What tools are available and useful for TT designers?

[jackinnj]

I've been reviewing the literature, such that it exists, and began to wonder how much is black art and how much is rigorous analytics.

Vinyl seems to be having a BIG little renaissance of its own...

[Straight Tracker]

Not being sure of what you mean by "Tools", I would suggest the following: A drawing board or a CAD program, a copy of the Machinery's hand book, a creative mind, knowledge of the state of the art and the ability to research the patent literature. That is if you want to design turn tables. If you want to build a turn table, you need at least a lathe with a 6"+ swing and possibly a milling machine.

Sincerely,

Ralf

[jackinnj]

It's my understanding that once you've created "a thing of beauty" -- testing is via listening and measurement of speed accuracy and "flutter and wow".

How many TT manufacturers put a battery of accelerometers on the device to see where energy is dissipating or resonating. How many are using laser metrics to examine performance of the arm. And, does it really matter?

One of the complaints I've heard from folks in our audio group is that their TT's need to go for an annual checkup. Why won't it stay aligned?

[sq225917]

Unlike speaker and amplifier design there aren't really any 'tools' that you can use to simulate various aspects of it. You could probably come up with sensible simulation models for the PSU and motor to see how they'd work, but they are likely to be woefully inaccurate as they will be missing the physical interaction with bearing and belt.

Apart from tone-arm vibrational analysis it's an area for empiric investigation.