"Keith G" wrote in message
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"David Looser" wrote in message
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"Keith G" wrote

Try to get to hear an idler wheel deck if you haven't already: the bass
will beat both direct and belt drive for impact ('spank') and tightness
and you will hear far more clear detail in it - sticks on cymbals,
wooden percussion instruments, rimshots etc.


As I remember it idler-wheel decks (which used to be the standard
arrangement, remember the SP25?) went out of favour because of the
rumble.


Not quite the same on high quality 301/401s and Lencos.

Not quite, but the idler-wheel arangment is inherently noisier.

Belt-drives were so much quieter.

The fascinating thing is that your eulogy over idler-wheel decks matches
the hype said about the (belt driven) Linn. So what can an observer make
of all these claims and counter claims? My considered opinion is that
belief is a very powerful thing!



Eulogy? All I'm doing is saying try to get to hear one if you haven't
already, then you can make up your own mind. I'm not asking anyone to
believe what they can't hear for themselves.


I was just struck by the similarity of your language to those who rave about
other decks. Granted the devotees of the Linn go far more OTT than you (the
Linn isn't just a turntable, it's a magical machine that turns any
third-rate audio system into a music machine to satsfy the gods, or so they
tell me). However you still used basically the same sort of wine-writers
language - "impact", "tightness", "detail" etc. that doesn't mean a damned
thing, but sounds impressive.

The 301 has been around for years and years. If it was half as good as you
claim why would anyone use anything else?

David.