Tony,
I believe what you may be missing is the sad fact that it may be impossible to fix everything, but all the little things add up, so we try to fix what we can. Look at a turntable the same way you look at an entire system. It will never be perfect, but nothing is left to chance that can be corrected with what is available to its builder.
If one thing is left wrong about a system, or a turntable, in a glaring way, the entire exercise is moot. Suppose someone built an absolutely perfect turntable, but it ran at only 23RPM. That would be obviously wrong. But, suppose someone built a turntable that ran one-tenth of one percent wrong. Would that be acceptable? Maybe, but would it be better, if the guy fixed the tenth of one percent error? Of course, it would. The question is how much can be left wrong, and to what degree.
Now, consider what happens when one thing is fixed that somehow manages to upset some other parameter, and you have the puzzle that turntable designers try to solve. It isn't easy, so they work within the constraints of what they know and can discover. They build with what they can manage to master, and with the help of their smartest friends.
At the end of the day, the hope is that their vision is realized, and that someone out there shares that vision.
Speed stability is one step along that unending path. There are plenty of others, yet to be mastered.
.
I believe what you may be missing is the sad fact that it may be impossible to fix everything, but all the little things add up, so we try to fix what we can. Look at a turntable the same way you look at an entire system. It will never be perfect, but nothing is left to chance that can be corrected with what is available to its builder.
If one thing is left wrong about a system, or a turntable, in a glaring way, the entire exercise is moot. Suppose someone built an absolutely perfect turntable, but it ran at only 23RPM. That would be obviously wrong. But, suppose someone built a turntable that ran one-tenth of one percent wrong. Would that be acceptable? Maybe, but would it be better, if the guy fixed the tenth of one percent error? Of course, it would. The question is how much can be left wrong, and to what degree.
Now, consider what happens when one thing is fixed that somehow manages to upset some other parameter, and you have the puzzle that turntable designers try to solve. It isn't easy, so they work within the constraints of what they know and can discover. They build with what they can manage to master, and with the help of their smartest friends.
At the end of the day, the hope is that their vision is realized, and that someone out there shares that vision.
Speed stability is one step along that unending path. There are plenty of others, yet to be mastered.
.