Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?
Well, i just got an email from www.Audio-Reparatur.de about estimate price for TT-101 repair service and it’s similar to JP’s current rates, but the vendor is in Germany, so for those who’re in Europe it must be great and Tuchan’s repaired TT-101 linked a few times in this thread is the proof. Still very expensive for me. Waiting for the rates from JVC repair service in UK soon. |
Henry (Halcro) mentions the $30,000-VPI DD turntable, which seems to have come and perhaps gone from the market, like a will o' the wisp. I am guessing that VPI will still build one for a buyer, but they have certainly stopped flogging it, preferring instead to hammer away at the middle of the market in terms of cost, with their latest belt drives. Maybe they are selling them to wealthy Asians and Russian oligarchs. Has anyone here actually seen the VPI DD, and if so, have you listened to it in a good system? Better yet, have you been able to compare it to one of our beloved vintage DD turntables? Henry implies that a well done TT101 would be on an equal footing with the VPI, which made me wonder. Another such item is the Monaco Grand Prix. |
Have had several of them - its a very nice machine - A thingap motor run by a industrial servo controller placed inside the motor unit. The ones I've had have all been slightly fast and adjustment is only possible via software. The motor it self looks very similar to the one pictured next to the TG231X specs in this link http://www.thingap.com/standard-products/ Both Platter and Bearing on the VPI are VERY substantial, the bearing it self is the standard VPI Inverted bearing. Good Listening Peter |
Thanks, Peter, but I notice you gracefully declined to say how the VPI compares to one of your restored DP100 or DP80 Denons. I read the S'phile review of the VPI by Fremer. He publishes real data these days on speed stability. I also recall that the DP80 owners manual included a graph showing speed vs time for the DP80, but not the max and min variations that contribute to the average speed curve. I've wondered how the DP80 and of course some others would look on Fremer's instruments. (Is he just using a Feickert computer program, or what?) |
