I recently bought a DC200 motor from you to upgrade my Wilson Benesch Circle turntable. I had just won an Ultra PSU and upgrade transformer on eBay so I was all set. The Origin Live page about turntables indicate that list that can be upgraded includes the WB. I think it important to point out that an upgrade on this turntable is not a trivial task as the existing motor is about 20mm less tall than the DC200 and cannot fit in the space. Having got the motor with the short spindle, I would say that it is OK if you want to screw the motor plate to the top of the WB pod (which would look amateurish) but it is barely adequate if you want to put it inside the pod to keep the clean lines of the WB.

To fit it involves extensive machining as first the metal upper face of the lower pod (the pod is in two parts with the on/off switch and other electronic connections beneath the lower part in the MDF base and the motor is sandwiched between the upper and lower parts. To get it to fit, the lower part will have to be drilled through and the MDF base machined to get a suitable depth for the DC200 motor. As I work in Nigeria, there is no one I would trust to do this work, so I will need to wait until I get back to the UK as this is not a DIY job. The upshot of all this is that it is an irreversible upgrade and would leave the WB on/off switch in position but not used. It would not be easy to disguise it either to make it look like a professional job unless OL could provide a suitable rigid badge to place over the space from where it was removed. Finally the IEC socket at the rear needs to be replaced with some form of IEC blank into which the connection from the OL PSU could be made to fit.

I trust you will include my comments on your page and if and when I continue, I will give a detailed description of the work including photographs. However, I do think that OL should produce a rigid badge to make this (and I am sure other) upgrade look professional at the end. The WB is certainly a beautiful looking turntable and I am sure that many people will be concerned about spoiling the aesthetics of it and especially as it is irreversible should they decide to sell it.

I run the motor in for 3 hours as in your manual and was very impressed with its torque. The WB slows considerably when I am dusting it with my carbon fibre brush and takes several seconds again before it is up to speed. As the platter on this is a fairly light acrylic one, I do not think that a motor with low torque is a good thing as it will be subject to speed variations constantly which it would not with a high mass platter. Apart from the cog-less advantage of a DC motor, this was the main reason for considering an upgrade. The OL motor is certainly a superb upgrade, it is just a pity that it is such a difficult upgrade to make on this turntable and that it may not look a tidy job at the end.