Naim introduce a turntable - the Solstice Special Edition

My bad for not understanding what you meant by the term slip Q. If you had written it out C U E, I might have gotten the point. I thought you were referring to the fact that some early idler drive turntables, like the grease bearing Garrard 301, and possibly like some versions of TD124, had braking built into the platters so the motor had something to work against.  My response was that not every idler drive relied upon such a braking system to keep constant speed. Anyway, why are you talking about disc jockeys and record changers? I did own a TD125 for several years as my only TT. Very attractive and modern looking. Performance OK. It was very de riguer in its day. Some malign it for unreliable electronics in retrospect.

pani, define “belt drive-ish flow”.

The belt is very small in diameter and traverses two pulleys of roughly equal or similar diameter, in contrast to the belt on any true belt drive turntable.  So the issues might be different.  But I have no business discussing a TD124.  Never had one in my own home system.

Fsonic, sorry if you were offended. Actually, I do not own a Garrard 301, and I have no dog in the fight about the weight of a platter on a 301. My only point was the point I was trying to make. That this is a subjective judgment, unless you have measured speed irregularity due to platter mass. For sure at some point even the big 301 motor is going to be affected by platter mass. But if Steve Dobbins was your guru, you were and are in good hands.

Mijo, not every idler is designed to “slip Q”. I do know that the TD 124 features a belt to drive its idler, and I mentioned earlier in this thread that when I auditioned the three major Vintage idler drive turn tables, I liked the TD 124 least of all, by a long shot. The comparison may not be fair, because I auditioned those turntables in systems that were not completely familiar to me otherwise.

fsonic, Your little experiment with a single idler-drive turntable and platters of different mass does not "prove" that high mass per se is the cause of a "plodding" sound, whatever that means to the author.  It only means that you prefer the lighter platter on your Garrard.  It is only information useful to you with your turntable in your system.  Furthermore you fail to mention which platter, if any of the 3, was OEM to the 301.  The 301 drive system was probably designed with a particular platter mass in mind; it would not be surprising if heavier platters would overload the drive and cause a sense of dullness or plodding or that a lighter than original platter might enliven the sound.  But I couldn't say that unless you were to reveal which was the OEM platter.  However, I hope you see my point.

The URL you provide, for all its verbiage, doesn’t bother to mention whether the new TT is a belt- drive or direct-drive. Since it’s really a Clearaudio, I’ll assume belt.