Maxson, I don't think Continuum manufactures a direct drive turntable. I only know, so far, five brands producing newly designed DD turntables in the hi-end market. There might be more but I don't know. Brinkmann: Bardo & Oasis Grand Prix: Monaco Kodo: The Beat Teres: Certus 420 & 440 Wavestream Kinetics: NVS _______ |
Hammy: "Let me ask you- WHY WOULD YOU WANT THEM DIRECTLY CONNECTED?"Since I am lazy, let me just quote an excerpt from another website: "A huge advantage of a direct-drive record-player is the fact, that the whole mechanical system consists of just one moveable part (the combined motor-shaft/platter-bearing) which turns quite slow and has a big mass (the platter) attached to it - almost a mechanical ideal for quiet rotation. The resonance of the combined motor/bearing assembly lies in the range of 0,5 Hz due to its slow speed compared with the 50/60Hz resonance of the motor of a typical belt-driven turntable. All belt - or idler-driven record-players incorporate a lot of mechanical parts for adapting the fast speed of the motor to the comparably slow speed of the platter. Each of this parts implies an own sonic footprint by inducing resonances and suffering from bearing-tolerances in this more or less complex mechanical system......"Yes, the motor underneath the platter of a direct drive turntable turns at 33rpm, which is half hertz! Now, that's quiet. This kind of debate is getting really boring. I much rather see people discussing "fresh thinking," as Cocoabaroque suggested, in improving the sound of dd tables to "come up with an improved DD motor and mount it in a well-designed but affordable plinth, we would really have something that competes with the belt-drives." _______ |
Many people have this misguide concept of the direct drive mechanism including some insightful writers in the audio press community. In a review of a belt drive turntable, the usually perceptive Art Dudley couldn't help to give the DD genre a shove in a footnote below: "Of course, I'm setting aside the even less convenient subject of direct-drive turntables, partly because I haven't the time or space to go into them, and partly out of politeness: Putting the record in direct contact with the phonograph's No.1 source of unwanted vibration, whether of high or low frequency, has never impressed me as a terribly bright thing to do." -Art DudleyWith writing like that, how can the general public be encouraged to even want to give DD a try? A very smart and scientifically minded friend of mine who also happens to be an audiophile and never had any experience with direct drive and was surprised to find out the DD motor spins at 33rpm. For whatever reason, his idea of the DD mechanism is that somehow a fast spinning motor like in a belt drive table--his only exposure--is below the platter in a dd turntable. After I told him the platter/motor spins at such low speed he soon realized the combined resonance is only half hertz to be noisy. It was a "Duh!" moment for him. We need more moments like that; it's only healthy. _______ |
