If you were looking for a direct drive turntable ...

In the present market the best value for money Vintage DD I am willing to make known to you is the Aurex/Toshiba SR-510. It was the Brand Top of the Line from the era of manufacture and can perform to a very high level of presentation.

I own a selection of the other Vintage DD TT's and do not see any model as being undesirable.

The Caveat is that they can be purchased as an Item that has never received any attention and can be received after a purchase in need of a visit to a service engineer that has a familarity and understanding of the chosen model.

With what is known today as well about our wounded beautiful planet, any purchasing that eliminates the need to Manufacture is kinder to our Global Home.

Used/Vintage Purchases are much more friendly to the planets future.   

Lots of upcoming listening enjoyment to be encountered either way, New, Used or Vintage Purchase.   

I have moved on from Belt Drive and Idler Drive, but still retain these TT Drives to use at my leisure.

I also have the opportuniity to listen to a SME Belt Drive, Linn Belt Drive and Garrard and Lenco Idler Drives in other systems.

Today I use a DD as my main TT and others I know have swapped out their Belt Drive TT's to be superseded by DD in their systems.

Taking the Drive out of the equation, there are other areas where the DD wins over.

The DD has in many cases especially on the models being refferred to, exceptional speed control built in.

Other Drive systems can cost much more to achieve a speed control that is with similar desirability.

An Idler Drive can easily have a Standalone Speed Control that commands a $1000+ and Belt Drives have had many add on ancillaries to improve Speed Control at similar asking prices. 

This is one of the reasons I became interested in a DD.

After hearing a DD in A/B comparisons to a owned and well respected Idler Drive,

I became a convert to the DD and have not looked back.   

As an addition to my previous post, the DD TT has other benefits in the daily maintenace department.

A DD TT,  Set into a Plinth that has a properties that are not effected by the ambient environment in the place of the set up for the Source Components, has a capability to maintain a set up that does not generate a concern over long periods of time.

The Chassis > Spindle Housing > Plinth are all Rigidly Fastened.

A DD TT design that allows for a Tonearm to be inserted into the same Plinth Material, allows for this Part to be Rigidly Fastened to the Plinth, hence decoupled from the Chassis is beneficial, as well as being able to maintain a very accurate alignment for the long term to the Platter Spindle.

For a end user this set up is very easy to maintain and offers many reassurances that critical parts are maintained at their optimum at the interfaces, especially if the Plinth Material is known to be unchanging in different ambient conditions.

An added consideration is how the Plinth Material Dissipates and Damps energy Transferred to it.  

Other TT Drives and in certain cases the designs produced around them do not allow for this simplicity of set up as offered from a DD TT.

A design with multiple components used at interfaces will potentially need fetling/ tweaking on a regular basis, as changes will be occurring at the interfaces, and SQ will again potentially be perceived as inconsistent and at certain times undesirable.

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