Maybe one of the reasons why people like direct drive is because they have heard entry level belt drive tables and just prefer not to deal with speed variations. I have a 2.2 and the motor speed is noticeably off. I tried implementing a speed box and it didn't like it. I heard the same motor is in the 5.1, which leads me toward getting the 7 or 7.1 in the MH line as a logical starting point for properly rated motors of acceptable design.

There should be no variations in speed large enough to be noticeable in modern tables costing 500.00. The fact that a stereophile reviewer noticed better sound when implementing a speed box on a cheap table may lead some people to buy speed boxes. It has led me to take my table out of service. Shame on them. I am thinking decent direct drive for a table under 1K