nineties but every time I heard  one it knocked my socks off.  What do the analogers here think of Direct Drive?  I listen to Classical Music exclusively 

mahler123

Showing 3 responses by ketchup

@theophile the gear is still there, but it disappears after 30 minutes.  I actually used it on this post.

 As in a classical motor, the rotor is driven by the stator due to electromagnetic interaction.  Nothing physically touches the rotor (in this case, synonymous with the platter) in a motor

What about the bearing?

My own tonearm adjusts azimuth to less than 1 minute of arc, and just this evening I found myself changing over a +/- 2 minute range with clearly audible results.  Not many arms can do this, and unless they can, cartridge performance suffers.

@terry9 - How do you measure these small angles and what tonearm are you using?  Isn't any tonearm capable of infinite azimuth settings if it has a rotating headshell (or rotating arm wand for linear trackers) that locks into position?