Vintage Denon Direct Drive Turntable

If you know that the Denon DP80 bearing is sapphire, then you know more than I was ever able to find on the subject, or anyone else here. Thanks. I am going to try to get to visit a slate cutter on Friday. (He has a CNC machine and is just getting into the business of cutting slate.) I've had one local water-jet guy back out of the job, because he was afraid of damaging my slab.

Based on the literature supplied by the respective companies, I would expect that the SP10MKII motor has more torque than does the DP80 motor. In their blurb, Denon imply that there is an ideal amount of torque, in their opinion, i.e., too much can be a problem, but they don't elaborate on the subject. Their given numbers are lower than are those of Technics.

Dear Treehugga: I don't have any comparison measures on torque between the DP-80 and SP-10-MK2 but playing both it seems to me that the torque in the Tehnics is higher and this makes me sense because the SP-10MK2 was designed for studio/radio use where one of its needs was a very fast TT start and stop too.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Hi Raul
Interesting stuff, you are a lucky man indeed to have both decks to play with.
I was under the impression that the DP80 was also designed for professional/studio use, and the DP75/M was the domestic version. It doesn't matter as they (Technics & Denon) are both superb decks and make me wish I had discovered direct drive years ago before I wasted all that time & money on suspended belt driven decks.

Dear Threehugga: +++++ " and make me wish I had discovered direct drive years ago before I wasted all that time & money on suspended belt driven decks. " +++++

one way or the other your experiences on BD designs were a learning ones.

Now, IMHO, as good as are the top DD TTs there are some very good examples on BD ones. Today and for what are my experiences on the TT subject I'm not totally convince that the DD systems ( If I recall I was/am one of the first persons in this forum that " supports " the DD systems. ) out there are better than the BD out there.

I think that both drive systems are and have similarities more than differences.

Both, are " roads " that can take " us " to the same performance target when everything the same ( I'm talking here on that very top-end TTs on both drive designs ).

A very " healthy " stage for many of us could be to own both drive systems.

I read on other threads that some Agoners change its very top end BD TTs in favor of a DD ones, IMHO this was a mistake and sooner or latter they will take in count that the BD ones are not lower performers than the DD ones ( everything the same ).

Unfortunately ( for them ) those people that already made the change IMHO never had the opportunity to heard both drive systems in exactly the same conditions where the only difference was the TT and nothing else.

I'm fortunate to have several TTs ( both drive systems ), tonearms, cartridges and in some cases I own two samples on each item ( tonearm/cartridge ).
This fact give me the opportunity to test and work on the subject ( a lot of fun ) and that's why ( in my system, everything the same ) I'm not convince on one drive system over the other one.

We have to remember that nothing is perfect and that always are trade-offs, certainly both drive TT systems have its own trade-offs.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

The real subject is that IMHO we can't take the TT drive system alone for to know which drive system is better, the subject is more complex than that and have an extremly close relationship with the tonearm/cartridge ( between other things ) behavior.

Raul, I would like you to listen to a state-of-the-art restored idler tt, e.g., a Garrard 301/401 or a Lenco L75 in a proper plinth, using one of your own tonearms and cartridges. Your opinion of how these tts compare to BDs and DDs in your experience would interest me. But it's very important to be sure the idler is properly restored and in a proper plinth before any judgment.