Panasonic Technics DD 33 TT

B

bluegrassphile

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Anyone had or heard a Technics DD 33 direct drive, fully automatic TT? Are they decent quality and sound good? I was given one that was barely used, almost mint condition, and haven't tried it out yet. I don't even have any vinyl to try it with. It also needs a ground wire.
 
From your original post a few years ago, there was not much love or knowledge for this old player. As far as cleaning and servicing goes, you would probably pay what the TT is worth to have someone do it.

That said, there is no bad place to start. Try it out and if the bug bites you, move up to a more current or well loved older TT and Cart.

I lucked into a Rega P3 with the Elys2 and with nothing else to compare it to and using the Phono section in my Luxman, I am fine for now and beyond.

What will more than likely happen, is all your quality gear will tell you that the old TT is the weak link. But again, you have the TT, you want to try and see if you get the bug, so why not just hook it up and check it out by now?
 
Didn’t we answer all your questions about that table years ago? Nothing has changed with regards to being a cheap table when new and bringing next to nothing on the used market.
 
Sorry, I didn't mean to run the subject into the ground. I just thought there might be a few more owners of them out there. Looks like that's not the case. As I mentioned above, I need to acquire a ground cable for the TT. But I'm not sure it's even worth the effort considering the sound quality I'm likely to experience.

I think I might just bite the bullet and start a search for a new, decent quality, TT and cartridge. Along with the Rega are there other recommendations? Budget would likely be in the $1000 to $1500 range. I'm not familiar with the current crop of TTs. I haven't had one myself for 40+ years.

I'll need to start a new vinyl collection from scratch since giving away my collection 15 years ago. The wife said they were taking up too much room. Actually they probably were. We live in a small home and the records filled up about 1/2 of a walk in closet. She would be more tolerant of a smaller, selective collection.

I still have a very large CD collection. And they've all been ripped. I've also thought of a high end CD player. But I think I'd rather have a TT. OK, I'm rambling. But it looks like I'll be walking the path toward a new TT. We'll see where it ends up.
 
Tom,

If you are serious in creating a new select LP collection, and they won't all be used albums from the 50s (although I do have a few great sounding ones from then) with the rest of your gear, you will want to use something better. I gave away all my albums in 1987 like an idiot and have been buying them back used and new now as long as I don't have dups on CD. I can only speak for the Rega P3 as I have no experience with anything besides the old BSR I used as a teen. There are many good tables to choose from so it comes down to features and looks in the range you decide.

For your thought on a HE CD Player, although not totally HE, the Rotel 1572 is well worth the $1K price. Loving mine.
 
Thanks, Brian, for the info. I'll be starting my TT search in earnest after my hifi budget recovers from the HP and HP amp I've been saving for. I'll pick up the phones and amp next month. Then I'll start saving for the TT. Putting together a complete hifi system sometimes is a long, slow, process.
 
Good luck but I see little to no sense in starting an 'analog journey' at this day and age from scratch. Old farts like myself and others whose LP's number in the many hundreds to thousands it's a different matter.

I would love to know the number of 'band wagon' jumpers in the past couple of years that have silently slid off the wagon !
 
I don't know, maybe I should consider a high end CD player vs a TT? I still have hundreds s of CDs. I have no vinyl and would have to start from scratch. I would recreate the vinyl space issue I had with record albums, while I already have the CDs. We have room for the CDs. But not another sizable collection of record albums.
 
I find that I never spin CDs/SACDs any more. I have a pretty decent Oppo. I literally turn it on only to rip a SACD if a friend wants a digital copy of their disk for their server.

I started re-collecting albums semi-recently and I do enjoy it (picked up a few more at lunch today). There is just something very fun about it.

Rega makes a good solid table. If I were buying a table to add to my system I would buy a belt drive first (wait a minute, I did). I then added a direct drive Technics (great value table and give you all you need to start, phono pre-amp, cartridge, etc.). I use it for cleaning (do not like doing that on my belt drive) and for my regular albums. I use my better Rega belt drive for my better albums.

With the Technics you can upgrade as funds permit. I added a separate phono stage (the SimAudio Mike sells is an amazing value) and then a better cartridge (I like the Audio Technica cartridges, VM740ML).

If I were doing it again, I might consider getting a higher Technics to start because I am fairly impressed with this very reasonably prices table. Although not the purest (and I can not afford the crazy purest tables) the Technics direct drives are pretty darn nice.

Or, if budget permits the Rega skeletal tables are great sounding and look incredibly cool... my Rega is a RP8. Puma just wrote an amazing reviews of the top Rega, the P10... It sounds like he loved it (oh the review was in The Absolute Sound).
 
bluegrassphile said:
Naw, more like $2500+ for a CD player. Does that realistically put me in the ballpark?
Click to expand...

see, there's the rub with your 'player upgrade' idea, more than doubling what you would have put into a TT setup ?

It sounds like you've got an itch that needs to be scratched. So if you have a handful of CD's you want to spin and have no need for SACD I'd look no further than Rotel........

RCD-1572 | Rotel
 
I listen to SACDs and CDs all the time. Great sound quality. I enjoy them more then streaming, but streaming is good too. And I've ripped all my CDs using an Aurender ACS10. So, I don't technically need to physically spin them.

When I re-began my journey in audio I stated I wouldn't get a TT. But I think and hope now that I will be getting one. In your price range Rega is a no brainer IMO. Mike at Suncoast Audio sells them ....

IMO, vinyl sounds better than digital. IMO, go for the vinyl. You can rip the few CDs you have and then listen to your new vinyl records too. Best of both worlds. Acoustic Sounds has a lot of vinyl to choose from.
 
I agree with ripping your CDs. Put them on your Nucleus. You do not even need a spinner for that, your computer will work fine. I hold my Oppo simply to rip a SACD if needed (not many spinners can).

I am glad I got back into vinyl. Yes, I wish I keep all of my albums back in the day, but I cannot change the past so moving forward I have to re-buy those that I want.

I am also not into streaming. Music I download or rip sounds better and certain is more reliable. If I want to listen to the best I play a record album... who would have thunk it... I now have two turntables :).
 
As Calvin said for price-to-performance ratio Rega is a no brainer. I will also add the Technics 1200G, I've listened to it on more than one occasion and was impressed. Most recently with one of the Hana offerings and my toes were a tapin' !
 
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