Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’..! Join me once again as we look at one of my favourite turntables, the gorgeous Denon DP-1200 direct drive.

A quick recap for those who don’t know: Liquid Audio began as a turntable specialist when there was a maximum of just one other turntable specialist in Perth, and few in the entire country. This remains true, though many others have since claimed to do this work. That business owner (my good friend) and I used to chat about setting up the businesses we run today, and even what they might be called, and we remain friends and colleagues to this day.

In contrast to my colleague, I began slowly as my business was only part-time while I still taught science and worked at Curtin University, with small numbers of everything from regular to high-end turntables like the Kenwood L-07D, Luxman PD-444 and PD-555 and gorgeous, killer tonearms like the SME 3009 series 3, SME IV, Audio Technica AT-1100 and Dynavector DV-505. That was nearly 15 years ago! Wow, how time flies.

My first entire year of posts was about turntables-only; check out my sitemap for those and others, and my apologies for how they’ve aged. I’ve repaired and written about many other types of equipment over the years, of course, and developed additional foci on amplifiers, CD players, Accuphase, Krell and Sansui, for example, and which I enjoy very much, but the focus on turntables never diminished, only grew some company!

With that in mind, let’s next look at another of my all-time favourite turntables, the Denon DP-1200 🙂

Background

Regulars may recall articles I’ve written about the venerable Denon DP-1200 over the years, including one about resolving DP-1200 speed issues and one about DP-1200 motor service. This is no surprise as the Denon DP-1200 is both a relatively common model and one of my favourites in this mid-tier of turntables from the golden era. I’ve been lucky to have serviced and repaired dozens of these over the years.

The DP-1200 is a relatively feature-rich direct drive turntable with a good tonearm and thankfully without any features that would otherwise detract from its performance, like the unhelpful servo arms of later Denon machines. There’s a strobe to confirm any of the speed weirdness that indicates the need for service, as was the case with this unit. There’s also a lovely arm lift and lower mechanism operated by a large switch, and an auto arm lift at the end of a record, operated by a smooth solenoid and damped cam and lever mechanism.

Speed feedback is provided by Denon’s standard magnetic strip method. Whilst not quartz-locked like the Kenwood KD-600/650, it is locked to the AC mains frequency, which is remarkably stable long term. Short-term variations are integrated out via the control circuitry and feedback mechanism itself, so you end up with excellent speed accuracy.

When you see the engineering and construction quality here and compare it with what was available elsewhere in the turntable world at the time, you realise just how hokey some other ‘highly regarded’ designs really are. This was often driven by snobbery and ethnocentric thinking that values creations from some parts of the world more highly than others, based on nothing other than a feeling of superiority.

This is truly as stupid as it sounds, and many of you, especially Japanese and North American readers, will know just what I’m talking about. You know, the “Oh, but it’s from Japan, so it can’t be any good.” I refer to it as the great British hi-fi press ‘ruse’ of the 80s and 90s, which saw some ordinary equipment gain far higher market penetration than it should have. Paradoxically, the reverse was in fact true: equipment like this Denon DP-1200 is so good because it was from Japan.

I prefer to rate equipment based on its engineering, technical and sonic merits and then assign superiority where applicable. This way, one only has to deal with facts and observations based on hands-on experience – ie what matters. We can ignore magazines filled with mostly paid opinions written by reviewers who peed in the pockets of manufacturers who advertised in their magazines and let them keep the equipment they reviewed.

You won’t find any advertisements here, of course. But I digress… For another great and underrated Denon turntable from the golden era, check out my video about the beautiful Denon DP-3000 / DP-3500 I repaired a year or two ago:

Denon DP-1200 Specifications

Courtesy of every hi-fi lover’s friend, Vinyl Engine!

Drive system: direct drive by AC servo motor

Speed control: frequency detection servo system

Speeds: 33 and 45rpm

Speed range: +-3%

Wow and flutter: less than 0.018% wrms (this is LOW!)

Signal-to-noise ratio: over 75dB

Starting time: less than 1.5 seconds

Tonearm: static balance type, auto arm lift

Effective length: 244mm

Overhang: 14mm

Cartridge weight range: 5 to 11g

Stylus force range: 0 to 2.5g

Height adjustment (VTA): 39 to 43mm

Cueing: oil damped system

Dimensions: 485 x 163 x 396mm

Weight: 11kg

Service

This Denon DP-1200 came to me in need of the usual TLC, due to a lack of service and maintenance over the years. The cartridge and tone arm were poorly set up, leading to diminished sonic performance. The deck was experiencing speed fluctuations and a few other long-neglected lubrication and adjustment issues needed attention.

This is typical of DP-1200s, I see, most turntables for that matter, so it’s not a judgment of this owner by any means, just a reflection of what often happens with equipment like this. Anyway, without any further ado, let’s go!

The last step with this Denon DP-1200 service is to remove and clean the cartridge, stylus, and check fastener tightness, overhang and then reinstall and adjust azimuth, tracking force, anti-skate and VTA.

The Audio Technica AT-13ea is a classic moving magnet cartridge, fitted to an equally classic AT D-7 headshell. They still work well, but they are ancient, and a deck like the DP-1200 really deserves something better than an ancient, worn and basic MM cartridge. That said, nice alloy body on the AT-13ea, really cool.

One option is a new JICO stylus, at around $150. A better option, though, is a new and better cartridge that retains genuine stylus availability for the next decade or more, a concept the owner and I discussed. I typically recommend, supply and fit cartridges in the $700 – 1500 AUD price range for DP-1200s. She will be back for a better cartridge at some point.

Results

I think anyone would agree, properly maintaining turntables like this beautiful Denon DP-1200 is an absolute no-brainer. Not only are they now highly collectible, but they sound great when properly set up and replacing one is not an easy task.

Is the current Technics SL-1210GR a fair comparison? Yes, I think it is, and if you want one, definitely speak with Dan @ Addicted to Audio (Perth) and tell him I sent you, but having worked on a few of these modern direct drive machines, honestly – I prefer the DP-1200. Horses for courses, I guess, and your views may differ.

Either way, the owner is very pleased with the results of this service and totally appreciates how good this DP-1200 is and how lucky he is to own one. Now THAT is a customer I respect!

Thanks!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this article about another piece of equipment I love. If you’d like me to look at your Denon DP-1200, or any other lovely Japanese direct drive turntable, don’t hesitate to let me know.

Don’t forget to like, share and subscribe, and I’ll see you again soon, maybe sooner than you think!