Top ten DD turntables of all time?

A few other great DD tables which have not gotten a mention here would be the following:
Onkyo PX-100M
Denon DP-80 (re-plinthed)
Sony TTS-8000 (re-plinthed)
Lo-D TU-1000 (might benefit from being re-plinthed)
Diatone LT-1
Yamaha PX-1
Pioneer PL-1L

Cdk84, with zero tweaking vs their original form, I think the top three would have to be the Exclusive P3a/P3, the Denon DP-100M, and perhaps the Sony XS-9. With new plinths and tweaking, the above-mentioned Technics SP-10Mk2/3 should be real winners, as should the ones above. The Denon and Sony have less torque than the Technics, but they have very good speed controllers onboard. I have also heard very good things about the Nak TX-1000. From people who have owned more than 2 of the tables listed, including the Kenwood L-07D and/or the Marantz TT-1000, the constant refrain I have heard is that they look cool but they just don't cut it vs the bigger boys on the list. With tweaking, any number of these would be top drawer - I think the real problem is going to be how easy it might be to get it there - and the SP10Mk2/3 is probably among the easiest to get there.

I often wonder how good the Yamaha PX-1 and Diatone LT-1 could be if re-plinthed, but it would be a real shame to chop them up to see. Same with the PL-1L but they are tough to find in working condition these days and Pioneer doesn't seem to want to work on them...

Chaskelljr2001, the P3 is a phenomenal table. The Denon DP-80 is also very good if properly plinthed and isolated.

Mapman, as to whether sitting on a solid foundation is enough... Build a giant steel-reinforced concrete cube platform - call it 100ft a side. Put an electron microscope on top of it - however the electron microscope is sitting on a piece of plywood which is suspended on top of a giant bowl of jello. Which will matter more to the electron microscope, if a man is tapping on the side of the concrete platform? or if someone is trying to break the bowl of jello with a jackhammer.

Re-plinthing a table is not difficult for those which are meant to be re-plinthed (Technics SP-10Mk2, Technics SP-10Mk3, the Denon DPs, the Sony TTS 6000 and 8000, the JVC TT-81 and 101, the Exclusive P10 (and probably the P3), the Pioneer PL70L (and lower models with the Stable Hanging Rotor system), and probably some of the Kenwoods, and probably the top Diatone). Some of the above area easier than others. In the worst case, you design the plinth and get someone to cut the wood for you. If you want to veneer it, watch a youtube video. Doing it really well on the other hand... I am not a furniture maker either, but some of the really nice plinths don't cost that much to have someone else build.

Mapman, if you click on my system, and look at the pics for the Denon DP-80, I can tell you that screwdriver in hand, it would take me 2mins flat to remove the TT from the plinth (assuming it has no record on it - call it another 10 seconds plus the time to put the record in the jacket if as is). The Sony TTS-8000 pic is nude (i.e. wearing no plinth) so you can see what the structure of one of these is. It comes with mounting screws which are similar to the Denon mounting screws (one removes the platter, and mounts the structure to the plinth). I have not yet plinthed that one but a simple method would be to follow the CLD-style plinth recipes as outlined in the 'Home Despot' thread (or elsewhere on the net), with a cutout designed for this particular pattern of body.

As for vibrations... there are vibrations all around us. Putting a 200lb TT onto a table, which is mounted on a concrete slab, is OK. Putting a passive system like a vibraplane or similar underneath is a whole new ballgame. I cannot tell you why most of us cannot feel the whole world shaking beneath our feet, but in a a lot of places it does...

What does the Denon DP-80 give up to other tables? Not a huge amount after it has been re-plinthed, put on a magnetic flotation isolation platform, and set up with a good arm. It has better sound than the PL-7L, but it should. The PL-7L is "newer" but at its peak it cost the same as the Denon motor by itself. The Denon is currently in a slightly better than original (if not terribly pretty) plinth, with a decent SAEC arm (the 407/23 - which I rate pretty highly). I think the Pioneer PL-7L can be better than I have gotten it so far because it has a decent arm and arm bearing, and insulator feet which keep the thing smoother than it has a right to be at its price (all the cost in this table was spent on motor and arm, which are decent - the plinth is well-designed but cheaply made. The isolation footers are very "non-audiophile-approved" (big plastic things with a spring system inside), but they work very well. I have not put a high enough compliance cart on it to make it perform its best. I have one on order so hope to have it on next week to test it out.

The Denon DP-80 is better than the Yamaha PX-2, and perhaps also better than the Diatone LT-1, because while they are very nice tables as-is, they are integrated linear trackers and would therefore be difficult to replinth (not impossible for the LT-1, but not easy like the DP-80). The Yamaha PX-1 is very nice. With an isolation platform underneath, it is very, very good. It could be tweaked to be even better (e.g. better tonearm cable, and dampening the diecast plinth might yield improvement (though might not)). I have not yet decided which I like better.

Comparisons fall down against the P3 and the MS. The MS is a great belt-drive TT - huge inertia and stability, especially on an isolation platform. There is zero edginess anywhere. Sometimes I have had to check the motor to see if was running slow (never has) just because it sounds so smooth. Using the older "Japanese heyday" arms (the SAEC, the MS Max 237, the FR-64s), it benefits from tracking a given cart a bit higher/heavier than I do on other tables (by a couple tenths). The Denon 'sounds like' the P3, but so far the P3 is better (in almost all respects). Part of this is that the P3 is naturally set up quite well. The arm, motor, and isolation-damping plinth were all designed to work together, and were all designed to a very high standard - flagships are called that for a reason and so have to be able to defend the colors against all comers. The P3 is smoother, but has unbelievable torque. It is tough to beat that. My next challenge is to see if the P3 will go on the magnetic flotation platform and see whether that makes it even better (the P3 is so heavy I am not sure the isolation platform can handle it).

In any case, all this talk of multiple TTs is showing me that I need to get rid of some!

Goocher, the QLY 5F was a mid-series TT, but you can pick them up for a couple of hundred dollars (or less), and as long as it works well, it should be a decent TT (but won't knock the best listed above off their perch). The things I notice go bad on the Victors/JVCs (of all levels) more than anything else is the strobe light.

Victor (=JVC) made a lot of very good tables from the late 1970s through the early 1980s, with the motor technology VERY much like the Denon DP-6000/DP-80/DP-75 motors. The higher-end Victors were the QL-A70/75/95, with the A95 being a very expensive table at the time. The motor on the QLY-5F was most likely a TT-61 or TT-71. The higher range tables had the TT-81, the TT-101, and the TT-801 (which is basically a TT-101 with vacuum hold-down) motors, better plinths, and more money spent on arms.

Seals,
I think there are some who might disagree with you that the Goldmund Studio is the ONLY ONE direct drive high-end turntable. I can think of a few actually.

Sit, which one?