Top ten DD turntables of all time?

Hello all,
just found this thread looking for something else, and just have to throw my 2 cents in.

Back in 2000, I purchased an Aries MK1,JMW10,SDS Motor Controller, and a Grado Statement cartridge, and lived with and loved this set-up until two years ago, when one of my friends gave me his Mitchell Cotter. Its based upon the Denon DP600, and carries a Fidelity Research FR66s w silver internal wiring. He also threw in two cartridges, a Mission 773( high output version ), and a Koetsu Rosewood made by the old man. I didn't have time until about six months ago, but I have now played with every combination of cartridge on both tables to do a comparison. I of course began with the preconceived notion that the Cotter didn't stand a chance because it was direct drive and it was going up against a very good belt drive table in the Aries combo.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

The Cotter bests the Aries in every aspect of performance to my ears with all three cartridges. Now the Grado and Mission are not up to their best in the FR66s arm because of the compliance/arm mass interaction ( those cartridges are theoretically a better match for the JMW10 ), however they all strut their stuff better in the Cotter. The most striking difference to my ears is the complete lack of any background noise with the Cotter. I never knew there was any there with the Aries until I got the Cotter set up properly.
That table base is just completely acoustically inert.

The top end DD tables that have already been mentioned are all top class contenders, but all DD tables ( and I've been doing a lot of study lately) are better served with a new plinth. There's a lot of info on the Web, and if you're the least bit handy you can make an already great rig significantly better.

Well, that's enough for now.

Cheers, and enjoy the music.

Bill

Gentlemen, I must politely insist that the Series 20 (Pioneer) PLC-590 with PA-1000 carbon fiber tonearm definitely deserves to make this top 10 list. I bought mine as demonstrator back in 1980 and it is still going stong. It is a heavy piece of equipment with a heavy platter, and runs smooth and quiet, with no discernable distractions or colorations. The only upgrades I have made to it are a FURUTECH tonearm cable, Herbies mat, and AT record stabilizer weight. (Well, and an AT safety Raiser, but that is a convenience item.)
This was THE turntable in the high end Series 20 line that Pioneer branched into in the late Seventies, and it is built like the proverbial tank.The high end dealer that turned me on to it also did repairs and used to joke that he made half his money on selling high end (Bedini, etc) stereo equipment and the other half repairing Pioneer and Kenwood stereo equipment. He had to eat a little crow when the Series 20 line was introduced.

How about the JVC QLY 5 F

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.

I don't agree with TWL. They are some great DD tables to get.
Also some high end manufacturers are still making DD tables.
I own Teac TN-400 and I built 45lbs plinth around it and using it with Alphason tonearm. It sounds great.
I went through many turntables like LP12, Rega tables, Avid tables etc and I found my DIY project to be as good and better than others.
It is hard nowdays to make inexpensive DD since ther is lot of technology involved in it.
Look at the techinics SP10, it is hard to get because there are some people who like them a lot.
They are older tables and some work needs to get done on PSUs and table itself to get great results. If you compare bearing on my Teac with LP12 is like laughing someone in the face. Teac bearing is so massive and precise that I don't see any other bearing beeing better than that, oops may be some tables costong 30000 USD are having better bearing, I don't know because I would not spend 30000 on any table unless I win lottery.
Getting back to DD tables. They are great tables not all of them, those plastic made tables are worth nothing but they are some mechanical and electrical marvels there made by Sony, Kenwood, and others.