Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?

halcro
Curious if your teck has been inside a TT-101 before?

I read in the TT101 service manual that it do not need maintenance and engine lubrication but I believe little.

All turntables and those who have many many years of life need cleaning pin and lubrication with oil and perhaps thrust pad as for Technics SP 10 MK
None of you have ever done this to her TT 101?

Halcro, I am not sure what you are reporting.  Do you perceive that your TT81 outperforms the TT101, compared even to how the TT101 sounded before the power outage? Or are you saying that this observation is in relation to how the TT101 performed AFTER the power outage?

Were you able to ascertain the cause of the momentary loss of power on your street? Assuming this was not the moment when Trump hung up on your Prime Minister (a moment of which I am thoroughly ashamed and disgusted), perhaps it was a lightning strike.  Lightning is at millions of volts and can, for a brief instant, get by just about any power conditioner or filter. Perhaps, if the TT101 power supply was thus damaged, this could account for your perception. You may want to check or have someone else check the rectifiers and the filter capacitors in the TT101 Power Supply. For that matter, damage may also have been done to the downstream circuitry.

Have you ever changed the bearing lube in your TT101 (or TT81)? Yes, Victor wrote that the bearing never needs service, but as we've said before, "never" has a new definition at the 35-year mark in age. I changed my lube to Redball 0W20 motor oil, and I like the result.

I suppose a given TT81 could outperform (in terms of human perception) a TT101, but in principle a coreless motor is just better for turntables, in my opinion.

Thanks for the comments guys.....
Makes sense that the performance of the TT-101 was deteriorating BEFORE the outage....and that was the 'coup-de-gras' 🙈
Will be interesting to compare the two when I get it back.

Yes totem.....my Tech has fully serviced the 101 two or three times previously but no lubrication or dismantling of the bearing. It seems fine and spins freely for endless minutes when turned without power.

No storm or lightning Lew, when the power went.....and the Donald didn't cause it 👅
I know your preference has always been for coreless motors.....but I thought the SP-10 Mk3 is NOT.....?

No, SP10 Mk3 is not coreless. It's a massive 24-pole motor.  I never heard any "problem" with it, but it definitely sounds more coherent, musical, or smooth (pick your adjective) after having undergone the Krebs mod, which is directed at the tendency of the rotor/stator structure to rotate counter to the direction of the application of torque (Newton's 3rd Law), which in turn causes the servo to make more frequent minute speed corrections than is necessary and maybe that introduces a tiny bit of roughness or edginess to the sound that is effectively ameliorated by whatever Richard has invented. (It's a state secret.)  The Krebs Mk3 is by far the best of the iron pole motors I have heard in this system and probably edges out the others as well, if I were ever to do a really intense comparison.  JP Jones has a further upgrade for the electronics of the MK3 that I plan to have him do on mine. (Fidelis Analog, on the internet)

Your TT101 may need to be properly calibrated.  JP, who also fixed my TT101, raising it up from doorstop to turntable, says that calibrating the TT101 is a bit tricky.  I think it's fair to say that he would say most vintage direct-drives still in use are not working as well as they could, because of lack of proper calibration of the drive electronics.  Just a thought.