Marc Phillips of the Anti-Direct Drive League: Does he know his stuff or is he BS?

[chris@panteg]

Just a thought , does anyone on here have a bog standard 1200 and there must a Rega 3 user surely ? bake off , to be honest i wouldn't be surprised if most folk prefer the Rega .

But and here's the thing ! Both deck's should be on a table , nothing too fancy ' and no wall shelf for the Rega either , i think that would be fair .

I would be happy to listen to such a bake off , and if the rega won ! what would it prove to me , that a stock rega is better than a stock 1200 !

But i don't have a stock 1200 , i also don't think what i have now is the best TT in the world , i'm just happy with what i have and it certainly does not sound shit !

I wouldn't call myself a techie fanbois , though that's hard to believe as i use 2 of the damn things i do tend to have obsession's though (my wife tells me so ) and right now i am a bit obssessed with Direct Drive turntables , being honest here 'you see i've tried loads of good belter's (LP12/Voyd/Roksan) and it maybe i return to the belt drive fold one day who knows but not right now going back to what Marc was saying !

Direct Drive motor's inject loads of noise into the system ? this is nonsense , unless i am completely mistaken , there are no moving parts other than the bearing/spindle +platter ?

The SL1200 can sound flat, lifeless and boring , well to be honest again it can sound like this but ... with just a little tweeking like changing the mat ,better feet and the right cartridge, its a very musical and enjoyable deck .

[Epicurus]

Mine is absolutely stock - it's only got an Ortofon 2M Red on it, not even a better mat.

[chris@panteg]

Hi Konstantinos

Well Greece is a bit to far for me , though would be nice

Did you have a Rega yourself at one time ?

[anthonyTD]

"The only time measurements mean anything in hifi, is when deciding if your rega/linn/etc/etc turntable will fit into the dustbin when the time comes (rapidly) to replace it with something a little bit better such as a life or girlfriend...."

...as actually quoted by an engineer friend of mine who has a first class degree in engineering science gained at Oxford University (well before it cost 9K a year in fees.....) and who thinks we are all 'stupid'


personally I prefer high mass thread drives (fishing wire or silk)

spot on!

A...

[Alex_UK]

Just a thought , does anyone on here have a bog standard 1200 and there must a Rega 3 user surely ? bake off , to be honest i wouldn't be surprised if most folk prefer the Rega .

Not quite Chris - but I have a stock SL-150 with a SL-1500 arm fitted, and a stock early Rega Planar 3 with an R200 arm - both have detachable headshells, so very easy to compare the two with the same cartridge... I have never back-to-back compared the two, but the Planar 3/R200 combination isn't one to be underestimated, IMHO...!

Of course, once the modding starts, you're not comparing apples with apples, but I suspect as you eluded to, the differences between a stock 1200 and stock Rega would not be monumental, and differences, rather than one is better than the other.

As I mentioned in my other post on this subject, there are good and bad implementations of both technologies, and as always, you choose your compromises.

(By the way, I do think Marc has had a bit of a hard time, from some quarters, and not especially the way we should really be treating people in the spirit of AoS - I appreciate that "if you stick it out there" then you should be prepared to get the flack back, but at the end of the day, maybe the collective "we" need not be so scathing and personal ("the ball not the man", I think was a favourite used on here in the past...) - there's so few of us into this hobby these days that we probably don't need to be creating or feeding divisions... sorry, just my opinion... but I always have had a problem with splinters in my arse!)

[Marco]

Point taken, Alex, and noted, but I think Marc is no shrinking violet, and given the nature of some of the diatribe he wrote in his initial email replies to me, it's not surprising the backlash he has received from certain quarters.

However, I agree with what you're saying, hence my stance towards him softened somewhat, once I'd gotten over the annoyance (and in some respects, amusement) of reading the contents of the rather closed-minded and prejudiced article he wrote in 2006 about direct-drive T/Ts, and the SL-1200 in particular, which provoked the response he got here, albeit some of which was OTT.

Quite simply, one will never win an argument or gain respect by simply ridiculing the opposition. Empathy is the key to understanding what makes others tick.

However, we're all fallible humans, I guess, including Marc!

Marco.

[Techno Commander]

Of course the real right answer is that idler drives are better than both DD or belt drive!

Maybe, but once I have finalised the design of my linear induction motor powered maglev turntable that will all change.

[Nigel]

I've come across some friends that prefer a Planar 3 to an LP12 saying it sounds more fun & less boring. I'm using the Technics over my LP12.

[Epicurus]

Hi Konstantinos

Well Greece is a bit to far for me , though would be nice

Did you have a Rega yourself at one time ?

No.