Creedence Clearwater Revival - I Put A Spell On You -- Tesla NC 440 + Audio Technica AT-VM95 ML

An early seventies to eighties Tesla Czechoslovakia top of the line turntable. Equipped with patented brushless motor M 302 with electronic commutation and tacho regulation of the motor speed and now legendary Tesla type P 1101 10" J-shaped low mass tonearm, a design allegedly inspired by SME 3009 tonearm.
The rather heavy turntable with total mass of almost 12 kg (26.4 lbs) employs a zinc-aluminium aloy cast sub-platter and 2kg heavy main platter. It is equipped with neon light stroboscope under the platter.
The main bearing of the sub-platter is of the inverted capture ball design and is the quietest bearing ever used in a Tesla turntable. It was shared with some other turntables (NC 420, 450, 452, MC 400 and Lenco L75/200.)
Unlike later Tesla turntables NC 440 was never rebranded as a Lenco turntable. It was it's successor, NC 450 with the identical tonearm, that was rebranded as Lenco L 450.
The type is honored for its looks, a very good looking and light tonearm with VTA and azimuth settings and a quiet motor and main bearing.
It is also known for the issue - or more a feature of exercising a slight thermal drift of the control electronics, causing initial continuous variations of the platter speed. It eventually stabilizes within a matter of minutes under the constant load of the heavy platter propelled. The control electronics design is innovative for the era, providing an electronically simulated commutation for the patented brushless DC motor Tesla M302, with electronic speed control based on reading of the electricity generated by the momentarily passive windings of the motor. On the other hand it is also quite unstable when cold started, until tempered under load and stabilized.
The ON/OFF switch is mechanically interlinked with a rubber-headed brake that stops the platter instantly. This is a countermeasure against overloading the electronics with the voltage generated by the heavy platter with its high inertia acting as a gyroscopic DC generator.
Here let's notice the first production prototype was revealed in 1969. At the time there was generally very little common experience with electronically speed-controlled turntables in a global scale. This was the peak of the era of idler drives with their synchronous AC motors and mechanical means of speed regulation by manipulating the driving to driven gear ratio. These were actually the times of the very early pioneering designs of the electronically controlled turntable drivetrains, sometimes rather exotic or quirky ones. Another such example is Unitra company from Poland with it's once again unique opto-electronic speed control.
All in all, in general this is still a solidly built, heavy and good looking turntable with a nice tonearm, quiet operation and acceptably stable platter speed. Provided a proper renovation has been given to it after the decades, it may still easily compete with rather expensive high-endish and often no less quirky western and Japanese designs of the era, and even of the present times.