This is argually the best Direct Drive Turntable ever made. It's the monumental Denon DP100M.

It cost about 900,000 JPY in the early 80s - a LOT of money back then and would equal about or over 30,000 Euros today!! 

Very few were produced, probably under 200 pieces and only on incomming order basis.

This TT is a massive player weighing in at 63 kgs with the wood base/housing and about 48kgs without.

The motor is identical to the ones used in the Record cutting Lathes also made by . . . you guessed it - Denon! An extremely strong, quiet and hyperexact drive.

Has the Denon specaility: Double Split Platter construction - essentially 2 platters in one where the inner one is suspended by springs to isolate from resonances. 

The whole massive cast metal base is suspended in heavy duty springs and viscous dampers. The wood housing is removable.

The M stands for the complete player with arm. The arm is a very well built and extremely stable variant of the Denon speciality: the Servo Tracer. It actively dampens out resonances both in the vertical and the horisontal plane.

The player is perhaps more common (!) without arm and is then called DP100. The buyer could then mount a suitable arm of choice on it.

This is one of the best DD players of all time - an Exclusive P3a.

It was the slightly improved version of the fantastic P3. It was made by Pioneer for the Japanese market where cost was no object in the 80s, and it did cost . . . . an arm and a leg: about 6000 Euros in 1983 which equals almost 20,000 Euros today! 

The Exclusive brand featured Pioneers statement products, from Turntables to Amplifers - most were absolute state of the art HiFi components.  

The P3/P3a was the end result when an electronics giant like Pioneer decided to develop a turntable second to none with little or no regards to costs.  

The P3a weighs a whopping 48kgs! The whole drive system is mounted on a  very solid and heavy sanwich metal base and suspended by heavy duty springs and viscous dampers.

The wood plinth is removeable.

A HUGE TT. Ultra rare outside Japan. A book could easily be written trying to describe this TT. 

The motor has a torque of 10kg/cm! There is no slowdown of the platter with up to 1.5kg load which must be something of a record.

This TT can only be described by one word: AWESOME! Then  there were the less expensive Pioneer P70, P50 and P30 among others.

Now, this is the real deal - a Kenwood L-07D.

This is also one of the absolute best Direct Drive turntables ever made.

Very heavy at over 30kgs and ROCK SOLID.

The platter alone weighs 5.5kg which makes it one of the heaviest DD platters made (though there were DD TTs with even heavier platters).

The L-07D was the result when Kenwood engineers was given free hands-costs no object.

Nicely designed J-Shaped arm with VTA on the fly and super stable base. However many owners mounted another higher quality arm behind the platter to really match the quality of the drive.

Separate electronic control box like a SP-10.

All in all, an extremely desireable DD TT. The second hand prices do reflect this though . . . 

Technics SP-10MkII - the Direct Drive reference. This is the most successful High-End DD TT ever made. These have been sold in large numbers all over the world and been used in most radio stations and studios world wide.

The SP-10 is an extremely well built DD drive with top specs. It has a 3 kg individually balanced platter.

Extremely fast start of only 0.3 seconds to full speed and of course electronic braking.

The SP-10MkII has a separate powersupply and motor drive housed in a heavy metal box.

The picture shows the complete SL-1000MkII  where the SP-10MkII drive is mounted in a very esoteric Obsedian Plint which is actually vulcanic rock and acustically dead and very heavy. The Arm is the SPA-100 - an engineering masterpiece - an extremely well made arm.

There was a later version of the SP-10, the SP-10MKIII which looked almost identical but was substantially improved and much more expensive. For example, it had a 10Kg platter! The MkIII is a very rare beast today and also ultra expensive if found for sale.

Sony's best Professional turntable, the super rare PS-X9.

Fantastic build quality and very heavy at around 34kg.

Long version of the company's trademark J-Shaped arm design. A very stable and nicely built arm. The cartridge on the picture is the XL-55 which was Sony's top-of-the-line Moving Coil cartridge and one of the first designs with integrated headshell.

This TT has absolutely top specs and can be compared to any high-end turntable made up to date.

Very rare outside Japan and extremely expensive today if found on the used market.

This is one of the better Denons made - a DP-75 M. It's a beautiful and rare DD turntable. Stunning finish with mirror finished real Bubinga veneering. It has a solid laminated plinth which makes this TT very heavy: 25 Kgs.

It also features the famous Denon speciality - the SPLIT PLATTER which is really 2 platters in one. The inner one is suspended by springs. The construction is very heavy: 3 kg.  Absolutely stunning quality DD TT.

It features a very long 12" arm that is extremely well built with a heavy solid base with on-the-fly VTA adjustment. Non-contact Magnetic Anti-Skating. It has interchangeable arm tubes and comes with 2 arm tubes: one straight low mass and one S-shaped. This enables it to be used with most cartridges on the market - even a SPU.

Thick heavy non-resonant Plexi-lid. Most solid I've seen and heavy.