The most obvious task of a turntable is to keep the record at a constant and precise angular speed, without low-rate drift, without audible wow, and without high-frequency noise components which detract from the music’s delicacy.

The 3.5 kg heavy platter, precision balanced, acts as a large flywheel. The Orbe’s platter is made of three GyroDec platters bonded together to form one massive slab of acrylic. The GyroDec and Gyro SE employ a single-thickness acrylic platter, loaded with the gold-plated brass weights which over time have become Michell’s signature. Once up to speed, and aided by the low-friction bearing, the platter only wants to maintain its motion, and not much extra input from the motor is needed.

This motor is a very precise, reliable, and low-noise DC motor that has been selected only after extensive listening sessions and reliability tests. The Orbe models use a version of the same motor with a tacho speed control loop back to the supply. With all turntables the motor is a stand-alone unit, housed in a heavy base of metal (almost 3kg for the Orbe), to elimate vibrational breakthrough to the turntable. The HR and Orbe Controller NC supplies effectively isolate the motor from the potentially poluted mains network.

Drive is relayed to the platter via a precision-ground soft round-section neoprene belt, which runs around the platter’s circumference. This results in a very high reduction of noise transfer from the motor.