Plinth ideas for DENON PD-80 DD turntable

I own a Dp80. It is perhaps too simple to say that the platter is spring loaded. The platter is two concentric pieces,an inner piece that is about the size of the record label or a little wider in diameter, and an  outer which goes all the way out to the periphery. The inner and outer platters are linked by flexible thin metal fasteners that act sort of like a spring to decouple the two sectors . This was Denon’s way of isolating the platter from the bearing, since the playing surface of the LP is almost entirely supported by the outer platter. So if you used a solid platter mat, like a copper one, the dissociation between the two pieces of the platter would be abrogated. I don’t actually know whether that would be so terrible, because the mat doesn’t couple to the bearing in any case. I would not hesitate to try a copper platter mat or some other solid mat, if that is of interest.

Lewm  

I have tried coper mats on the DP80 and the springs (thin metal bands) are not sturdy enough to carry the copper platters unless very thin.  Any mat should be not any larger than the inner spring loaded platter - Denon's original Rubber mat supplied with the DP 80 is.  I've uploaded a few pictures on my systems page showing the detail.

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/6431

Good Listening 

Peter

One other thing is being overlooked here.  For a period of time I owned both an SP10 Mk2 and my DP80. I had both of them serviced by Bill Thalmann at Musical Technologies in Springfield, VA.  (It's only about a 25 minute drive from my house in Bethesda, MD.)  On the DP80, I needed a new controller chip to make it run perfectly (which I was able to source via Alibaba), and Bill noted that the circuit uses some transistors that were over time shown to be unreliable. He replaced all of the suspect transistors with modern superior equivalents, and he installed the new controller chip.  Bill also re-capped both units.  I mounted both turntables in slate plinths of similar weight and shape.  In this setting, with both turntables feeding the very same system, front to back, the DP80 consistently outperformed the SP10 Mk2.  (Not by much, just a hair.) Bill also remarked to me that the drive system of the DP80 seemed a little more advanced than that of the MK2.  The DP80 uses a true 3-phase AC synchronous motor, for one thing.  I know there are further tweaks for the Mk2 (I've done them all, JP's chip and Krebs mod, for my SP10 Mk3), but, as it was, I consistently preferred the DP80.  That is one great and under-rated turntable, a steal at current market values in my opinion. It's worth the cost and effort to have a competent tech evaluate the running condition and then bring it up to spec, any time you buy a "new" vintage DD turntable.

Agree with Lewm, the DP80 is a fantastic machine.  The rebuild of the electronic circuit is relatively simple, have done a dozen or more in the past year or so.

Some time ago i posted a video showing the speed accuracy of the DP80 playing an entire LP side,  17minutes plus there are few tables that can perform in this class.

https://www.facebook.com/170947997876/videos/10154978712417877/

https://www.facebook.com/170947997876/videos/10154978713202877/

The videos show a DP 80 fitted with a time line a device that emits a laser pulse at incredibly precise intervals projecting a dot on the wall in the room the table is in - in this video the wall the dot is projected on is 26 feet away from the table - over 17 minutes the dot moves forward with just a few inches - if theres any calculous geniuses out there try to calculate this accuracy in percentages it is WELL below specified accuracy.

Good Listening

Peter

Denon DP-80 versus Victor TT-101 
Anyone can comment ?