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Do belt nerds exist ?

Chris

pfm Member
Not wishing to thread crap, but considering the fact that "belt-driven" defines a large proportion of the total number of decks in existence, does no-one actually major on the importance of the particular belt used. Quite surprising really, people go on about the superiority of this metal or this bearing but does no-one air any technical views on what a belt should do or are they just white, blue or black ? is it just assumed that the original is best ? I don´t use the same make of tyres as originally fitted on my factory VW Beetle which were GoodYear and much too "agricultural" for the surprisingly delicate steering of my 1975 rack & pinion model (interchangeable with that of the Passat, in actual fact ).

I´m sure there must be a few potential belt nerds about - imagine changing belt for certain records or feet on your amp etc. etc.
 
I discovered viton doesn’t make a good belt, it tends to slip.
The belt on a Townshend Rock mk2 is either a bs559 O ring or so close to the size of one it makes no difference. Nitrile rubber 70 seems to be identical to those Townshend supplied but I’ve only got the feel of it to go on. I haven’t managed to obtain any O rings in that size in other materials. I wanted to try silicon and EPDM but couldn’t get them.
I’ve since moved to a deck that uses 1/4” magnetic tape as a belt and a tensioning roller, I’ve tried leader tape too but I didn’t use it for long.

For a flat belt Origin live make some claims for theirs, I could use one in place of the tape but haven’t.
 
It absolutely matters. Any old rubber band won’t just do and manufacturers put a lot of effort in - Linn were always very careful to make a quality product and Rega put an enormous amount of research into their belts. If you can be bothered sitting through the whole 2 1/2 hours of Michael Fremer’s video of his visit to the factory, there’s a section devoted to their belt improvements. Well Tempered did a lot of research into their drive which result in the thread and other companies use similar systems.

I can’t imagine changing belt between records though.
 
It is odd how little they’re discussed, given how significant an effect they can have relative to certain other things.
 
It’s not usually a topic I think because:-

1. A decent belt lasts ages.
2. No upgrade path or benefit from some Uber-belt.
3. Belts are cheap.
4. Those things mean few or no woo-merchants.
4. Belts are generally fine or clearly shot, not 1% worse , so the capacyfor waffle and worry is small.

Am I being overly harsh?
 
I have used three genuine Thorens belts in 40 years on my TD160 (yes, I bought it new in 1982, aged 18 :)).

They last forever. It’s a set and forget thing, really.

I found a Valhalla PSU reduced motor noise quite dramatically though. Oddly, vinyl noise decreased too. My imagination perhaps?
All this said, DD has my clear preference. Much more elegant.
 
It’s not usually a topic I think because:-

1. A decent belt lasts ages.
2. No upgrade path or benefit from some Uber-belt.
3. Belts are cheap.
4. Those things mean few or no woo-merchants.
4. Belts are generally fine or clearly shot, not 1% worse , so the capacyfor waffle and worry is small.

Am I being overly harsh?
The same could be said of those stupidly priced fuses. They work or don't work.

If the belts slip or otherwise don't drive as they should I would class that as not working as intended.

Andy
 
In the cassette deck world people are continually hunting for better belts. Most that is available in e-bay kits etc. is below-par, leading to excessive wow&flutter.
 
I went through a phase several years ago, experimenting with 5 or 6 different Rega compliant belts, Tango Spinner, Regas, Michael Lim and others. I ended up preferring Edwards Blue Bealter, haven't changed since. In the scale of things upgrade wise, bealts have the least impact on TT IMHO.
 
In the cassette deck world people are continually hunting for better belts. Most that is available in e-bay kits etc. is below-par, leading to excessive wow&flutter.
Oh yes, but that’s a different matter entirely. Old decks need proper belts and only serious bespoke new manufactures will do. Too tight, the motor will worn out quickly, too irregular or loose, W&F will become unbearable. Really tricky, and certainly not on eBay (although some serious sellers sell there, think Revox) or Ali (worse).
 


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