Are There Any Direct Drive Turntables Being Made Today?

[ben556473]

Hello, I was under the impression that Brinkman made a direct drive turntable but it appears they don't. Does anyone know of a direct drive table available to buy new? Apart from the Technics and the odd Denon from Japan of course. Cheers, Ben.

[pivot]

I am willing to bet you have something more rational in mind.

It IS direct drive however.

http://www.teresaudio.com/certus/

There are other super high end direct drive tables out there and then there are DJ/club junk like Audio Technica and Vestrax that are mostly knock offs of the Technics

[sq225917]

there's a ten page review on the grand prix audio DD in this months +

[LPspinner]

Hi Ben:

While direct drive turntables have an awful lot going for them (my recent experience with a Technics SL1210 only reinforced this view), they have one distinct disadvantage. In order to recuperate the huge capitol outlay required to design, implement and tool up for a good quality Direct-Drive motor unit you need to sell several thousand units per month.

Unfortunately most high end, specialist audio turntable manufacturers can only dream of these sorts of production volumes. The world market for audiophile record decks is just not big enough to support such a design project as a main stream audio product. This is where the belt drive principal becomes attractive, simple off the shelf technology that is easily adapted to fit the required application. A cynical view perhaps, but a realistic one all the same. Back in the eighties large organizations such as Technics Matsushita, JVC, Sony, Denon etc had large R&D departments and an R&D budget that would pay the national debt of some modern nations. This sort of operation could easily develop a complex direct drive system that worked very well, was cost effective to manufacture and was extremely reliable. There are many decks which are better examples of this technology and are still function today, when was the last time you have to change a belt on your D-D deck?

There are always exceptions of course and like a previous poster has mentioned the grand prix audio deck comes to mind (how deep are your pockets?), the Terres deck is also available. The Terres units are still very expensive and as I understand it Terres is more aimed at the DIY kit builders rather than the “Turnkey operation” type consumer.

However; all is not entirely lost - the DJ market is much bigger than the specialist audiophile market and this is one area where manufactures can support the production costs with sufficient sales volumes to make it all fiscally viable. Manufacturers such as Gemini, Vestax, and Numark and of coarse Technics and Audio-Technica all produce direct drive models. The last two companies produce products that have become iconic in the DJ industry. Unfortunately for music lovers most of the budget DJ decks offer very poor audio performance and can easily be bettered by a Rega or a Project Turntable. On the other hand, the Technics deck, whether you hate it or love it, also performs very well as an audiophile deck and still makes a very strong case the adoption of the direct drive technology. The little heavy weight Technics has high torque, low noise and an incredible pitch stability that I am yet to hear from any belt drive deck. You can use it straight out of the box and get very good performance or you can go for an all out assault and Pimp up the deck with a Rega or SME arm. You can also add some sexy sqidgy feet and get some very good results.

It will be interesting to see where this thread goes.

regards
LPSpinner

[pivot]

"Audio-Technica makes a Technics 1200 clone (in China).....that, in the opinion of a few, is even better sounding than the original."

I like less money.

Are there any reviews or independant views giving the tumbs up??

[analogous]

http://www.grandprixaudio.com/prod_monaco_turntable.php

Some reviews for this very pricy deck.

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue25/monaco.htm

http://www.stereophile.com/turntables/1107gp/

[ben556473]

Thanks for the replies chaps. It's pretty much as expected. I like the way the Grand Prix table has the same speed accuracy as the Denon DP500M which costs £9650 less and includes an arm.
Since my first and current table is direct drive I am most apprehensive about buying a belt drive. Especially after reading Chairguys reports. A freind has said he will bring his Townsend Rock round and hook it into my system so I can have a listen to a belt drive and see what I think.
There should be more choice in drive for us HiFiaholics, I know the good second hand dd decks go for lots of money and are sort after, like the SP10, so there is a market I think.
(I'll probably end up with a Gyro with DC motor and power supply )

[LeeS]

Don't forget the venerable idler drive, Ben. You can get Lencos and Garrards for a lot less than a Gyro, especially the Lencos. You could get a Lenco 75 and service and re-plinth it, all for less than £100 and I think you would be very pleasantly surprised by its performance when coupled with a nice unipivot arm or even a lowly RB250, or suchlike.

I run a Goldring GL88 and it is extremely pitch stable, rumble free and I sold a DC'd Gyro/Orbe in favour of the GL88. Very easy (and fun) to set up, tweak and modify if you're into that DIY side of things (see here). No electronics or ICs to worry about. Pure solid, bombproof mechanical design with a high speed, high torque AC motor to drive the music along.

Just a thought.....



Cheers

[satanfriendly]

Once your friend introduces you to the Townshend deck I'm sure you'll be hooked. I had an early rock some years back and I still swear to this day it's one of the finest TT's ever made.

On the subject of modern DD's, an 'odd one out' worth looking at is the EAR Disc Master Turntable. A strange form of magnetic drive which I guess could be construed as a direct drive.

http://www.ear-yoshino.com/news/news.asp?ID=104

It ain't cheap at, but it looks an interesting alternative and I can see the sense in the design. A rather sexy looking TT as well.

I'm not too sold on the Grand Prix and it's claims seem to depend more on numbers. Mind you I like many others have yet to hear one. And probably never will.

[YNWAN]

I didn't criticise the sound of the Grand Prix turntable, merely it's rather narrow design brief.

[Cable Monkey]

I tend to allow listening to make my decisions for me. I would imagine that is the best way to go about it. Reading specs, design remits and white papers don't give you any idea whatsoever about how something will present music to you. If it did we would all be listening to CD!

[Wulf]

So get a GPA deck and mount the whole thing on springs in a plinth like a regular suspended TT - wonder what that would be like?

[Cable Monkey]

I didn't criticise the sound of the Grand Prix turntable, merely it's rather narrow design brief.

My point was, regardless of anything else, it is the sound that matters.

[Cable Monkey]

So get a GPA deck and mount the whole thing on springs in a plinth like a regular suspended TT - wonder what that would be like?

Go the whole hog and disengage the motor, get a belt around that platter and convert it to belt drive!