Denon DP-80

Through Denon's trademark magnetic imprint + reading head system, the DP-80 claimed a 99,998% speed accuracy, along with a 75dB s/n ratio.

A thousand pulses are imprinted here which makes a 555,5Hz frequency used for speed detection and/or correction.

The DP-80 and its smaller DP-75 sibling would be later on sold as integrated players with a very different base and tonearm : DP-80, DP-75M.
The DP-70M and DP-70L are also related with nearly identical specs but for the lower load resistance, startup torque and a simplified double-platter system.

Then came systems which others were inaugurating at the same time, 1978, s seen in the Yamaha PX-1, Sony PS-B80, Pioneer PL-L1000, Diatone LT-1) using "sensing" arms of sorts, which Denon, once hooked to the thing, called Dynamic Servo Tracer, as used in the integrated tonearm of the DP-100M monster or the DP-59M bestseller.

The DP-80 was old-school and remains as such thirty years after the fact. And that is exactly what makes it exactly that, old fashioned, but much more reliable than early all-out electronica.
The DP-80 also was part of a Denon broadcast player base, the DN-92F - Japan-only, of course.


The DK-300 base shown here is made of thin slabs of wood, treated with a phenolic compound and assembled under high pressure. The DK-2300 is the same but for a deeper depth to accomodate a second tonearm.

The accompanying tonearm is the DA-401 which catered to the (shrot-lived) lightweight trend of 1980/82.


Many detailed inside view of the DP-80 at the indispensable amp8.com : here and here ; a DN-92F here