Why three motors?

About the TW website, what I meant is that I didn't see the listing or any prompt button for the AC3. As seen in the picture, obviously they still offer the three motor option. Once again, I apologize for the confusion and my carelessness. Yes, TW STILL makes a 3-motor turntable with only one side of the belt touching the platter. Below is description of the system:

Three-motor drive for Raven and Raven AC turntables / Technical details:

Our three motors run absolutely syncronous thanks to a sophisticated motor control
The diameters of the drive pulleys are accurate to within half a hundredth of a millimetre
The drive belt thickness is ground to a tolerance of one hundredth of a millimetre

We have taken the advantages of our unique drive system to the limit and have developed a three-motor drive for the Raven One and Raven AC. We have achieved perfect syncronicity between all three motors with our new, highly developed motor control system.

The extremely precisely machined drive belt, coupled with finely toleranced and matched pulleys give the concept the optimal basis for the precision we demand. If you were of the opinion that the Raven's drive system was unique, then of course you were right! But the new three-motor drive picks up where our unique single motor drive leaves off. The Raven or Raven AC is now available as a three-motor version. Of course, any existing Raven One or Raven AC can also be upgraded.

There's no mention of the belt configuration. Can we get back to the why now? Anyone?

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Mesael
Am curious about the short belt. I thought the manual says a min/max of 310mm to 320mm distance between the spindle centre and the centre of the motor housing. Is the short belt available from TW or elsewhere ? Are there any sonic benefits? Would love to use a shorter belt as my AC1 barely fits on my HRS S1 platform. That explains the diagonal fit of the AC1 if you view my system.

Sunnyboy, TW has short belt for AC1. When used, the motor is just 4mm from the plint. With it, you can position your TW squarely on the HRS platform. But the long belt would have larger contact area with the pulley.

As I understand it, you are better off with the motor pulley as close as possible to the platter, so the belt contacts as much as possible of the circumference of the platter, to minimize the phenomenon of "belt creep". I don't know why these and many other very expensive high end turntables place the motor at such a great distance from the platter, unless it is to minimize the transmission of motor vibration to the platter via the belt. It's yet another Catch-22.

With a rubberized O-Ring you could have more of an issue with motor vibration (and belt "boinging") being transmitted to he platter. This becomes minimized significantly whn you use a silk string, or tape to drive the platter. There is a noticeable improvement in PRAT and a much clearer sound over rubber.