Top ten DD turntables of all time?


I'm getting back into vinyl and need some suggestions. Please don't suggest belt drives!!! Better yet, let's mention only vintage DD turntables, since I feel they are superior to anything being manufactured today.
rod1957
TW RAVEN AC3 also RAVEN BLACK NIGHT!! Great build quality wonderful sound easy to use ETC.
Technics 1200. They still slam with a Ortofon Black, Red, Bronze or Red cartridge.
In the latest Audio Advisor catalogue, I noticed they are going out of their way to bash direct drive turntables, while hawking Regas and other belt drive turntables.

Are that many people selling direct drive turntables again that they need to defend a different niche?

Or the assumption is that the average person reading their catalogue already has a direct drive turntable?

To me it didn't make any sense, but then again, neither does their choice of "models".
I'm a little surprised not to see Albert Porter's efforts with the Technics SP 10 Mks II and III mentioned in this thread. If you are a purist, and want only to discuss unmodified vintage DD TTs, then read on only at your peril.
Mr Porter has, in the Forum, described his modification and updating first a Lenco, then a Technics Sp10 Mk II and now a Mk III TT, developing each toward its performance envelope with trial and error. During that time he also owned a top of the line JA Michell table.
While I haven't pursued the thread about the Lenco, Albert describes clearly his development of the SP 10 TTs. An anecdote he mentions in conversation, though not in print, is a showdown between his Michell Proscenium and Technics SP 10 Mk III tables.
JA Michell was in the room, performing every tweak he knew for the turntable of his own design. The Technics table, in Albert's proprietary plinth (Panzerholtz sandwiching Bass wood with aluminum interleaf, lead weight, brass tonearm mounting flanges, etc) with an SME 312S (12") tonearm was, *by mutual concensus* dusting the Michell's performance into the weeds. Cartridges were matching Air Tight PC-1s.
This is not a testament to Albert Porter. It *is* intended to acknowledge what initial quality of design, full development and execution, and meticulous setup can achieve using a vintage DD TT.
The price point of the Mitchell TT is not relevant; what may be of note is that Mr Porter sold the Mitchell and has kept the Technics table. The very latest technology is not paramount: it's how it's applied that matters.
If a 1970's-made DD table can be brought to a reference level of performance, going head to head with one of the very best of today's TTs (using, one would think, the finest of currently available materials and technology) it tells me a lot about the Technics' initial quality of conception --in the engineering sense-- and about the learning amassed in the interim that, when applied with diligence, can give lifelike renderings of The Music. I believe that's what a few of us are seeking in pursuit of the high end. It would seem that it can be done, and done very well.
Cdk84

I agree.

So why do people continue to trash direct drive turntables?

And can anyone describe general characterstics of the sound of a belt drive turntable, such that it might explain some listeners preferences?

I am going to go back to the future with direct drive.