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Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?

I have just acquired a 32 year old JVC/Victor TT-101 DD turntable after having its lesser brother, the TT-81 for the last year.
TT-101
This is one of the great DD designs made at a time when the giant Japanese electronics companies like Technics, Denon, JVC/Victor and Pioneer could pour millions of dollars into 'flagship' models to 'enhance' their lower range models which often sold in the millions.
Because of their complexity however.......if they malfunction.....parts are 'unobtanium'....and they often cannot be repaired.
128x128halcro
dgarretson
2,598 posts
 
That’s interesting about the life span of electrolytics. Electrolytic manufacturers typical spec capacitor life at several thousand hours--though I suppose that this is calculated at the most extreme conditions of voltage and temperature. I only have anecdotal experience with their failure in TTs. My L07D lasted about 300 hours before exhibiting speed instability due to a failing electrolytic. I then replaced them all.
lewm
13,036 posts
 
I guess I am guilty of being a frequent advocate of replacing electrolytics in vintage DD turntables, meaning electrolytics that are typically at least 30 years old. My main reasons for that are (1) it's cheap insurance against a future failure, and (2) in the worst case scenario a bad electrolytic that might cost one dollar to replace (if you can solder) eventually can result in the destruction of an irreplaceable transistor or IC.  I agree that when you do replace ALL the electrolytics with new, you are probably discarding a few capacitors that are still good, but the cost is trivial.  (I'd love to see an 80-year-old electrolytic that still works fine, however. We're talking 1936.)

Plus there is the added possible benefit that modern electroytics are generally a little better, specification-wise, than they were in 1980. Your "stuff" might work better because of that.

fleib
1,124 posts
 

I'd have to say I agree about replacing electrolytic caps.  Maybe I'll practice soldering on boards, but for now I don't feel competent.  My Tech was being a little facetious with the 80 year thing.  I'm of retirement age and he's a little older so he was alluding to components outliving their owners.  I didn't make that clear.

The amp is a little tricky to adjust/fix.  The input board has a pot for each channel, but figuring out what to balance is a little confusing.  I sat down with a pin out of the tubes and remembered what Dan explained. It might not make sense to most techs/designers (don't know), but it works. 

That was originally my tweeter amp for a pair of Infinity Emit tweets located between 2 Acoustat panels driven by Dan's version of a servo amp. My room wasn't big enough for woofers.  The system I copied was that of Dr. Marty Wax.  He had a 30wpc Bernig for his tweets and big Rowland monoblocks for conventionally driven panels, but he had a pair of large Entec woofers.  That system was the closest to live, I've heard.  BTW, the panels were driven full range on the bottom with the woofers augmenting the bass. 

fleib

fast_mick
38 posts
 
I am a Vintage DD follower.

I have a DP-80/DK300 with SME 3010 arm and AT ART9 cartridge the cartridge only has a few hours on it but it is very sweet. I also have a DP-6000/FR64s.

To contribute some DD info I had a Micro Seiki DDL-120 w MA505. It was an interesting turntable, the platter was 3.2kg of zinc and also had lead in the plinth. I am not sure whether its motor was coreless or not but it had very low torque.

In terms of sound quality I would rate my Denon DP-80 and DP-6000 above the DDL-120.

Much of the problem of getting accurate information is that most of these TOTL DD decks were Japan only releases.

So in the absence of good info on these turntables I look on Hifido and the prices the turntables sell/sold for. I assume there is a correlation between current price and its sound quality/ reliability.(desirability?)

I am bit confused re this assumption though because Victors/JVC including the TT-101 sell at the cheapest end of the market. In this thread it its very highly rated and on TVK its stated to be one of the best turntables ever.

I am looking to add another turntable possibly a Kenwood KP-9010 which has a coreless motor and can be nuded very easily, it seems you just need to take the plinth off and you can mount upto 4 tonearms on it. Alternatively I could secure a Yamaha GT2000L or TT-101.

There are certainly more Kenwoods & Yamahas available than a TT-101.

If anyone has any thoughts about these

halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Welcome to the Thread fast_mick.
You're right about the perceived 'value' of certain brands in the Japanese or Asian marketplace and yes......JVC/Victor is not so highly prized there whereas the Yamaha 750GT/1000GT are so numerous I'd swear they were still producing them.
And the prices they pay for a 2000GT or 2000L seem ridiculous....especially as I've not read any particularly glowing reports of these decks from international audiophiles?
Can someone who has a Yamaha 2000GT please contribute?
I'm interested....

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