Japanese DD TT re-plinth (general)

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Dr Bunsen Honeydew
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#1 Japanese DD TT re-plinth (general)

Post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

I have had lots of experience with Japanese DD TT from the early 70's until recent offerings. I developed a theory that has largely proved to be correct that you make no mistake if you buy them by the kilo. The heavy ones are good, the light ones are shite. Of course platter and motor weight and quality are part of this, but the major part is the cheap plastic plinths used in the cheap ones.

Ten years ago you could buy the good ones for peanuts, one of my PL71's was bought then from a guy in Crawley for less that £50, now I wouldn't sell it for under £300 and probably more. Also available stock is drying up and has to bought from Germany or the US as in our flat earth stupidity very few were imported here.

So you woodworkers and DIY boffs, buy one of the cheapos still seen at eBay and get the tools out and see what difference adding a solid marine ply (or similar) plinth and solid arm board does for them. I think it would be a worthwhile exercise.
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#2 Re: Japanese DD TT re-plinth (general)

Post by Nick »

I think you will find that been the advice of several sage members of this forum for at least 12 years.
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#3 Re: Japanese DD TT re-plinth (general)

Post by pre65 »

It does no harm to reiterate something we have known for many years.

I did a big heavy plinth for a Dual 1019 idler a long time ago. :)
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#4 Re: Japanese DD TT re-plinth (general)

Post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

Seen it for Goldring / Lenco and Garrard 301 / 401 etc but never for cheap Japanese Direct Drives as the plastic plinths are usually integral with the working bits.
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#5 Re: Japanese DD TT re-plinth (general)

Post by shane »

A while ago I was given a Vestax pdx2000, which is a DD turntable designed for DJs. It has a horrible plastic plinth, a nasty pressed aluminium platter, and some very strange facilities like massively variable speed, and a reverse button. The interesting bit is the motor, which is very high torque, nicely made and incorporates a reasonably good bearing assembly. So far, I've junked the platter and fitted the platter/sub platter assembly from a Heybrook TT2, which is not unlike the Linn platter only aluminium rather than Mazak. On first testing, the motor accelerates so fast that the sub-platter spins inside the main platter, needing me to fit a couple of bolts to join the two together. It now reaches operating speed in about 1/3 of a rotation. Since I have a pet theory that the benefits of idler tts are largely due to the availability of lots of torque, I think this could be an interesting project. Next stage is to build up a solid plinth from layers of 6mm or 9mm ply. Ideally, I'd like to use slate, but the days when you could pick up offcuts of slate cheap seem to have gone.

Sadly, this probably won't happen until the summer, but I'll ducument fully here. Meanwhile, when I get a chance I'll put some pics up of work so far if anyone's interested?
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#6 Re: Japanese DD TT re-plinth (general)

Post by pre65 »

shane wrote: Sun Feb 12, 2017 12:10 pm Meanwhile, when I get a chance I'll put some pics up of work so far if anyone's interested?
Yes please Shane. :D
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shane
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#7 Re: Japanese DD TT re-plinth (general)

Post by shane »

I'll try and post them early next week.
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#8 Re: Japanese DD TT re-plinth (general)

Post by cressy »

I have a jvc ql-y5f that requires a new plinth due to be restored when i get the time, this deck isnt bad in respect of the crappy plastic plinths, but is 1 layer of chipboard for the top and sides.
When i get around to it (soon I hope) I will be building it as a cld plinth using ply and mdf to the same dimensions as the original. Paying attention to ventilation of course.

Another thing I plan to do is to relocate the mains tx into a separate box if i can, it hangs from the top plate on rubber mounts that are quite perished so it may be a good idea to isolate it from the plinth to reduce transmitted vibration.

I did take a technics sl3110 out of the nasty plastic plinth and put it in, a heavy oak plinth a number of years ago and that thing was significantly nicer in the new one so its certainly worth looking at.

The only caveat especially with technics decks is that if you are interested in the resale value of such decks is to avoid losing any screws, plinth parts ect as the prices for them can be vastly inflated because of the name. Put it back together and its probably going to be worth more if you do come to sell it on

I especially like the cheap pioneer units for hacking about as the motor is self contained rather than having the magnet in the platter. It makes it alot easier to mount the motor in a new plinth rather than the technics style circuit board with coils and bearing on it
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#9 Re: Japanese DD TT re-plinth (general)

Post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

Interest response to this elsewhere that I never thought of. It seems putting one of the cheap ones in an outer ply plinth filled with sand works.
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#10 Re: Japanese DD TT re-plinth (general)

Post by shane »

Makes sense. Anything that helps to absorb vibrational energy will help.
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#11 Re: Japanese DD TT re-plinth (general)

Post by cressy »

I think it was ed who built one out of a dual dd deck years ago that had a plinth made from cast concrete
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#12 Re: Japanese DD TT re-plinth (general)

Post by pre65 »

cressy wrote: Sun Feb 12, 2017 12:55 pm I think it was ed who built one out of a dual dd deck years ago that had a plinth made from cast concrete
I tried to do a plinth using a bag of "post mix" that was surplus to requirements.

I think my mould building technique was suspect as it did not turn out as expected. :(

Another idea was to use casting resin, but I never got to try that.
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#13 Re: Japanese DD TT re-plinth (general)

Post by jayman67 »

as you know doc our tt share the same plinth construction,ive made a tonearm board for mine in panzerholz,it,to me sounds better than the ebony one which in turn was better than the original weight less plywood one,ive just been given for free an old cross cut/rip saw (dewalt type) and a router table.
iam very tempted to knock up a new plinth to see what if any benefits can be had,the feet(same as yours) would have to go as there's no way they would support the weight without bottoming out.
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#14 Re: Japanese DD TT re-plinth (general)

Post by pre65 »

Go for it, and let us know how you progress please.
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#15 Re: Japanese DD TT re-plinth (general)

Post by Dr Bunsen Honeydew »

But you have one of the best ones already, you have only a little tuning benefit, not WTF :shock: type revelations. As with Doc Mod speakers we (I) am trying to find ways of turning sows ears into silk purses.
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