VPI Avenger Direct Turntable & 12″ FatBoy tonearm Review

https://www.stereophile.com/content/vpi-avenger-direct-turntable-12-fatboy-tonearm

“This is the most solid and least error-producing system in the business,” Weisfeld senior said. The Avenger Direct uses the same basic motor—the same rotor stator—used since the Classic Direct, but the way that motor is driven changed with the HW-40. In its earlier implementation, the motor was driven as a brushless, direct-current (BLDC) motor; in the later direct-drive ‘tables, including the Avenger Direct, it is implemented as a PMAC (permanent-magnet AC) motor, “driven sinusoidally as a three-phase AC motor,” Harry wrote in an email. The motor-drive system is servo-controlled by an active Texas Instruments–based feedback loop. A magnetic strip with 2500 magnetic elements on the platter is read by a magnetic head; that information is fed back directly into the drive system to correct errors. “The drive is so powerful you can put your finger on the side of the platter while running and it does not slow down,” Harry wrote. “With no cogging, when the platter turns there is no vibration.”