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Plinth ideas for DENON PD-80 DD turntable

While my pair of Victor TT-101 still sleeping in the storage, i decided to buy another Flying Saucer.

The DENON DP-80, vintageknob always have nice images and info about rare stuff...

On that page you see DP-80 with DA-401 tonearm for hich compliance cartridges (i have this tonesm NOS). It could be an interesting project, it was hard to resist ...

The question is the Plinth for this Denon DP-80.
The original DK-300 plinth is an option, but searching for something better i found this one.

Custom made plinth is always an option and i have superb Audio-Technica AT-616 pneumatic insulators to use under the plinth.

But what do you guys using with your Denon PD-80 ?

P.S. some companies now producing even an iron cast plinth and graphite plinth, i have no access to graphite, but iron cast here is cheap to make a custom plinth.
128x128chakster
pbnaudio's avatar
pbnaudio
1,610 posts
 
Chakster  - I use the Boston mat on my DP80 it works great.
Another mat that needs investigating is the Acromat from funk firm.
As far as using CU mats on the DP80 i don't think its a good idea they are too heavy for the spring suspended inner platter.

Good Listening

Peter

chakster's avatar
chakster OP
6,144 posts
 
@pbnaudio thanks Peter, i'm gonna try The Mat from Sakura Systems, it's in my wantlist. 

BTW: how do you lubricate DP-80 motor ?  
pbnaudio's avatar
pbnaudio
1,610 posts
 
chakster

The bottom bearing "holding" plate comes off by removing 3 screws, so its pretty easy. I have added 3 photos on the Systems page for the DD tables.  The last three ones  https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/6431

Good Listening

Peter
chakster's avatar
chakster OP
6,144 posts
 
Cool, thanks ! 

bima
30 posts
 
Beautiful photos, and turntables — thanks PBN. One shows the suspension of the dual-platter (6th from final pic). By removing the allen-heads that hold the leaf-springs, the platters can be separated. You will then see the foam pads, a key element in resonance/vibration control, isolating the playing surface (where the groove and stylus operate) from bearing-noise — bearing-noise (rumble) may be minimal, but it's there. The foam will be rotted and of no use, unless they've already been replaced.

Mine were rotted: crumbly powder, with a bit stuck to the metal like thin tar. The two platters were in direct metal-to-metal contact, totally defeating Denon's ingenious anti-resonance/vibration design.  

The gunk was easy to clean off. I then replaced it with new foam (described in an earlier post). The improvement is quite obvious: low level bearing noise was notable by its absence. It becomes silence, the silence between notes is truly silent, and you can hear subtle overtones and harmonics that were previous masked by the noise — a far more complete presentation of the music and all its subtleties, with concomitant benefits to imaging and soundstage.  

The new foam is readily available, the process isn't difficult, nor is re-assembly — though care must be taken to ensure the two parts of the platter are concentric and thus balanced.

Given that it's not hard, and if you're reasonably handy, I suggest it to anyone with a DP80, if your pads haven't been renewed already. The reward vastly exceeds the time/effort, and negligible cost.

PBN's photos also show that it's not hard to relube the bearing. With mine, the lube had turned to thick sludge at the bottom, with little remaining on the shaft. Again the difference was striking: the platter spun freely far longer, and a stethoscope verified far lower noise.

As above, take care to be sure the parts are aligned/centered properly.

Thanks again for those clear and helpful photos, PBN!
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