[Rocket]

Hi Guys,

I just bought my 4th turntable .  I purchased this as I've always wanted to try a good quality direct drive turntable and my technician has worked on this one and highly recommended it to me.  It cost me $550USD and the dealer fitted an Ortofon bronze cartridge which I had spare.

When I first installed the Denon in my system I felt a bit disappointed as I thought my belt drive Goldnote Piccolo turntable (using an ortofon 2m red) sounded better.  It sounded a bit lifeless and lacked dynamics and high end detail.  I do notice that the rear of the tonearm is a bit lower compared with the cartridge.  I'm wondering if anyone knows how to adjust the tonearm so I can adjust VTA?

I'll keep you updated on my progress.






Cheers Rod

[FullRangeMan]

Disappoint looks also, no strobe plate and light.

[SET Man]

Hey!

  4th turntable?  So, what are other 3? Anyway, keep us posted, I would love to know how this direct drive TT compare to the others you have.

Buddy

[borism]

Hi Rod,

That looks like a Jelco tonearm. Newer Jelco tonearms have a set screw in the collar holding the tonearm on the side below the anti-skating adjustment. By loosening the set screw one can adjust the hight of the tonearm. I would check if your tonearm has that.

Nice looking table!

Boris

[borism]

According to Vinyl Engine your table might have two set screws on the back of the collar to adjust tonearm hight.

[I.Greyhound Fan]

Is that tone arm medium or high mass?  If so, it may not be a good match with the Ortofon Bronze which I believe is a high compliance cartridge.   There is  a resonance calculator at Vinyl Engine and if you know the model number of the TA you can look up its effective mass.  You probably know all this already though!

https://www.vinylengine.com/cartridge_database_tools.php

Read the link below-


https://www.ortofon.com/support/support-hifi/resonance-frequency/

Nice looking TT by the way.

[marvda1]

denon's don't have strobe lights,  their speed is regulated by a magnetic strip on the inside of the platter. mine has a led that blinks until it comes to speed.

[Rocket]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the information. I located the 2 screws (flat head type) at the rear of the tonearm collar.  I've raised the tonearm a bit higher and I'll see if that makes a difference.

The other turntables I have are:

Goldnote Piccolo (early 2000's);
Goldnote Valore (Italian Job); and
Bryston bp1 turntable

My technician doesn't like belt drives at all and I thought I'd try his recommendation of a good quality direct drive.  Its in pretty good nick as he recently serviced it. 

[wushuliu]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the information. I located the 2 screws (flat head type) at the rear of the tonearm collar.  I've raised the tonearm a bit higher and I'll see if that makes a difference.

The other turntables I have are:

Goldnote Piccolo (early 2000's);
Goldnote Valore (Italian Job); and
Bryston bp1 turntable

My technician doesn't like belt drives at all and I thought I'd try his recommendation of a good quality direct drive.  Its in pretty good nick as he recently serviced it.

It's unfortunate the binary belt drive vs direct drive debate continues on in the 21st century and that people make recommendations based on that. Not all direct drive tables are designed the same, just as not all belt drives are designed the same. Quite the opposite. My experience with Denons have been brief but the times I have heard/owned them I considered the overall presentation to be neutral and incredibly quiet, with no real 'character' or signature sound other than what the cartridge brings. Some people love that, others don't.

Sony and Yamaha tables on the other hand, have what I consider distinct presentations, regardless of drive. With Sonys leaning to openness, and Yamahas a warm slightly rolled off 'natural sound' per the marketing. And don't get me started on a certain beloved direct drive that I've tried to appreciate but can't stand. A very prominent modern belt drive maker has their tables run a little to a lot fast, which of course adds another wrinkle to comparisons as even a small change in speed can change the character of the music.

The comparisons between tables should just be between the specific models. By nature of the diversity of table designs it's impossible to boil it down to x drive vs y drive (or poor idlers, the redheaded stepchildren of tables).

[Rocket]

Hi,

I would defer to your experience any time regarding DD vs belt drive turntables.  The Goldnote Piccolo whilst about 17 years old sounds very good despite having a cheap motor similar to a Rega 3.  Anyway, I'll let you know what I think once I've played with the Denon a bit more.  I do like the ability to lower and raise the tonearm at the flick of a switch .

Cheers Rod

[charmerci]

Disappoint looks also, no strobe plate and light.

denon's don't have strobe lights,  their speed is regulated by a magnetic strip on the inside of the platter. mine has a led that blinks until it comes to speed.

PLEASE, talk about what you know about.  That black square is a window to the strobe and the round dial to the right, fine-adjusts the speed.


Memories! I used to own one and my brother still has one. He uses an SME III on it.

[S Clark]

Here is a video of how to replace the strobe that it doesn't have.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YttQz7rc8iw
This video shows someone adjusting speed with the strobe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X3x_MgI8l4

[charmerci]

Hi Rod,

That looks like a Jelco tonearm. Newer Jelco tonearms have a set screw in the collar holding the tonearm on the side below the anti-skating adjustment. By loosening the set screw one can adjust the hight of the tonearm. I would check if your tonearm has that.

Nice looking table!

Boris

The DP-1200 comes with the "Denon" arm. (It could have been made by Jelco, IDK. But back then Denon was a pretty big audio company so probably (?) made them themselves.) My brother actually has the DP-2000 which is the 1200 table without an arm.

[twitch54]

Rod, if your pics provided are an indicator as to where and how your TT is set up / located, not good, way too close to your speaker.

[eso]

A couple years ago I built this DP-3000 with a deck I bought from a seller in Japan, an FR-54 arm I found on CL and an Ortofon 2M Blue.

The plinth is solid Baltic Birch with Brazilian Rosewood veneer.

It's a great deck

[Rocket]

Hi Guys,

Point taken about the location of the turntable in comparison to the speaker.  Unfortunately I'm limited to where I can place the turntable.  On a positive note I took the Denon and my old Bluenote turntables to have them properly set up with my technician.  The dealer didn't really install the cartridge all that well as it was a little loose in the headshell and wasn't aligned property and vta wasn't correct.

The denon really is quite a nice turntable.  I like both of the turntables in my system but I think with the better cartridge the denon has more bass and is quieter when compared with the bluenote.

Btw great job on the new plinth for the Denon DP3000.

Cheers Rod

[wushuliu]

The denon really is quite a nice turntable.  I like both of the turntables in my system but I think with the better cartridge the denon has more bass and is quieter when compared with the bluenote.

Glad it's sorted out. Happy spinning.

[wyntonmhifi2]

A couple years ago I built this DP-3000 with a deck I bought from a seller in Japan, an FR-54 arm I found on CL and an Ortofon 2M Blue.

The plinth is solid Baltic Birch with Brazilian Rosewood veneer.

It's a great deck

Beautiful deck!