nopiano said:
I never play 45rpm so it doesn’t bother me. But Michell, unlike Rega, do engineer the turntable so you can access the pulley without removing anything!
In view of your first sentence nopiano, I feel bad repeating this opinion, but it's based on my experience.
All else being equal, unless a 12" 45 rpm single has been played on it, I don't think a turntable has been heard to its full potential.
The 35% difference in speed doesn't hurt, but it's that cutting of a single track accross the useable width that does the trick.
One of mine spreads 2m19secs and you feel you could ride a bike in the groove, but most 12" 45s have under 10 minutes cut.
By contrast, I've got a 7" single, with 3 tracks per side, that plays at 33 rpm and sounds appropriately horrendous.
(I've also got a 10" 45 single with a 78 rpm single cut on the B side which I'd love to hear. I've got the wind-up gramophone to play it, but its metal needle tracks at about a kilogram, so I probably won't bother!)