Turntable motor controller

[jazzvinyl2020]

I‘m thinking of upgrading my Clearaudio TT with a motor controller (speed stability, 33/45 switching). Would this bring any audible benefit or pure snake oil? Many audiophiles swear by external motor controllers…

 

[DVDdoug]

I don't play records anymore but I NEVER actually heard wow, flutter, or speed errors from ANYTHHING that wasn't broken.

Would this bring any audible benefit or pure snake oil? Many audiophiles swear by external motor controllers…

Most "audiophile" stuff is snake oil and most audiophiles are nuts! This one of the few scientific/rational websites.

And by modern (digital) standards, I don't consider vinyl "high fidelity". There is always record noise and sometimes annoying clicks and pops (which doesn't annoy everybody as much as it annoys me). There are frequency response variations in the audio range, and sometimes audible distortion.

 

[Balle Clorin]

First check the TT you have with a RPM Phone app.
If it is within 0.1% you do not have a problem . Most speed irregularities are due to the belt and NOT from the motor. But speed adjustment vie motor control is a great benefit, without that you may never have the correct speed..

What controller/motor are you thinking of?

 

[Tom C]

The only time I’ve ever heard any kind of speed variance is when the spindle hole on the disc got punched off center, making the groove path eccentric. The tone arm will swing alternately toward the center and the outer edge as the record plays, making the speed of replay vary audibly. Showing once again that the manufacturing limitations of the disc exceed the limitations of the record player.
At one point, I had a Rega Planar 3 where you had to remove the platter to access to drive belt to move it from the 33 1/3 drive shaft to the 45 shaft. That was a PITA, and the primary advantage of an “upgrade“ speed controller was that it was push-button operation instead. These days, I wouldn’t bother buying a player with such an unnecessarily clumsy operation in the first place. Turntable power supply upgrades are just a money grab on the manufacturer’s part, as far as I can see.

 

[egellings]

I‘m thinking of upgrading my Clearaudio TT with a motor controller (speed stability, 33/45 switching). Would this bring any audible benefit or pure snake oil? Many audiophiles swear by external motor controllers…

Motor speed in AC motors (like the one in your TT) is set by the line frequency. So, absent any problem like belt or idler wheel slippage or a bearing sticking, the speed will remain constant, as power companies are very careful about maintaining an accurate line frequency, much better than 1Hz out of 50 or 60Hz since that frequency is used in timing applications, such as electric clocks. If the motor is controlled by an AC regenerator, then YMMV.

 

[Thomas_A]

It can affect but perhaps not speed, but noise and vibration. Some motor controllers reduce voltage to let the motor run more silent and can also ramp up if needed.

 

[rdenney]

I have a Music Hall Cruise Control for my Thorens. I didn't buy it to improve anything except my ability to adjust speed for playing along and to switch speeds without having to move the belt. These are designed for synchronous 16-volt AC motors.

It produces a very clean sine wave that Music Hall claims is better than 1% THD. The sine wave out of the wall is noticeably distorted (I don't have a pic of that), but that distortion didn't make it through the Cruise Control. But there was certainly no audible difference either way, nor was there any change in "stability", which is already rock-solid in just about any power grid. My motor was slightly slow and this was also corrected.

Rick "bought it used on ebay for about a hundred bucks" Denney