Is idler drive better than belt drive or direct drive?

@oldhvymec  You can still get recording tape including cassettes- talk to the good folks at ATR.


If you get some Silica Gel packets and a plastic bag, throw in the packet when you store the tape in its bag in its box. It lasts a lot longer before you have to bake it!

If we modified a impact testing rig so the given edge of the moving or rotating platter could impact upon said impact gear, we could probably prove, via data obtained... that idler wheel is better than belt or direct drive.

I suspect that with only a truly massive platter in play -- does this advantage finally go away to some degree.

It’s an "instantaneous torque at any given point under a constantly varying dynamic transient load" issue.

Only the idler has it.

@teo_audio

If we modified a impact testing rig so the given edge of the moving or rotating platter could impact upon said impact gear, we could probably prove, via data obtained... that idler wheel is better than belt or direct drive.

Not necessarily, the main advantage the old idlers have is the size of their motors and that most of them are AC/hysterisis type motors which self correct if the motor starts to lag. The weakness of most belt drives is their small motors & elastic rubber belt. The problem with DC motors and direct drive is that its like digital - only a little bit out ALL of the time. DC motors have zero torque at a constant speed, only when they change speed does the torque go above zero.
Thats why DC motors need feedback/computators to maintain speed.
Furthermore if you look at the response of AC and DC motors to lag, AC motors recover sinusoidally, whereas DC motors recover trapezoidally.  In other words DC motors recovery from speed aberrations is rough compared to AC.

Here is my Final Audio Parthenon with big AC motor, silk thread belt & 26kg platter and record clamp. The motor is controlled by sine & cosine wave generators and driven by a 60wpc Onix Audio OA60 power amplifier. All cabling in the turntable motor drive is phase coherent MIT Oracle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwugFlbCOww
Video playing Carol Kidd ( Linn Record) Dynavector Cartridge, banging the record with knuckle.

Try that with your Linn, Oracle or TW Acustic.
By the way I also have a personally rebuilt/restored Garrard 301 idler ( higher spec than your run of the Artisan Fidelity & Classic Audio 301's ), close but no cigar - cant compete with the string drive Final in speed and precision. The key here is that the silk thread does not stretch.

Oh, forgot to mention the string drive Final was built in the 70’s.

atmasphere8,587 posts08-21-2020 2:50pm@oldhvymec You can still get recording tape including cassettes- talk to the good folks at ATR.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

You know I still have a lot of tape, cassette (3m 1969). One is actually a recording of the little band we had going as kids. Trumpet, drums, lead guitar, and pans (lead singer could multi-task) I had two tapes just packed with all the local kids around that played. One held up very well one didn't.
THEN, Reel to Reel was a dream for us kids. 4-8 tracks were all the rage. For a while LP in cars. I saw a couple in Ford Thunderbirds.

I have three legal folder storage boxes, of tapes stored in anti-static bags. I'll never use them... The quality just isn't there compared to my least expensive CD/SDAC, streaming, heck even the music channel.

I admit also my playback for the tapes is not high quality, for sure..
Sony (still my personal favorites) but in real need of overhaul/service.

Regards