I can't for the life of me understand why a non-DJ would ever want direct drive.

Because it is solid build quality. I visited more than one shop when I was looking for a turntable and this is/was a fair price with the Ortofon element as an option.
I can't see anything wrong with a solid turntable

Same here, I also own a direct drive turn table. Have three others that use belts, and none turn anymore. Getting new belts isn't easy. So my personal experience tell me direct drive lasts longer. All my turntables are vintage models, though. I am considering to buy a brand new unit, but haven't found any direct drive. Might go for a belt-driven one, but then I'm also going to buy a couple of spare belts to replace in the future.

the point of having a belt driven platter is to keep the vibration from the motor away from the platter.

Exactly. Tech 1200s stink at this traditionally and its something they've supposedly fixed with the new models. Its not really vibration as much as it is minute speed/torque fluctuations, making records sound like tapes.

I have many direct drive TTs, some of which I truly love, but DD is more of a liability if anything since the electronics are vastly more complex and often subject to cap failures and worn trip pots making speed control (something that's supposed to be a genuine advantage of DD) difficult to tune.

"Solid build quality" means...what? In the high end there are TTs with platters that weigh 100 lbs made of pure marble. Is that solid enough for you?

It's no Continuum but I like it

Would it be hard to try and understand not everyone shares the same opinion.
I don't like belt driven tables but I do realize other people are very with one of those.
These days new tables can be found fairly cheap but back in 2005 they we're a dying breed or low quality build. I wanted a solid one! S O L I D
I would however like to hear your collection playing on your marble turntable or is this myself dreaming?

I like my DIRECT DRIVE turntable. please accept my sincere apologies for having another vieuw on things

A real beauty
Like that look.

This is the record player I bought not long ago for 299 €:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GbXj15PpgSk/maxresdefault.jpg

It is a new model issued by Pioneer.

It might not be the most expensive model but I think it is more than good enough for my needs.
I think it is more reasonable spending more money on a good MC stylus ( such as the Ortofon MC Quintet Blue ) and
a good MC preamp.

I am already very satisfied with the results I get from the system I got.

I bought a lot of records for very cheap money from a discogs seller based in Germany including some soundtracks composed by Maurice Jarre.
They sound way way better than the CD releases. The CDs sound very boring and hollow compared to the records.
There are many excellent releases out there that are sold for very little little money on discogs. I can really recommend that. I don't think I will
ever buy a CD in my life again.

The most bang for the buck for TT gear is vibration management. They are cheaper than a good low voltage mc cartridge and will give the most improvement in sound. A good phono amp is also a good investment.

This assumes you're starting out with a pretty good setup. If you have a <$400 deck like most people, a decent cart is the largest single improvement most people could use.

I hear you Kris! I only had TT. Now I have a thorens TD-2001. which is a quite good one. But when the belt start to wear of, it get so slow in stopping and starting, and I have to help it speed up. Ofcourse its not a problem if you got belts in your home to use. But it always takes a long time until I get a new one. Then you standing there and waiting waiting waiting.

Sometimes I listen to vinyls in stores, they mostly got DD. And you just push the start, and its at full speed, no hassle. Oh man so easy.

I can fully understand why someone would want to have a DD.

Being sidelined by a belt is...a pretty sad state. Maybe you've got something exotic but from my experience they aren't that hard to find or install and even if you can't find the exact one there are more ways than I can count to just make one out of somthing. It's just a belt.

And they only rot out after a decade or two, not exactly constant maintenance.

I think your experience is fairly limited, maybe? If you've seen a fair number of turntables you'd know that not all DDs spin up quick, not all belt drives are slow, and that "solid" is something that can be achieved with either. In fact, the most "solid" decks are almost all belt drive. I'm talking about stuff that costs $100,000 and has to be mounted directly to the building foundation with its own concrete ancors. 24c gold plated legs, a platter 7" thick made from pure crystal. That kind of stuff. In that world direct drive is almost non-existent.

Look, we are all doing something irrational and non-scientific just by prefering records to CD, LD to DVD, etc. I understand this fully.

However, it is a provable, measurable, repeatable scientific truth that, on the whole, direct drive is a sonic liability. Every little pulse of the field coil introduces measurable speed fluxuations. This is hugely mitigated by belt drive systems both because of the belt but also by a different motor design.

We all prefer what we prefer, and as long as no harm comes to anyone that's perfectly fine. I'm not telling people what to enjoy. But belt drive decks are not cheap crap, just the ones you've seen. And while DD increases usability for DJs, offers pitch control, and aparently makes people happy by usually spinning up faster, for general home use or dedicated listening belts are better. Better because they are quieter and better because changing a belt is much easier than welding in new capacitors.

%100 with this. If you spend a few hundred bucks or more, you won't find any direct drive audiophile TT. The mega expensive ones don't even us a drive, they use magnetism, literally no physical connection between the platter and the motor(and the base really).

A TT has no electronics inside it, it's pure mechanical engineering. You rotate the vinyl at constant speed and the needle vibrates. The needle is a conductor, as it moves/vibrates between coils or magnets, it creates an electric current (magnetism 101, generator). You want this moving/vibration to come from the groves of the LP only. Any vibration coming from the motor, your speakers, you walking in front of the TT is unwanted by product. You want to isolate the LP and the needle as much as you can. A motor with direct contact with the LP will vibrate, no way to ignore this. You can buy a cheap TT and place it on top of a half a ton concrete block, it will sound better. No magic, just physics.

You might notice in the photo above the TT sits on a wall-shelf; I have very limited space and this was the best, well pretty much only option.

You might also notice there's a window just above; and in this window to the right an air-conditioning unit sits. Now with the shelf hard-coupled to the wall that a/c sits on I never expected to be able to listen to it when the a/c was running. However it turns out the resonant frequency of the wall is low and with a few quiet/low level pressings the amplification was so high to get good volume that I got a really bad low frequency feedback loop/hum.

So I grabbed a set of vibrapod isolators/cones that I had and put them under a board sitting on the wall-shelf:



The result? No more feedback; in fact I could have the a/c on with vibration from it undetectable at the speakers! And it sounded better at usual listening levels.

At first it was a piece of pine board, just because it was laying around. Also experimented with MDF and plywood - I'd read somewhere Linn recommending plywood for TT shelves. Pine was okay actually, MDF seemed to suck the life out of the music and make things sound dull. Settled on the plywood as the best of those. Meant to try out glass (which seems to be a popular hi-fi stand choice) but not got round to it yet.

So for 10's of dollars investment got a great improvement out of 1000's of dollars of TT. Hardly seems right but there you go!

I like old school tech and have nothing against it but sooner or later I like to have something "modern".
It's not because it's new that it ain't "better" .
DD is a practical choice for me. It feels solid and sounds great. I can't hear any difference with a belt driven one. I like the look of belt driven turntables but once again I like technology.
I'm sure I would buy a LD player if one would become available with let's say Component output upscaling to 720p ....
I believe technology is invented for the best not for worse!
Love the look of those 80's turntables but I wouldn't know who, what or where to get one properly restored.
If I would get the chance to buy a restored old school TT I might be tempted but not at any price. DD is affordable new and to be trusted. Not much can go wrong.+ there's a warranty. The day it blows a cap it goes! plenty new ones around these days.

Love what you like
appreciate others opinion, nothing wrong with that.
No hard feelings.

But by no means is DD new technology when it comes to TT's

In fact please correct me if I'm wrong but the 70's/80's were their heyday (outside of DJ use)

And though I know how to use a soldering iron it's still much easier to replace a belt then a capacitor

agree but when a cap blows I'm getting a new one
at the current rate - use of MY TT I guess I'm good for some years to come.

No capacitors in the TT. No electronics what so ever really. Here is the list

-Some dense and preferably heavy mdf for the base. This is literally to hold the rotating table and minimize vibration.
-a rotating table, preferably made with materials anti-static and heavy. Heavy table will hold its momentum better against vibrations and torque changes from the motor.
-a 8-10" tone arm, preferably made with materials light and vibration emitting.
-rubber or spiked feet to further minimize vibration.

The cartridge has a hard metal, prerequisite diamond needle. Both sides of the needle is two magnets or inductor coils which create magnetic fields when biased. When the needle which is a magnetic conductor moves left to right, right to left due to the grooves on the vinyl, this will change/alter the magnetic field therefore creates a small electric current. This current is proportional and synchronized to the grooves of the vinyls, in other words it is the electrical audio signal equivalent.

Any other vibration that reaches the needle will create different electric inpulses than on the vinyl. There are four slim wires that comes from the cartridge (+/- left and right each) and goes to the rca connectors. Minus poles are also tied to the ground. This is it. This is how turntable works. Not a single resistor or cap or nothing.

You can rotate the plate by hand if you like. Good tables comes with Brushless DC motors which have very little vibration. The caps you talk about are in the rectifier to convert AC to DC for the motor.