I have owned a belt drive Galibier Stelvio for several years. During that time I've experimented with several tweaks; including different sized pulleys, belt tension, etc. I have also tried several belts and noted changes both good and bad with sound quality. I recently took a flyer and ordered a pair of Original Live turntable belts for a total of $65 including the shipping from England. Ordering was easy on their website: https://www.originlive.com/turntable-belts-replacement-new/high-performance-flat-belts-upgrade.html and the package arrived ~10 days after ordering.
Opening the package, I was frankly disappointed. The belts are much thinner than I have used in the past: how can there be enough surface area to drive my >100# platter? And they are "stretchy" which seems antithetical to driving the platter at a constant speed. Determined to get my $65 worth, I replaced my current Sperling belt and gave it a go...
WOW! This was not a subtle change. Lots more air, deeper more propulsive bass, increased volume and more of a sense of 'liveness'. After playing many, many records with both my mono (Durand Talea/Miyajima BE) and stereo (Durand Telos/Benz Micro) set ups, I became convinced the sound was "too hot". Hmmm...given the consistency of this finding with both mono and stereo, I began to wonder if my setups needed some adjustment. My theory was that with the old belt, I had been previously losing data from the records and compensating in my set up.
Sooo, yesterday, I adjusting my mono set up to optimize the sound. After some experimentation, lowering VTA 1.6mm really locked things in. The 'edge' was gone but every other improvement was 'more better'. I'm not typically prone to audio hyperbole but in my application, this has been revelatory.
Couple of takeaways so far:
1. If you own a belt drive turntable, it is definitely worthwhile experimenting with belts.
2. Introducing a tweak often requires further system fine tuning.
I'll work on the stereo setup this weekend and report back.
Opening the package, I was frankly disappointed. The belts are much thinner than I have used in the past: how can there be enough surface area to drive my >100# platter? And they are "stretchy" which seems antithetical to driving the platter at a constant speed. Determined to get my $65 worth, I replaced my current Sperling belt and gave it a go...
WOW! This was not a subtle change. Lots more air, deeper more propulsive bass, increased volume and more of a sense of 'liveness'. After playing many, many records with both my mono (Durand Talea/Miyajima BE) and stereo (Durand Telos/Benz Micro) set ups, I became convinced the sound was "too hot". Hmmm...given the consistency of this finding with both mono and stereo, I began to wonder if my setups needed some adjustment. My theory was that with the old belt, I had been previously losing data from the records and compensating in my set up.
Sooo, yesterday, I adjusting my mono set up to optimize the sound. After some experimentation, lowering VTA 1.6mm really locked things in. The 'edge' was gone but every other improvement was 'more better'. I'm not typically prone to audio hyperbole but in my application, this has been revelatory.
Couple of takeaways so far:
1. If you own a belt drive turntable, it is definitely worthwhile experimenting with belts.
2. Introducing a tweak often requires further system fine tuning.
I'll work on the stereo setup this weekend and report back.
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