Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?

Hi,

I just bough a refurbished Denon DP-80 TT from Japan on Yahoo auctions. The seller is a Denon tech and for JPY 16,000 (about US$150) he will replace all caps, diodes and key transistors and also service the bearings and motors. DP-75 is JPY 14k. So fo Denon DD fans, there is now hope to service and rescue these great direct drive TT.
I am now looking for a plinth. Can PBNAudio make me one? The Denon DP-80 has the saucer shape like the Victor TT-101. In fact the Victors copied the Denon look. I have a copy of the DP-80 mounting template.

Hi Peter (pbnaudio),

I'm defintely interested in converting my DP-80 into a similar version of your Groovemaster DP8. How do you compare your DP-8 to your SP10Mk3? Also can you make a 2 arm version of your DP8? I'll send you a pm via your website.

Hi Peter @ PBN,

How's your TT-101 doing. Has it been setup. looking forward to hearing your comments and a picture of the plinth.

Hi Peter,

I just bought a TT-801 from Japan. The vacuum suction mat is not working (rubber is gone) but otherwise it is unused unit with original box and all. Can you make a plinth and convert to 120V?

Actually, I don't see this as off-topic. There have been many posts on this thread about mats related to DD turntables. It's all about wringing the best out of vintage DDs. And I happen to think that the SDP is perfect for DDs and may help to resolve one remaining disadvantage of DDs over belt drives i.e. motor vibrations going up the spindle. That said, I'll be happy to answer any questions you have on the SDP.

There has been quite a few posts in this thread about platter mats, especially for DD turntables. For my SP10mk3 (Krebs 2 mod), I have tried Boston Mat 1, Micro Seiki CU180 and the TTM Mat with Matching Oil filled clamp (http://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649203862-ttm-mat-2-and-oil-damped-stabilizerweight-combo/). Amongst these 3, the TTM was the best and after I introduced it to Albert Porter, he too thinks it's the best for the Sp10mk3. However, I have found an even better platter mat taht I would like to share with the group. It's Acoustical Systems SDP (http://www.arche-headshell.de/accessoires/sdp-the-sonically-most-effective-upgrade-for-every-turntable/). SDP stands for Special Decoupled Platter. This is not just a mat but an additional platter that decouples and isolates the bearing and spindle from the stylus. While most mats offer some isolationa dn decoupling of the platter, this is the only mat I know that also decouples the spindle. It stands head and shoulders above all the other mats. In fact, for me, the improvement it brought to my SP10Mk3 was greater than the Kreb mods. It's expensive and requires the arm-boards to be raised but it's worth the trouble IMHO. Especially for DD turntables where you have  the motor directly connected to the spindle (in most designs though there a few that are decoupled), it makes sense to decouple not only the platter but the spindle from the LP. Hence, SDP probably makes more improvements for DD turntables than Belt drive truntables. FWIW.

Ok, on second thoughts and further reflection, I taken theophile's advice and I've started a new discussion for the SDP mat. 

Phew! I'm so glad I moved my SDP platter post to a new discussion. That started a whole new discussion and can of worms. @theophile is correct and I stand corrected.
Back to vintage DDs. Anyone tried putting EMI/RFI shield on the platters? I refer to this link for L-O7D: http://www.l-07d.com/tweaks.htm
In the link, they use thin mu-metal shield for EMI and ERS paper for RFI shielding.

Chakster,

How do you rate the TT-801 vs the TT-101. Is the TT-801 a better model since it cane out later, has better specs anf comes with vacuum platter?