Technics or Kuzma turntable.


My next turntable has come down to this, a Technics SP-10R with a acoustand plinth and Kuzma 11 inch 4 point arm or a Kuzma Stabi R with the 11 inch Kuzma 4 point arm. If anyone has any experience with these two table and have heard them both I would like to know what your opinions are on the sonic differences between them.
Thanks.
128x128garkat62

Showing 5 responses by lewm

There is not one single high quality direct-drive turntable that I can think of that relies solely upon aluminum as an EMI shield. For one example, the Kenwood L07D uses a 7mm thick stainless steel platter sheet under the LP (~5 lbs of stainless steel), and in addition the coreless motor itself is totally encased in shielding. Also, do you think that belt-drive turntables which place the motor under the chassis usually adjacent to or even under the platter would necessarily be free of the issue with which you are so obsessed? Most of those motors in mid-price belt-drives are totally unshielded, though I am sure there are exceptions. Furthermore, belt-drive motors are running at much higher RPM than does any direct-drive motor, which might further enhance EMI radiated from them. But that is not my major theoretical objection to the average suspended belt-drive turntable, and you know it, because I have mentioned it before, but I had decided to keep mum on this thread for Sota lovers.

Typically, the chassis, including the platter bearing and the tonearm pivot are suspended, but the motor is anchored to the plinth. Thus when the suspension is activated, the platter and tonearm are isolated but the motor is static. This will inevitably result in stretching and relaxation of the belt, which will inevitably result in speed instability. That seems like a bigger more insurmountable problem than EMI and how to avoid it. The Doehmann and other very high end belt drive turntables do avoid the issue by mounting everything on the suspension, which is a MinusK in the case of the Doehmann. I owned both an AR turntable (at the beginning of my particular Oddysey in the 70s) and several turntables later a Star Sapphire Series III, with vacuum (1990s). As you know, I realized in retrospect that my SSS had significant problems with pitch stability. I went from the SSS to a Nottingham Hyperspace, an unsuspended belt-drive. Once I added a Walker Audio Precision Motor Controller to that turntable, I was made aware of where the SSS went wrong. I don’t want to rain on SOTA, because I believe they have taken steps to rectify this problem, although I am not sure exactly what. To be clear, I am sure the Cosmos and Millenium are fine turntables.
Not that there's anything wrong with your obsession over big pulsating magnetic fields, Mijo.  Not at all.
Dover is unable to express an opinion of his own without throwing in a gratuitous insult along with it. The OP has opened up a pre-existing can of worms. The vinyl world is divided into those who advocate direct drive turntables and those who prefer belt drive turntables. The better those two drive types get, the more they sound the same. I would advise the OP to make up his own mind by going to whatever lengths it takes to have a listen to the respective turntables. Then he may be able to decide for himself. But before you do anything please discount the other BS that Mijostyn cannot resist repeating every time he comments on a direct drive turntable, the bit about the “pulsating magnetic field”.Designers of direct drive turntables know full well about the potential for EMI sourced noise. They are not idiots. The tables of best quality are well shielded against such interference. Just as some of the very best belt drive turntables have taken into account the phenomena of belt creep and belt slippage, and the other speed anomalies that can plague a belt drive turntable.I will freely admit that I am in the high quality direct drive camp, but if I were to purchase a belt drive turntable, at a reasonable cost to me, it would most likely be a Kuzma. I think those are very intelligently designed. In short, if you want to close your eyes and choose one, you really cannot go wrong with these two.