Motor control units do substantially improve the sound of tables, though probably NOT because of more accurate long term speed control (what is measured with the strobe). The motor on the Basis table is an AC motor. It's speed is is determined by the 60hz alternating current frequency. Power companies must maintain that speed to a quite high degree of accuracy.
If the strobe shows that speed is slightly off, that is probably because of such factors as belt tension and slippage. But, even people with so-called perfect pitch would not hear the slight difference in steady state speed. What you probably are hearing is the great improvement in the smoothness of the motor turning (i.e., rapid changes in speed) because of the improved purity of the 60 hz sine wave that the motor controller is providing. Good controllers actually are amplifiers that regenerate the AC current as a more perfect sinewave (better shape, less noise).
If the Walker is a plug-in unit that does not require modification of the motor itself, then it is fundamentally different from the control unit supplied by Basis. The Basis controller requires modification of the motor itself. Turntable motors have mutliple poles to reduce cogging. That means that the different sets of poles have to be fed AC at different times. In the regular Basis motor, capacitors are used to delay part of the ac wave by 90 degrees to feed the other set of poles. With the Basis motor control, the capacitors are bypassed, and the controller itself generates a 90 degree out of phase wave that is purer than that which can be achieved with just a capacitor.
It would be interesting to see which controller actually does a better job.
If the strobe shows that speed is slightly off, that is probably because of such factors as belt tension and slippage. But, even people with so-called perfect pitch would not hear the slight difference in steady state speed. What you probably are hearing is the great improvement in the smoothness of the motor turning (i.e., rapid changes in speed) because of the improved purity of the 60 hz sine wave that the motor controller is providing. Good controllers actually are amplifiers that regenerate the AC current as a more perfect sinewave (better shape, less noise).
If the Walker is a plug-in unit that does not require modification of the motor itself, then it is fundamentally different from the control unit supplied by Basis. The Basis controller requires modification of the motor itself. Turntable motors have mutliple poles to reduce cogging. That means that the different sets of poles have to be fed AC at different times. In the regular Basis motor, capacitors are used to delay part of the ac wave by 90 degrees to feed the other set of poles. With the Basis motor control, the capacitors are bypassed, and the controller itself generates a 90 degree out of phase wave that is purer than that which can be achieved with just a capacitor.
It would be interesting to see which controller actually does a better job.