Vintage Japanese DD Consult and Suggestions Please

I’ve got following DD tables Technics: Sl1200, SP15, SP10 MkII and MkIII, Pioneer Exclusive P3, Yamaha GT 1000 and GT2000, Denon Dp 75 and DP80 and a bunch of belt driven tables. When it comes to price/performance ratio I can’t think of anything that can touch P3 and Dp80. P3 is not expensive if you know were to buy in Japan but it will cost at least 3 times more here but D80 is still dirty cheap. In my books the performance of DP80 is not that far behind the one of Sp10MKIII and exceeds the one of SP10 MKII. You can get Dp80 in DK300 plinth or DK2300 (two arms plinth) for less than $1200 which is the basement bargain price for the extraordinary good table. There are cheaper Denon plinths available, but their construction is not very good. DK300 is a very decent plinth but a better option would be to mold your own plinth using epoxy and bentonite. It is not difficult to build one and it will cost you less than $400.

Sl1200 will blow TD160 ( I've got one in my collection and I grew up with TD125 which I replaced with SL1200 and never looked back) out of the water so any DD table that you listed would be a  big step up.   Luxman is not in the same league as DP80,  Sp10MK II or GT2000. GT2000 is another option that you should consider) as it come with a decent arm and you can have it for $2500.

I’ve got a couple of DP80s with plinths. PM me if you are interested.

@laaudionut In Japan they often mate DP75&80 with SME or SAEC and from my experience both are decent choices. There are other choices and it also depends on what cartrifges you have or planning to use. I like FR arms but they have resonance issues so they need some modifictions. PM me and we will talk.

@laaudionut  When it comes to turntable SQ it depends on 1)cart, 2) tonerm, 3) motor, 4) plinth. 

I've seen a few comparisons when people did it right and matched all components. You can make an educated guess by comparing published specs.

Below it the link to the table that I made a while ago with the spec comparsison of some DD motors that you are considering. 

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/technics-sp-10-mk-ii-and-denon-dp-80-vs-yamaha-gt-2000-kenwood-kp1100.985266/

Lewm, I used to travel to Japan for work at least twice a year and I had a customer in Kyoto (I don’t think it could get better than that :) who was an audiophile and he introduced me to a to a friend, used equipment dealer/collector in the area. I was offered P3 at least on 3 occasions and I pulled the  plug twice, unfortunately the  first  time UPS totally trashed it so the second time I took it with me on the plane. Unfortunately, my employer exited electronics business and it was not done gracefully so I'm no longer in contact with these guys. I had some other contacts so I will try to find them and PM to you.  When I was in Japan after Covid in 2023 I did only vinyl shopping in Tokyo  and it was not the same: the selection and the quality went down big time. It probably did not help that it was August, but I did vinyl shopping in summer before.

One thing that I actually never saw in Japan was L07D. One day we should do a shoot out between your L07D  and  P3 as I think we live within 2 hour drive.

@tomic601 This is why I suggested DIY epoxy bentonite plinth. Epoxy+bentonite has much higher damping ratio than treated wood of DK300. 

Does triplanar sound much better than DV505?

Armboard with epoxy/bentonite will be too damped.. Frank Kuzma told me that even polycarnonate amboard would suck out LF from his arms.  You can try epoxy/steel balls mixture which would be easier to work with and you should be able to increase loading as balls have much lower surface area than bentonite.

I used polyester epoxy with 1% catalyst and 60/40 bentonite/epoxy  ratio. To get an optimal ratio you should cast small samples and watch for shrinkage, carcks and curing. Once you find  the otimal range it is very easy to cast. 

What do you use on your Technics? Ulike other Denon plinths Dk300 is made from engineerd wood and it is quite stiif. I've tryed to make an armboard  out of Al as that time I had only table saw and it did not make much difference to my ears. Carbon steel or bronze would be probably better options.