[Laundrew]

I have recently looked at a turntable that employs Rim Drive and I was curious what the pros and cons of a Rim Drive TT compared to Belt Drive TT would be? The runout of the Rim Drive table I was looking at is approximately .0004" - yes .0004". I do not know a lot about turntables but would appreciate any thoughts with respect to this subject.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df_3NDIyhNw&feature=youtu.be

Be well...

[TomS]

Laundrew,

There is a lot of good discussion on the Trans-Fi site about his journey to rim drive and the particular implementation he chose. http://www.trans-fi.com/others.htm

I own the Trans-FI Salvation and truly love it. It's bass, impact, and speed stability on piano is like no belt drive I've ever owned, though I haven't heard the great mega buck ones. It's also quite a bit less expensive then most other rim drives with no loss in quality. I know the runout on the latest platter I have is amazingly low.

Vic can answer any specific questions you have about rims, idlers, and his version.

Here is mine with the slate plinth and T3Pro arm

[orthobiz]

What exactly is the "runout?"

Paul

[TomS]

Paul,

For this purpose I believe it's variation of the rim distance relative to the spindle center, but I'm not an ME. You want constant application of the drive pulley to the rim. Any variation can affect it negatively - noises, wear, and constant speed.

Tom

[Laundrew]

Greetings TomS,

Thank you for the link, awesome looking turntable you have 

Be well...

[mgalusha]

I upgraded my Teres from belt drive to rim drive last year, it was a very significant improvement. As Tom described, the bass, impact and general solidity is pretty amazing. There is just a drive to the music that most belt drives don't seem to have.

The table below is what I call a Vertus. It's a combination of the Verus rim drive and Certus bearing and platter from Teres Audio. It's a one off, maple plinth and phenolic resin platter and arm board. It recently gained the Illius arm from Teres as well. And I love the look of the slate plinth of Tom's Trans-Fi, actually the whole works looks really sweet.

[SteveRB]

Those Trans-fi tables look very interesting.

I think I'll be putting them at the top of my list for a test spin. Do you know if there are any westcoast demos?

[jimdgoulding]

I upgraded my Teres from belt drive to rim drive last year, it was a very significant improvement. As Tom described, the bass, impact and general solidity is pretty amazing. There is just a drive to the music that most belt drives don't seem to have.

The table below is what I call a Vertus. It's a combination of the Verus rim drive and Certus bearing and platter from Teres Audio. It's a one off, maple plinth and phenolic resin platter and arm board. It recently gained the Illius arm from Teres as well. And I love the look of the slate plinth of Tom's Trans-Fi, actually the whole works looks really sweet.

Bully good for you!  I'm serious.  And if I failed to congratulate you on your room once you completed it, bully good for that, too.  That's the stuff dreams are made of around here.  Fan-freakin-tastic!  I believe your speakers are different, tho.  Wha happened to your Abbeys?

[TomS]

Those Trans-fi tables look very interesting.

I think I'll be putting them at the top of my list for a test spin. Do you know if there are any westcoast demos?

There are only a handful of Salvations in the US. I'm not aware of any out west just yet. There are many of the T3 tonearms around though. I'm sure you could ping Vic at Trans-Fi and he could tell you.