Measuring Turntable Platter Speed

The short answer is . . no!

But that doesn’t mean you’re at the end of the road. While you can’t measure the fluctuation, you can probably fix it. New bearing, new bearing lubrication, repair of worn bearing, new belt, new motor. Somewhere in there is your answer. A belt driven TT is really a very simple thing. Is there support for this sort of thing at Rega? Is there a forum of Rega users where you might find good advice?

Sorry, but how will measuring help? Won't. All it will do is quantify and confirm what you already know. If the wow seems related to platter rotation that points towards the bearing. Which you would want to clean and lube anyway as that is the next logical thing after the belt, which you already did.

If when changing the belt you also cleaned it and everything it touches with alcohol, that eliminates the belt.

We are now down to the motor. Look closely, is it perfectly straight or bent at all? Listen close, is there any sound with the same pattern as the wow? Can you lube the motor at all? Use only the tiniest amount of oil if you can.

My guess is "slight, quick, pitch changes" could be the bearing. It is an older table and could be going dry. Inspect, clean, and lube. I like Liquid Moly 90wt gear oil but you could use anything and Origin Live is the creme de la creme. In any case do all the steps above. Really just smart ongoing tune-up/maintenance. Can't hurt.

All - thank you for taking the time to reply and make suggestions. I did go over the spindle bearing and it is clean and oiled. I can't here any noise from the motor itself. The "flutter" is noticable and consistant throughout the entire side of any album.

Funny that you can hear something so subtle that is so hard to measure. I have some measurable hearing loss (right in the frequencies of my wifes voice ;>) ) so I wanted to check it via instrumentation to make sure it wasn't my hearing or imagination.

Net - the TT is almost 30 years old. The motor might just be worn out. A new P2 is very reasonable so I guess it's time to update.

Again - many thanks !!! - Jim S.