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
It would be interesting to open a specific thread for the plinths, initially this thread was born for the Victor TT-101 and similar turntables with so much electronics inside.
The Victor TT101 is a completely different beast - have one that is partially overhauled, the complexity of this is quite unique.  That plus the electronics are mounted on a flimsy large PCB with a myriad of wire jumpers.  Most errors on these have been cracked PCB lanes when conferring with JP, our resident TT101 Expert :-)  somewhere further up this thread I have made a list of suitable transistor replacements for it and have some of the un-obtanium IC's as well should anyone need any - had to buy 10 of them.    

I'm hoping to get it working sometime but there is just too much to do 

Good Listening

Peter


So let me get this straight, in the lengthy insomnia-fueled post on page one of this thread, it was said that once some of the ICs on these 'tables broke down, that was it...doorstop.

My question is that while there are good working ICs out there isn't there some way to reverse engineer them and make clones?  Or instead of  opening them up and cloning them, maybe make a microcontroller that would mimic the functions?  

I am not an electrical engineer, so I don't know if this stuff costs millions of dollars to accomplish...



@pbnaudio
I do not know what to say, I expect to have some rest to take over the TT101 that I was given a few months ago, because almost nothing works and the engine spins fast .....display not work and it needs a great deal of restoration from me.
I hope to solve the many problems that he has


https://s2.postimg.org/440jrafnd/image.jpg










Bestgroove,

You certainly have your work cut out for you :-)  JP knows quite a bit more about these than I do.  On vinyl engine theres a complete service manual available for download. Your photo only shows the electronics in the Bezzel, they main PCB is located below the motor and its with this large semi circular one the most issues have been, mostly with cracked PCB lanes.

Once I get mine spinning correctly Ill make a Plinth for it, but because of the original design of this Ill keep it in its original "UFO" shell.  Ill make sure to post pictures once I get it built so you can atlas get some ideas of how to make yours.

Best of Luck


Peter