Reason for buying old/classic turntables

My opinion:

Part familiarity/comfort level with older, proven designs and part value in that turntables are a niche item these days compared to then and prices are accordingly high for good build quality.

By the way, being a physical device that derives much of its performance from build quality, turntables ( and speakers as well for similar reasons) are two parts of the system that benefit the most from solid construction and build quality that tends to be expensive these days.

"It is, after all, a wheel, and we've had that down for 3000 years or so."

That is true.

One thing I do not understand is the recent renewed attraction or romance with direct drive tables. What's wrong with a good belt drive that is well able to rotate the platter at a constant speed. Doesn't a belt design provide a more natural and cost efective means of isolating the platter from motor noise or vibration?

I'm sure DD tables can sound good as well but the design seems like it would be harder and more expensive to accomplish well than belt drive. Maybe that's part of the appeal?

"my opinion is that belts have compromises, direct drive, properly exectuted, does not have compromises"

Ok, but what facts is your opinion based on?

The drive turns the table at a constant speed. Other than this, what else does it do to make the sound better?

I know it can make the sound worse if noise is introduced as a result of the operation of the drive system.

You may be right and I may be missing something...I am looking to be educated.

I've always thought the mechanics of record playback is cool, and that may be what got me into this hobby as a young kid, but its been a while since I last considered turntables to be engineering marvels.

Spinning a platter at a constant rate for constant pitch and isolating from noise is just not that hard in comparison to many engineering challenges, IMHO.

I think part of the appeal of tables to audiophiles, in addition to the sound, is the fact that they are more straightforward to tweak and customize than digital players and are just flat out MORE FUN as a result!

That's a good thing, but let's be realistic regarding the magnitude of the engineering marvel a tt represents.

If it were that complicated, most of us (including myself) would not dare touch it.

For me, as someone who wants to spend time listening to music rather than mucking with equipment, when the time comes to replace my current Linn table (hopefully not for another 20 years), I would look at new tables first to see what I might be missing.

I would go with another Linn in a heartbeat going in, but I believe it would cost me 3-4 times or more to replace my 80's vintage Linn Axis with a new Linn table today. Would a new table be that much better?