Finally a Schiit product I can get excited about....

[garrardguy60]

 

It's a $799 turntable that looks pretty similar to a $3,000 Rega Planar 8. I will be very interested to see what kind of coverage/reviews Stereophile and AnalogPlanet give to the SOL. 

 

There's a little bit too much of a DIY/science project vibe to the SOL for my taste. [Though it would not look out of place in a pix of one of Fremer's setups, poor cousin though it might be.]

 

Most importantly, I do wonder how heavy the SOL's motor is, and whether it will vibrate out of position. Seems like a great opportunity for some kind of aftermarket cutting board [excuse me; I guess I should call it a plinth] with indents for both those platter support legs and the motor, to create an integrated turntable mounting system [and of course the aftermarketer could add a dust cover to it]. Of course, then it would no longer look like a Planar 8.

 

As for the name, I think the fact that 'SOL' immediately brings to mind that three letter street expression is a feature, not a bug.

 

 

[garrardguy60]

19 hours ago, gmgraves said:

First, the motor has very little torque. The user must give the platter an initial spin to get the platter moving - just like the original AR turntable with its two “clock motors”.

 

 

 

In addition to the low torque, the thing that really bothered me is that there's no indent/groove machined into the platter for the belt to rest in. So it's just sitting on the outside of the platter, like on some of the lower Pro-ject TTs. So one will always have to be on the lookout for 'belt droop.'

 

While I could live with the push start, I can't abide having to deal with the rubber band [sorry, belt] constantly threatening to fall off the platter. I would guess this also makes setting the motor location somewhat more difficult, since as you get to the point where tension starts to loosen, your belt is gonna start to drop off.

 

Anyone have any experience with belt setups like this, with no detent/groove to stabilize the belt?