Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?

It's just how things go in the collector market.  Apparently, 2000Xs are right now highly desired in Asia.  If you really can buy a Mk3 for $5K on Yahoo Japan, you might grab it; they are worth a lot more, up to twice that much, in the US.  Many/most of the Mk3s I have seen on there have been in fairly ratty condition.

Haha Don....
I would rarely talk trash about belt-drives in general as I have one myself and enjoy it immensely ☺️
But when they start charging $30 Grand-$200 Grand for gigantic belt drives whose performances can be matched (or bettered) by $1000 well-chosen vintage Japanese DD decks......people need to wake up and smell the roses 🌹
For 30 years the high-end audio world ignored the great Japanese DD 'Statement" products from Technics, Pioneer, Kenwood, Sony, JVC/Victor, Denon etc and convinced the public that belt-drive was the 'only' way to 'turn'.....mainly because anyone could knock up a belt-drive in his garage (and many still do).
If not for the Internet there would still be little recognition for DD turntables as a viable alternative.
When I first entered the audio world with a Technics DD and Kenwood integrated stereo amp....I was soon convinced by all the British Audio mags to go belt-drive. I soon bought a Rega Planar 3 with Hadcock arm and actually heard no discernible differences to my Technics but I happily stuck with the Rega for nearly 30 years.

That was then and this is now.

Sounds like my story halcro. I never liked that Planer 3. I finally got rid of it years ago along with that bouncy Linn Sondek.

A Technics SP10MK3 Japanese Version in need of an overhaul was just sold on Ebay for $ 50 short of $5K, guess folks are starting to pay attention to these magnificent players.

Good Listening


Peter

Peter, That would be a very low average price for any Mk3 that is in decent cosmetic and electrical shape.  Someone got a good deal.  Fully done Mk3's in a quality plinth have sold for more than $12K.  I paid more than $5K for mine with no plinth, about 6-7 years ago, albeit mine was NOS.  ("NOS" means very little, however, when you're talking about an electronic device that was sitting on a shelf for 30 or more years.  Although I got "like new" cosmetic appearance, I still had to go through the electricals, replace all caps, calibrate the drive system, etc.)  I nevertheless believe that this is a stone cold bargain, whenever I listen to my Mk3.