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Originally Posted by nelamvr6 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
But of course that doesn't mean that all DD TT's are noisy, no more than your quiet Technics means that all DD TT's are quiet.
I suspect that the noise you heard in that Pioneer may have been what I was hearing in the Denon. It's called rumble, low freq noise caused mostly by the motor.
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Back in the day most direct drive turntables had far superior specs than belt drives. Figures of -88 db were pretty common place even for quite humble dd's whereas only top of the range belt drives like the Linn LP12 would reach this level.
However statistics as ever only tell part of the story. A record player is basically a seismographic instrument. It is is designed, remember, to pick up small vibrations on a records surface and ignore all other vibrations which might come from itself and more importantly it's immediate environment.
Practically all Direct drives are designed around the concept of a high mass plinth being the best isolation from acoustic feedback. In other words the bigger and heavier the deck the more likely it is to be immune to vibrations. This works fine with the more expensive decks like the Technics SP10 which could be ordered with a volcanic glass plinth or the Trio L0-7D which used layers of marble and stone composite or the Marantz TT-1000 which used a huge chunk of glass and steel.
However once you get down to the lower end of the ranges you find mostly plastic with a lot of rubber or composite which is far less effective and unless carfully sited on it's own wall shelf, or solid inert surface, will not give of it's best.
The better quality Technics like the SL1100 /1200 / 1210 / 1500 / 1800 are actually very well designed in this regard and quite inert so long as you place them on a solid surface.
Many high quality belt drives like the Michell, Thorens, Linn LP12 or AR decks are suspended subchassis which goes a long way towards isolating them even if placed on a light coffee table, and this is a major factor in accounting for their perceived superior performance.
Today most cheaper belt drives copy the Rega formula which forgoes an expensive suspended subchassis design in favour of a simple MDF plinth. Therefore these kind of decks are just as susceptible to feedback and vibration as the Technics SL1200 if not more so, and require careful siting.
The Music Hall decks are basically rebadged Pro-Ject machines and these do make some effort towards a suspension, certainly more so than the Regas but at the expense of the tonearm which is not upto the standards of Rega.
Another factor to bear in mind with vintage Direct drives is that they contain a lot more electronics than the average belt drive and these do wear out which can result in higher noise levels. Vintage belt drives which employ electronic power supplies, like Linn's Valhalla are even more susceptible to these kind of problems as their circuit's are often more 'minimalist' to put it kindly. They don't meet modern EU CE directives, being more likely to blow up than cause a bit of hum.
In short the performance of any turntable is highly dependent on being properly set up on a good isolated surface and not just plonked on top of your equipment stack.
There are plently of expenisve wall shelves on the market put any solid piece of MDF as used in a kitchen counter and some decent quality Ikea brackets affixed to a proper solid wall as opposed to a fibreboard partition will have a massive influence on performance. Having a concrete or solid stone floor is of course even better.
Regardless of which turntable you choose, it's good to have another vinyl addict on board. 
