Anyone heard the Micro Seiki DDX1000?

Here's your mental issue: "It is a direct drive table so I am hesitant about buying it..."

What, if any, does that have to do with quality?

I am not an expert on turntables but it is my understanding that belt drive tables have less noise. I have looked around a lot and I don't even know of any direct drive tables that are made today (other than DJ tables). Please shed some more light on the subject if possible....

I have never used this table so I don't know how well it works. But in general, DD tables are noisier than belt drive because the motor is directly connected to the platter.

Also, there was theory that the constant micro speed adjustments made by the servo motor can cause a DD table to sound harsh. It might be true but I have never done a controled comparison and am not convinced it is the case.

One major design goal of DD table is to have almost instant start up. As a result, most DD tables use a relativly light weight platter and I think it might have more to do with the sound than the micro speed adjustments.

I am more concern about the noise than anything else, especially for an aged table.

If you have doubt, I would buy a used Linn LP12 instead. It is a much safer bet.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for the info. Since Micro Seiki is totally out of business I think I am going to avoid the ddx1000 since parts and repairs are gonna be a bit of an issue especially with the oscillator problems etc. It looks as though my turntable search is far from over.....

I have always had better luck with belt drive tables but here is food for thought: Both the Rockport and Goldmund Reference tables were direct drive designs.....

I have an old Teac TN400 which was the contemporary of the DDX1000. The Teac sounded better but it is even rarer than the DDX. The big deal with the DDX was that it took three arms. The few people that I remember owning them had put sorbothane footers under them and sat them on marble bases.

As owner of a Micro Seiki DQX 1000 I would like to add something to this forum :
To start from the most important - this direct drive turntable sounds excellent to me. Actually it does not add its own sound, it is a variable which can be removed from the equation. You will be able to judge other components like arms and cartridges.
Some recommend the use of copper mat to be placed on top of the platter in order to make it sound warmer especially when used with solid state electronics.
There are no issuess associated with the direct drive motor which I can find.
The induction type motor is based just under the platter but it is well enough isolated . At least there is no noise which I can detect. In any case the level of noise generated should be lower than
the one of my tube pre-amplifier (12AX-7) as I don't hear it.
To my understanding a good feature mechanically is that there is no friction of parts .
There is one central pivot shaft which rotates (caused by induction ) and the platter sits on it, that's all.
The quartz control - I don't use it.
The quality of materials and craftsmanship :
I have not seen better anywhere.
The platter is made of aluminium. it weights 2.9 kg and is coated from the underside.
The mounting of the arm base to each one of the 3 legs is metal to metal directly .
There are 2 types of arm bases - standard made of aluminium and the ones designated with G (gun metal).
The G is very heavy. Should provide better decoupling of the arm.
So this deck is all metal work.
As regards the 3 feet isolation:
Yes, they are the only thing that isolate the deck but like it is with all it is a good idea to place it on a dedicated stand.
And there are the bigger Micro belt drive decks of course.
Best to all

As a former DDX1000 owner one of the great sonic upgrades in my system was replacing the DX1000 with an LP12. The DDX1000 was easily the best looking and worst sounding high end turntable I have ever owned. As mentioned above it was extremely feedback/vibration sensitive the issue being that it lacked both mass and an effective suspension. Most likely today an isolation platform would be helpful but it also had a tendency to speed drift that was easy to see with the giant strobe marks cut into the platter.
I will say that it was an attention getter and I loved the ability to mount multiple tonearms & Cartridges (I had a Grace 707 and Black Widow)but it all comes back to the sound and it was severly lacking in that area.

The DQX 1000 looks to be an upgraded DDX 1000 - heavier platter, higher torque motor, quartz control (this last one almost noone accepts as an upgrade but it can be switched off).

One caveat - as I have found from my experience and from reading the micro.de website when buying used DQX 1000 one has to examine carefully the bearing of the JVC motor.

The DDX and DQX differ also in one most important aspect. The latter has a quartz-referenced speed control, and Aleko you might be well advised not to shut off that function. It cures the problem cited by Gerald, if that is a problem at all. Anyway, the DQX was considered to be a big improvement vs the earlier DDX version.