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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.
halcro
czarivey
5,946 posts
 
Ebm style answer: No we're not.
banquo363
371 posts
 
Whoa. Congratulations, Halcro. Did your tech miss a joint on the first go around? Or did an already resoldered one break anew?

When my tech redid mine, he said he had to very carefully inspect each joint with a magnifying glass.

Get your magnifying glass out, Lewm.
lewm
13,720 posts
 
Banquo, Between me and Bill Thalmann, I daresay about 70% of the solder joints on my TT101 have been re-done. And the ones that have not been re-done are OK by inspection, not that that means they actually are OK. Every time I fiddle with the TT101 I re-do a few perfectly good looking solder points. Eventually they all will have been re-done. Will the damned thing work then? I doubt it.
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Thanks Banquo,
My Tech originally redid every solder joint as per your specific instructions which I had passed on...😃
So this was obviously a recent break in one of these new joints.
As your Tech wisely knew.....inspecting with a magnifying glass is a wise precaution.....
I think it would benefit Lew to send his TT-101 to your Tech. He sounds like he 'knows his onions'....🔎🔍
banquo363
371 posts
 
I don't believe Lew needs my tech, Halcro--he can probably solder just as well as my tech can--what he needs is a sunnier disposition :).

Lewm: after Halcro's experience I'd call into question every solder joint, including the 70%+ you already did. I recall you saying that for days it worked fine at Thalmann's but when you took it home it acted up again. Maybe some bumpy streets cracked one or two of those delicate joints?

The symptoms you describe are more or less what I experienced. They can lead one to suspect a failed component or something complex. My tech (and Halcro's) spent a good deal of time with that mindset only to discover that the gremlins lived in the solder joints. Since the boards are too complex to try to locate the joints responsible for any particular symptom, the 'brute force' method is recommended: redo them all; it's the only way to be sure.

If it still doesn't work, well then, we can say that your skepticism was warranted.
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