DENON DP1500 HISTORY and COMMENTS

During the analog period of the late 1970s esoteric speaker wires, DACs, line conditioners, boutique capacitors, and home theater were non-existent. Instead, an audiophile would invest in a minimalist turntable with an expensive tonearm and cartridge. Armed with a collection of prized vinyl recordings evenings would be spent fiddling and adjusting the arm and stylus to achieve maximum musicality.

I bought this turntable around 1998 in Richmond, Va said to be a demo unit from a now defunct high-end salon in the area, Audio Art. I used the table for a couple of years and put it in storage about 2001. I decided to resurrect it and document it here. The table came with the unique Magneplan Unitrac 1 arm which I review on another page.  

The DP-1500 was produced 1977-1980 which was shortly before CD players appeared on the market in 1983. The motor/platter assembly was sold separately as the DP-1000 and was paired with the oak veneer base (plinth) to create the DP-1500. The unit came from the factory with no tonearm with the expectation that the audiophile would buy and install their own. Designed for low noise the direct-drive motor operates in 33 or 45rpm with a very no-nonsense design. The small arm at the rear is a microfiber roller which rides a few grooves ahead of the stylus to catch dust. The rubber bumpers for the acrylic lid (not shown) on the front corners were removed to lemon oil the base.

The strobe marks in the window will slowly crawl in either direction if the speed is too slow or fast. To calibrate the speed adjust the speed dial so the marks freeze in place.

Underneath the base a plastic shell removes to expose the motor. The transformer swings from two soft rubber mounts to reduce noise. Two other boards are visible. One has film/ceramic caps and the other is marked as the 'servo unit' with several electrolytics. A small ground wire exits the platter assembly to connect to the ground lug on a preamp.

Nippon Chemi-Con electrolytics are used. The large one is a 100uf 50v, the others are smaller values.

CONCLUSION: this turntable is now 45 years old and two decades in storage seems not to have affected it. It powered up out of the box so the stock capacitors are apparently still fine. All I needed to do is polish the dust cover and oil the wood.

   

Datsunzgarage.us© 1997-2026 All mods are illustrative only, perform at your own risk. Datsun is a registered trademark of Nissan®