Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?

Lewm
None other than JP of Technics chip fame.

Very nice, looking forward to hearing what was needed and any
 anecdotal information.

Perhaps JP will chime in on the TT101?

JP did a lot of work on my TT101.  We're still debugging it, or I should say that HE is still debugging it.  More anon.

I'm working on a complete restore of a TT-101 too, should hopefully have it up and running in a week or so.

Lewm,  I have found suitable replacements for most of the transistors in the TT-101, some of the original ones have the silver plated leads that oxidize, as many of the Toshiba Small signal transistors of that era did.  

If you need a list of these Id be happy to send it to you 

Good Listening

Peter

I find the rebuild and re plinth of a direct drive from the 70’s really far more appealing than spending considerable sums on a new belt drive despite the pitfalls, most of which are repairable we hope. I am currently re plinthing a Sony TTS 8000, using a SAEC 506/30 and an AT ART9. Even with the plinth at prototype stage it sounds fabulous, and easily superior to my (previous) Roksan Xerxes 10/SME IV. Absolutely effortless and super clean sound, after many hours ensuring the arm position and geometry were as good as can be, this required me to produce a specific protractor (laser engraved on to acrylic) which has enabled very accurate cartridge alignment. Once the final plinth is complete and made i’ll put some images on my system page.. This really brings back the joy of our crazy hobby and it's fascinating to use 40 year old designs that can excel sonically against most modern decks..