This is a Kenwood KD-650 with a stone composite plinth. It could be regarded as a logical development of the classic KD-550. The 650 is a very, very well built TT. It weighs 16kg and is built like a rock - literally!

The plinth is made of compressed limestone and resin composite and is extremely resistant to feedback and resonance. 

It also has a very heavy and precision machined platter: 2.6kg.

The motor is a high quality unit which is very strong and maintains a super stable rotation with very low rumble, wow and flutter and speed drift. 

The arm is S-shaped and very well built with a  stable fulcrum and extremely stable base.

The VTA adjustment is rock stable and of the superior chuck collet type and is adjustable on the fly!

This arm is of medium mass type and works best with medium to low compliance carts.

There was another version of this player as well, the KD-600 which was sold without arm, but it was identical otherwise.

Check that plexilid out! One of the best lids I've seen and very heavy and thick and as well made as the rest of this classic turntable - if you find one-get it.

Then the company had their KD-750 which was a stunning turntable with its polished Rosewood plinth. At first glance it wasn't a stone composite plinth, but again, looks can be deceving because undernneath it did indeed have a stone base! It was more expensive but had similar performance as the KD 600/650.

Other later high quality models include the KD 770 and KD 990 and of course the top of the line L-07D - see the High-End page.

This is one of my all time Automatic DD favourites: a JVC QL-Y66F.

Absolutely stunning TT in glossy redwood veneering.

Rather heavy: over 12kg. On this TT, you never have to touch the arm, everything can be controlled by the soft-touch buttons. However, it can also be used fully manual. You can even place the cartridge on the record without turning on the platter - just like a Techincs SL-1200MkII.

The plinth is the only weak point of this model, it is not solid, but hollow and made of rather thin lower quality chipboard and thus rather sensitive to resonances. However, most automatic DD TT's are built like this to house the electronics.

Resonance damping material like bitumen can easily be installed to improve these kinds of plinths though.

On this one I have installed over 2 kg of bitumen material inside/under the base with good results to reduce resonances. This has increased the weight to about 14kg.

The arm is JVC's unique ELECTRO DYNAMIC - fully electronic arm with active resonance damping control.

This electronic control works  excellent indeed and is really an ingenious device. You can even adjust the damping, needle pressure and Anti-Skating with the 3 knobs ON-THE-FLY, i.e. when playing a record!

There are magnets and coils built into the arm fulcrum and under the base. These control the needle pressure and anti-skating. All the arm movements are electronically controlled by buttons and all the arm movements are dead quite and super smooth!

There are no linkages and complicated mechanics like on conventional automatics which is a BIG advantage as these can often cause problems.

The arm is very stable with a solid base and came with interchangeable arm wands to fit a wide variatey of carts. I prefer the S-shaped one with the standard SME type quck change shell. It's a long arm: 254mm effective length-about 10" which reduces the tracking error.

Here I mounted one of my favourite MC cartridges; a Dynavector DV23R - a true hifi high-end classic.

That's what I call a platter!

It's a huge oversize; 350mm in diameter(50mm larger than  a LP record) platter and weighs just under 3 kg which puts it in the DD TT top league. As heavy as the high-end Denon DP75,DP80 and Technics SP-10.

It also has a high-tech magnetic bearing to reduce friction by eleveting the spindle.

All in all a top quality high-end Automatic DD player.

If you find one, don't hesitate to buy it. 

JVC made other similar fully automatic models also. The predecessors: QL-Y55 - a very nice TT, the QL-Y7 and the QL-Y5. All desireable. Then the two manual top models: the QL-A75 and the ultimate QL-A95 which is extremely rare. The latter had a vacum platter to suck down the record and a separate vacum pump.

Last but certainly not least, the earlier fully manual QL-10 model which probably has the best DD drive JVC has ever made.