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How good is the Micro Seiki DDX-1000 Direct Drive turntable ?

Here is the MICRO DDX-1000 direct drive. Never tried myself, but it is the most compact DD designed for 3 tonearms.

*The question is how good this turntable really is, compared to some other vintage Direct Drives ?


Some information from VintageKnob website:  

The DDX-1000 is the original design, with two sculpted strobe markings around the 2kg / 31cm die-cast aluminium platter. The resulting moment of inertia is at 330kg / cm2 and the top mat in fact covers a thick cork sub-mat set inside the platter itself.

The DDX-1000, in real late 70s modernism is a direct-drive. The motor is a DC-Servo with FG frequency generator reference set through the strobe neon lamp which "checks" how many stripe it sees and rectifies if necessary ; the resulting speed accuracy is of 0,03%.

The starting torque is of 1,2kg / cm and load characteristics allow the DDX-1000 to remain below 0,04% deviation up to a 3g load set at the outer limit of the platter - specs-wise, we're here under the contemporary Sony TTS-8000 for instance...

The heigh-adjustable feet are typical Micro Seiki (or Luxman, of course :) and contain a mix of inert damping (neoprene stuffing) and mechanical damping (spring).

The is no Quartz Lock on the DDX-1000 ; the MD-1000 power-supply box holds the power on/off, start 33rpm, start 45rpm and stop buttons plus two ± 6% speed controls.

The AX-1G to AX-6G tonearm bases fit everything from the ubiquitous SMEs to the Technics EPA-100 or PUA-1600L.

Of course, the motor of the DDX was used as basis for the Marantz Tt 1000 (1979), and that of the DQX-1500 (an updated DQX-1000) for the Tt 1000 mkII (1992). And, as often, Micro's direct-drive motors came from... Victor.


DDX-1000/G :

April 1976 limited edition (really limited : 30 units) custom made in... bronze. Howerever, it is black-looking for the most part, with the bronze only kept visible for the top of the three feet ; the platter was kept in AL and the command box was anodized in all-black style ; even the AX-1/G was in-bronze-but-painted-black...
Names of the people they were made for (and offered to - these were gifts !) were silkscreened on the (bronze...) motor's cache (...but painted black) - a rarity to say the least.


The DDX-1000 naturally spawned a myriad of lookalikes and still does today - perhaps better than the original, perhaps not. Or not that much :) 

chakster

Showing 5 responses by alexberger

alexberger
938 posts
 
EMT 950/948 phonostage sounds very even, neutrar, fast.
But the sound is very rough. Me and my friends prefer EMT with external tube phonostages by a big margin. I know Fabritius sells EMT phonostge board with modern better op-amps.
EMT tonearm is not bad. But it built for EMT TSD15 cartridge. You can can buy headshell for it, but the cartridge should be very short to match the right geometry.

I think the Lenco is the best turntable in therm of design. It is so quiet!
It is unbelievable how it was possible to design such not expensive, quit and accurate mechanics.

Regards,
Alex.
alexberger
938 posts
 
I had Lenco 78 with heavy plinth and SME 3009 tonearm.
I liked it more than Nottingham Spacedeck/Spasearm that I had too.
Lenco has better bass definition, texture and PRAT.
After that I bought EMT 948. EMT is much better than Lenco. EMT sound is more dynamic, clear and accurate.
alexberger
938 posts
 
Hi @sdrsdrsdr ,

Thank you for sharing your experience about DD EMT turntable in comparison to SP10 MK2 and Dennon 80.
I had discussion on these  forums and told about my and my friends expiriese how much better DD EMT 950, 948 compared to SP mk2, Garrad 401, Thorens 124, Sota, Nottingham, Lenco and other similar stuff.
But most of local audiophile who have zero experience with EMT turntables told be that SP mk2 is much better turntable.


Regards,
Alex. 
alexberger
938 posts
 
Hi @chakster ,

Yes it is true.
The issue is not just shipping price. Most of sellers don't pack turntables properly.
I bought EMT948 from Germany in 2011 when I was living in Israel.
The shipping price wasn't too expensive but I also payed taxes.
The main issue was how the seller packed it.
The seller didn't tighten the transportation screws (yes EMT 948 has the transportation screws!)   
He even didn't disassemble tonearm counterweight! The package carton box wasn't good enough too.
So I got: broken tonearm, bent motor axle, and bent corners of the turntable upper panel.
In the end I send the tonearm to Hans Fabritius to Germany and he fixed it.
I fixed the motor axle. But after one year I decided to buy a NOS motor from Fabritius.
What is good there are people in Germany like  Hans Fabritius and Hans-Ludwig Dusch who give support for EMT turntables. They can fix control and phonostage boards and sell NOS or used parts.

Regards,
Alex.


alexberger
938 posts
 
Hi @chakster ,

I had Lenco 78 turntable. My friend built me birch plywood plinth and I changed original tonearm to SME 3009 mk2. I also removed auto stop mechanics.
Lenco is a great turntable and best value for money. I liked Lenco much more that Nottingham Spacedeck/Spacearm that I had too. I used the same Ortofon Jubilee cartridge on both.

But EMT 948 that I have been using after Lenco is a completely different league.
And I don't agree that EMT much more expensive than SP10 mk2 or other Hi End vintage Japanese DD turntable or idle drive like Garrard.
My friend bought EMT 948 with tonearm and TSD15 SPH cartridge in perfect working conditions two year ago in LA and payed just $4200.
OK if you buy EMT from company which does restoration you will pay at least twice. But you will pay the same money if you buy from a similar company, for example, Garrard 301, 401.
I agree that EMT turntables are not good for customization. But I saw some people do custom arm boards for EMT and use other tonearms.

But my main point was that DD EMT are much better turntables vs Sp10mk2.
And dozen people who did comparation when SP10mk2 was with better tonearm (my friend use SP10mk2 with Fidelity Research RF-64 tonearm), better cartridge, better phono stage (EMT internal phonostage is a garbage) told the same.

Regards,
Alex.
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