Best vintage DD turntables from the 70's and 80's?

best-groove, I did include Denon DP100M.  I left off the Nakamichi turntables, because many say that apart from the brilliant LP centering device, they are not such great performers, but I would put ONE on the list of the very best, if you like.  As for EMT, they are not Japanese, and again, please pick ONE for this exclusive list.  Was the 950 the best of that lot?

Matsushita was a Japanese giant that bought the majority share of Victor starting in 1953 but pretty much let Victor (JVC) run itself. Victor was a big engineering firm, they are the ones that designed and built the very first quartz locked direct drive motors and later went on to design and build high end video gear. JVC was a pioneer and at the technological forefront of many technologies.
I think it’s safe to assume that Matsushita was the manufacture of the motors that Victor used as well as Technics. They would have been used in most if not all of the Micro Seiki product line as well. Micro Seiki was a precision machine shop/manufacturing facility, not really into electronics.
Technics was a marketing name made up by Matsushita to sell consumer electronics, it’s not hard to see where they got the technology to build their quartz locked direct drive tables from.
Someone really needs to tie all of these Japanese company’s history together. Many of the people that know are already gone and the rest are elderly. A few years ago I read a lengthy article where a writer had done a lot of research and had stitched together a lot of it but it had a lot of unanswered questions remaining. Now I can’t remember where I read it.
If anyone remembers that, could you please post a link to it? Thanks
BillWojo

  I left off the Nakamichi turntables, because many say that apart from the brilliant LP centering device, they are not such great performers,

There are too many variables in judging the sound of turntables especially as regards the combinations of the cartridge and the arms as well as the quality of these; it's hard to think and believe that anyone can recognize how a turntable sounds if they don't transfer arm and cartridge between one base and another to make comparisons.
It is likely that the TX1000 is complicated to repair in the event of a fault, but that someone may point out that it is nothing exceptional, I repeat the above.
The title indicates the best vintage DD without indicating the nationality, for this reason I have reported the Emt.

Serviced PD-441 this guy claimed the motor is made by Mitsubishi , here is the video.

Ohh not not...that engine is terribly similar to Matsushita engines but so similar to the point that I'm sure I'm betting my million against your penny that it's made by Matsushita itself.
I think the reviewer confused the Matsushita logo with the Mitsubishi Logo which are pretty damn similar.

If you're not thrilled with the GR (you say you love it but are willing to phase it out) I don't know if I would suggest going for a vintage 1200; that would be a step down in my opinion and not getting you to new frontiers because the tables are more similar than different, unless you're really looking to tinker with one that you're not going to be heartbroken about if the mods don't go well.  The belt drive Linn LP12's are a tinkerer's dream as well, if you wanted a new driving experience.