So it wasn't a rhetorical question.
How good is the Micro Seiki DDX-1000 Direct Drive turntable ?
Here is the MICRO DDX-1000 direct drive. Never tried myself, but it is the most compact DD designed for 3 tonearms.
*The question is how good this turntable really is, compared to some other vintage Direct Drives ?
Some information from VintageKnob website:
*The question is how good this turntable really is, compared to some other vintage Direct Drives ?
Some information from VintageKnob website:
The DDX-1000 is the original design, with two sculpted strobe markings around the 2kg / 31cm die-cast aluminium platter. The resulting moment of inertia is at 330kg / cm2 and the top mat in fact covers a thick cork sub-mat set inside the platter itself.
The DDX-1000, in real late 70s modernism is a direct-drive. The motor is a DC-Servo with FG frequency generator reference set through the strobe neon lamp which "checks" how many stripe it sees and rectifies if necessary ; the resulting speed accuracy is of 0,03%.
The starting torque is of 1,2kg / cm and load characteristics allow the DDX-1000 to remain below 0,04% deviation up to a 3g load set at the outer limit of the platter - specs-wise, we're here under the contemporary Sony TTS-8000 for instance...
The heigh-adjustable feet are typical Micro Seiki (or Luxman, of course :) and contain a mix of inert damping (neoprene stuffing) and mechanical damping (spring).
The is no Quartz Lock on the DDX-1000 ; the MD-1000 power-supply box holds the power on/off, start 33rpm, start 45rpm and stop buttons plus two ± 6% speed controls.
The AX-1G to AX-6G tonearm bases fit everything from the ubiquitous SMEs to the Technics EPA-100 or PUA-1600L.
Of course, the motor of the DDX was used as basis for the Marantz Tt 1000 (1979), and that of the DQX-1500 (an updated DQX-1000) for the Tt 1000 mkII (1992). And, as often, Micro's direct-drive motors came from... Victor.
DDX-1000/G :
April 1976 limited edition (really limited : 30 units) custom made in... bronze. Howerever, it is black-looking for the most part, with the bronze only kept visible for the top of the three feet ; the platter was kept in AL and the command box was anodized in all-black style ; even the AX-1/G was in-bronze-but-painted-black...
Names of the people they were made for (and offered to - these were gifts !) were silkscreened on the (bronze...) motor's cache (...but painted black) - a rarity to say the least.
The DDX-1000 naturally spawned a myriad of lookalikes and still does today - perhaps better than the original, perhaps not. Or not that much :)
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Actually i was inspired by this idea of using Micro Seiki bracket/armboards for other turntable, i also have Victor TT-101 (actually two of them). This is not new because i’ve seen something similar before on Verdier turntables. And then OMA turntable with similar arm boards too. Pretty good idea ? I am not interested in anything but a Direct Drive, a turntable in the middle of this kind of "plinth" can be anything, like Victor tt-101 or Denon DP-80. Long time ago i’ve seen a custom made plinth by Steve Dobbins, the arm board also cab be rotated and fixed by one bolt, just like on his Kodo The Beat turntable. After all these i realized that Micro Seiki arm boards designed for DDX-1000 and related turntable is ideal solution and with an appropriate custom bolt cab be fixed to a custom plinth. Not bad, right ? Worth to ask about DDX-1000 turntable ? Micro Seiki made several turntables for use with those nice brackets, the DDX-1000 is the cheapest among them. DDX-1500, very expensive SX-8000 and this monster also designed for the same bracket/armboard. So i believe this method has been approved over the years not only by Micro Seiki engineers, but also by next generation of enthusiasts and custom plinth makers? And there must be a better Direct Drive from Micro, which one ? Thanks |
Others made the point that attaching the arm board to an outboard footer, as was done in some M-S belt drives, is not a good idea, because any energy delivered into the footer will make its way up into the tonearm. I think that's a good point of criticism, but I have never owned any turntable built that way. On the other hand, I respect Steve Dobbins very highly. You can see that his arm board is really attached to the plinth, with a considerable amount of material between the arm board and the foot, such that the armboard is only subject to the same vibrations that also would affect the bearing/platter. So perhaps he has foreseen the problem and taken steps to ameliorate it. The arm board on the Verdier is very problematic, IMO. But I cannot deny that the Verdier and M-S approach is convenient in many ways, as it allows for easy P2S adjustment. I just don't think its structurally optimal. If you want to try out a turntable built that way, maybe you can find a DQX1000, or better yet a DQX1500. Those are theoretically "better direct drives from Micro". Especially DQX1500. |
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