Vintage Denon Direct Drive Turntable

Be very wary of the Denons. There is a magnetic strip on the inside of the table with a pickup head to read the magnetic pulses. If the strip is scratched, or otherwise not in pristine shape, do not get the table.

As I understand it, the 80 was issued after the 75 and weighs more and has better speed stability. Since I am planning to build a plinth, that would seem to be the table to acquire.

T_bone or Lewm, can you give me a link to the brochure?

I was unaware of the magnetic stip concerns, and would assume these are no longer made? Hence the sensitivity?

The 75 improved on the 80 in some ways, and was made afterwards, I bet to a slightly lower price point when sold separately to assuage fans of the DP-80 (Denon themselves were trying to bring the DP-80 to the masses based on the DP-80's critical success and Japan's economic development in the meantime). The Vinyl Engine is a fantastic resource for fans of non-current analog equipment. The library for Denon is here.

That magnetic strip is unrepairable, but necessary to the operation of the table

Stringreen, The magnetic strip issue has been done to death. If the table holds speed, you don't have a problem. If it does not hold speed, you MAY have a problem with the magnetic strip, but there are many other possible and cureable causes of speed instability. Also, Denons are by far not the only DD tables that used the magnetic strip/tapehead as a way of monitoring platter speed. I have seen it myself on hi-end Sony tables of the same era, and I would bet there are others.

Tbone, you seem to know a lot about the history of these tts. Besides the measurements we discussed, do you know in what ways the DP75 was an "improvement" on the DP80, e.g., platter design or weight, electronics, etc? I had my DP80 electronically restored by a local pro who owns an SP10 MkII himself. He was very impressed with the DP80s innards and felt it was advanced vs the MkII, in terms of the circuitry. (This of course has nothing to do with sonics; I am not claiming that he said it would sound better.) Like Zargon, I was heretofore under the impression that the DP80 lived above the DP75 in the Denon model line, but I take your word for it that this was not the case. Or maybe the DP75 came along after they discontinued the DP80, in response to a perceived demand. Or maybe the DP75 was marketed more internationally vs the DP80, which was only made in 100V version (i.e., for Japan), as far as I know.