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October 11, 2007 - 2:56pm
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You heard it here first...Direct Drive will become "hip" and "in" again in high end audio.
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There's no doubt that fads abound in all areas of consumer interest, and that designers and manufacturers and especially marketeers are always looking for ways to convince people to replace perfectly good and serviceable commodities with the latest new-fangled whiz-bang, but what particular signs are you seeing that point toward the ascendancy of DD?
I just bought an amazingly good Sony PS-T1 as part of a job lot to grab a whole bunch of pristine 1970's audiophile graded vinyl...figured I could resell it quick for a small profit...no way...my first ever DD in over forty years of belt drives, and wow, interesting or what! (Noisy as well, but still highly interesting!)
You could be correct!
Question is...do prophets make cash for predicting, or do they just get loads of kudos and folks bowing as they walk past?
Should be about a $35,000 "upgrade" to the now finast bestest never before heard TT, Contin......of course the results will be another breakthrough, never before possible, as long as there is stock of the older models.
How come slipping belts are musical, with poor speed regulation. In cars, they improved transmission of the automatic type by eliminating slip, so mless energy is wasted from engine to wheels. But in audio, slippage sounds better? Yupper, poor speed control makes for more realistic playback, belt drive, another audio myth? We don't want no stinkin' direct coupling and presise speed control. The new Dd TT's will of course be teh most belt like sound offered, using new technologys. It's not your father's direct drive......Maybe they will design in slip, to give you that belt like sound, the controller will randomly speed up , slow down...aaaaahhh. Orrrr, I know it'll have a final belt drive to teh platter, but the thing has "direct drive" on the outboard motor assy....thus teh best of both worlds...upgrade price, well, that's why there's MasterCard
"slipping belts"? Which TT utilizes a slipping belt?
As to the apples to house paint comparison: a car with a continuously variable transmission sounds awful; adding throttle increases speed but the engine remains at constant speed. BLEH!
Real men only own cars with manual transmissions. Direct Drive!
I bow to thee...
So there I was earlier today in this guy's house to buy another huge boxfull of old plastic...
"Wanna buy an old deck to go with that lot?"
Naw, got around six already...well okay let me have a look...
"It's an old Kenwood thing which plays great...I'll turn it on for you...the platter is like like something from a granite quarry...takes two to lift it..."
WOW!
I think it looks like a K750 but I have only ever seen them in pictures, and I did not want to seem too keen...still noisy though...which will probably not stop me buying it soon because the poor chap is going abroad...next week...tee hee...shame he is pushed for time, eh...
DAF Variomatics were the most revolutionary cars I can ever recall...any still going around...they had little belts all over the place...impossible to fix unless you had a willing female to grab some tights from in the heat of the moment...same as the old 'my fanbelts broke and I need to get your tights off ' routine...same principles, I guess...amazing how those little strobe thingies are built into record decks these days...gone are the days of little paint blobs on pulley and case...mind you, it's still all about transfer of power...I think...power equals noise...direct power equals direct noise...science again...OH NO!
I have three turntables, two are direct drives, Technics sl-1200 mk2 which is djs best choice, Garrard dd132 and Kenwwood k-pr305- TT buster. No problem so far on speed always precise and sounds really great and can match the sound of any belt drive TTs. No regret on using the three.
Indeed, I can well imagine...I played around with the old Sony and it was certainly not impossible to listen to...great fun for me and I will give it a serious run during this coming week. That old Kenwood really is a beast with a capital B but I think they made many more (do you know many of them?)...I must do more research and thanks for giving me a prod in the right direction, or wherever I end up...
So what is high end audiophile direct drive TT then? Is there such thing that gets respect in forums such as this...I had never thought about it until recently...I am slowly falling in love with the new Audio Note TT must look! and when I see monsters like that from one of THE undisputed kings of TT for the past many decades, still using rubber bands...it makes me wonder...
Hey there!!! I just made the star rating thing work!!! I gave you two stars and lo, there they are!!! Welcome aboard...tee hee...I am quite new here myself and you are the first one that the star thingie has worked for me...technology and science, eh, can't beat it...
The tone arm of the technics sl-1200 i think can be compared to a 2 thousand US dol tonearm in the market. Ill tell you technics has a a very good tonearm.
I don't keep up with hi-end audio gear offerings but has this prediction come true?