Vintage Denon Direct Drive Turntable

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.

Dear Zargon: +++++ " Is this TT worth the time and effort? " +++++

yes, the reward is a beautiful one.

I own both units 80/75 and is very hard to say which one is more neutral due that both are similar and almost the same.
Differences are that the 80 has a pitch control that the 75 has not and that the mat are different: the one on the 80 seems more " dense ", anyway I don't use those mats.

Like in the SP-10 the Denon original plinths are not the best way to go so is here where you have to work to achieve a top quality performance.

I use two similar but different material build on these Denons: one is made from real marble ( a beautiful green one ) and the other from Onyx, I think that each plinth weight s around 60-70 lbs that as a fact function like " arm board " because the TTs " seats " on three ( small )polymer/plastic blend tip toe like a top the stone plinths and the plinths goes over AT pneumatic footers.

+++++ " I would be comparing it to my belt drive TERES. " +++++

you will be surprised how good are those Denons.
IMHO it is a good " move " to have two totally different TTs ( Teres/Denon ) .

Are at the same level that the Sp-10?, well IMHO they are aand are better looking " boys " due that the Denons were designed for people like you or me and not to radio-studio like the Technics ones where the " cosmetics " was not so important but even the DP-100 ( studo version ) is way better " looking " than the Technics MK2/3.

IMHO Denon has nothing to " envy " not only to Technics but to any other unit out there.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

I am far from an expert on these, but i have done some reading on them. My speculation on the 75, and this comes from comparing original pricing, brochures, sales method, specs, embedded technology, etc, is that after 5+ years of making the DP-80 and seeing it become something of a hit, they had come up with some slight technological improvements in platter and chassis to reduce rumble a bit more, and as Japan was entering a disposable income boom and doodadegadgetry was king, it was a great thing to add to the line-up. Voila! The younger brother to the DP-80 coming of age. Unit costs were much lower mostly because fixed costs had been amortized already, but based on a suspicious lack of info about the DP-75 motor, and the few specs I see, I suspect the DP-75 motor had a fair bit less torque than the DP-80, and while I do not know for sure, I think the DP-75 had fewer manual override possibilities than the DP-80. This table appealed both to the crowd who had not already replaced their DP-3000 and DP-6000 with the DP-80 over the previous 6yrs (it was too expensive, etc) and to the people who wanted to hit a certain price point vs income. With the DP-75, one got almost the same thing, and better specs to boot, for about 30% less (table only), so just like the top top end of digital cameras these days when technological obsolescence happens much faster, manufacturers keep just a bit back on model numbers offered with a lower price point, just to stay sane. Only after the deceased has been respectably buried do they offer better-in-all-ways technology for less money.

I own neither, and offhand, if I really wanted to choose one of those two only, I would buy both and try them in the same plinth, keep one and sell the other. I have no further basis to go on than that for deciding which one I would prefer. I can say that the DP-80 is iconic, because it was the first of the 3-phase motor split-platter construction Denons made to dramatically reduce acoustic feedback-induced resonances, and while icons are not always better performers than their descendants, they are icons, and that has some value to some people.