The Elusive Denon DP 500M Turntable


Well, it's not too elusive to buy; there are many online vendors including NeedleDoctor and occasionally some of the other high end vendors, plus Amazon and a host of other online mid-fi sources.

What is elusive is any useful and meaningful review of this unit. There is one user review here on A-gon, but there is only about 1-1/2 paragraphs describing the performance. The Amazon reviews are pretty clueless, and surprisingly, there are NO reviews on audioreview.com. The one other source where I hoped to find some customer reviews was Crutchfield.com, but right now they don't offer the dp500m, and therefore any previous customer reviews are unavailable.

So why am I interested in this seemingly anachronistic beast? It's because I like the precision and speed consistency of a quartz-locked direct drive (I have a Technics SL 1210 M5G), but the Denon is a much newer design (2005?) than the Technics, and claims to have more sophisticated and extensive vibration damping and structural rigidity (e.g., diecast tonearm) than previous designs.

Has anyone encountered this turntable? Listened to it? Seen it on a shelf at a store?

Thanks.
johnnyb53
I also owned one of the Denon's for about 3-4 months and found it very wanting. The build quality is kinda second rate. You can't replace/upgrade the tonearm, (easily anyway). It is attractive, but the sound quality was pretty mediocre at best.

As mentioned above, keep your Technics or buy a Rega, either one would be a better table.
I had this TT for about 4 months. Only vibration damping is the feet. Everything else is ridged. No means to adjust VTA. I thought it was very harsh sounding using Denon DL103. I really wouldn't recommend it. I would go with a similar priced Rega.
I've owned both your Technics and the Denon. The Denon does not compare in terms of build quality. Keep what you have.