Back when I undertook to make a slate plinth, it was originally for my Lenco, only. This must have been at least 15 years ago, and there was a "thing" going on about slate plinths, over on Lenco Lovers, or whatever the website is called. OMA made a slate plinth for the Lenco L75, but it was too expensive for me, so I decided to make one of my own. That's how it all started, just out of my own curiosity. Like I hope I said, I don't ascribe any magical properties to slate except to say I liked the results with the Lenco, and by that time I had identified reliable sources for PA slate (the same slate that OMA uses; apparently slate color and character can vary according to geography) and for water-jet cutting of the slate, so going forward from there was only a matter of locating pdf files that could be used to program the water-jet. (For this work, I thank the guys at RC Waterjet in York. They were great.) Peter Reinders, a very nice guy on Lenco Lovers, was able to provide the pdf file for cutting the Lenco slate. I got the files for the SP10s off another website (Soundfountain). We created a file for the DP80, using the measurements off the actual chassis. I made an engineering drawing, and the waterjet guys turned my drawing into a pdf. It was no problem at all to acquire slate slabs cut to my specs by the quarry in PA. Furthermore they honed both sides to perfect plane flatness and champhered the corners of the slabs, for looks and so they weren't dangerous to handle, before sending to the waterjet company.
Mijostyn, You may be correct that torque is a problem only at start-up, but there is such a thing as stylus drag, which also requires momentary bursts of torque from the motor, to maintain absolute constant speed. I think it may be important to hold all surrounding structures, including the stators, rock stable against the torque that can be supplied by the motor, so all that force (=torque) is devoted to accelerating the platter. It just seems a good idea. Richard Krebs devoted a lot of study and analysis to this issue with respect first to the SP10s and then to his own tt design, which I think is now commercially available. He offers mods to SP10 Mk2 and Mk3, to stabilize the stators on those two turntables. I've had that mod applied to my Mk3, and I believe I can hear a difference; the modified Mk3 is more "musical", flowing, effortless. (Not very scientific, I admit.) Because the Mk3 motor is more torque-y perhaps than any other DD motor ever sold commercially, the benefits of the Krebs mod may be most obvious on the Mk3. Also, Technics opted for tight servo control. Some other DDs, e.g., my Kenwood L07D use a more relaxed servo feedback system, and indeed the L07D is exceptionally musical and flowing in its SQ, as is. Not to mention it also has a coreless motor, also a good thing. (We agree, Artemis.)
