Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?

Hi chakster,
After the High-End Show 2017 in Munich....I spent several days in Regensburg (a scenic Bavarian town on the Danube) where I was privileged to listen extensively to Thuchan's impressive system.
His Victor TT-101 was never humbled by his other great turntables including the EMT 927/R80 and his latest Caeles.
The TT-101 is the only Direct Drive connected to his system as his Nakamichi TX1000, Marantz JT1000, Denon 100M and Sony PS-X9 are all 'retired'.
I found a non-working 'basket-case' TT-101 for him in Canada which he was able to purchase cheaply and he had it completely rebuilt....a process which dragged on for over a year.
When his technicians finally had it completed....they were unable to get it working due to a faulty main chip which they couldn't source anywhere in the world.
I remembered that Lewm had written about finding some unobtanium power chips for the 101 some years ago and lo and behold.....these were the ones that Thuchan needed and thus was saved from obscurity (thanks to Lew's generosity), another TT-101 vintage deck.

My own TT-101 has risen to new heights since it, and the three arm-pods have been supported by the active Herzan isolation platform.
Victor TT-101 turntables only turn up about 3 or 4 times a year on eBay or Japan Yahoo but almost invariably.....they suffer from some malady or other making them....because of their complexity.....prime candidates for the tip.
People like JP Jones, I see as the saviours of our glorious great vintage DD turntables....🤗

@halcro great that you’ve met in person in Europe. Is that the same "plinth", but glossy finish?

When you say "cheaply" is that $300-500 range or lower ? Buyin this turntable in non working condition how much (roughly) the owner should invest to return it to life? I assumed it also takes too much time, not only investment. Just curious.

Yes chakster......it's the same plinth except his is slate whilst mine is polished granite.
I sent Thuchan the blueprints which he used for his slate copy...

It's really hard to be definitive in the used TT-101 market....
They are so rare that their current owners 'pretend' there is nothing seriously wrong with the example they have for sale, and often price them (or go to auction in the case of Japan Yahoo) as if they are in good 'working' order...
Sometimes an honest seller will contain the work "junk" in their yahoo description and yes.....you can perhaps win the auction for $300-$400.
A better bet perhaps is to wait for a Canadian or US seller who admits the deck is not working and will negotiate a price between $500-$600.
Buying from a 'known' re-seller in HongKong like Foxtan is not a guarantee of joy (as I found out to my regret and cost) but buying from Tommy at TopClass Audio in Hong Kong (as I finally did) is perhaps the best course.
But then be prepared to pay $1500-$2000 and wait 1-2 years (as I did) for him to find a working example.
But even if you DO stumble upon a real 'working' example.....you will probably find that something 'breaks' within a few months.
Invariably you will need to replace all electrolytic capacitors and a few transistors and most importantly.....burn out all the old solder joints and replace with new.
So if you are eventually bound to have to do all that....I would advise anyone who really wants a TT-101....to buy a 'junk' non-working model for less than $500, and send it to JP Jones for a complete restoration.
I don't know how much JP Jones charges for such a service, but you would need to put more than $1,000 into a 'junk' TT-101 to have peace of mind I would imagine....

An alternative would be to buy a TT-81 for $400 on HiFiDo and live happily ever after 😁👍

I doubt JP wants to do a cosmetic restoration of a TT101.  First, his main passion is the SP10 Mk3, for which he has re-created the vital chip (MN6042, I think) using discrete components, with specs superior to the original.  (I bought one, but I still need to have JP install it.  Since I espouse the "if it's not broken, don't fix it" approach, I am procrastinating.)  Second, his expertise is in the electronics.  I would focus him on what he does superbly well, including calibration of the drive system. Even if your DD is ostensibly "working" fine, there is a chance it could be better, more torque, more accurate servo action, if properly calibrated.  JP told me that many DD's sent to him in working order are not in fact operating up to par because of poor or no calibration. (This included my TT101, which besides having a crack in the PCB was also not well calibrated.)  If you re-cap your vintage DD, the next step is probably also to re-calibrate it. (I am not saying that JP is the only person on earth who can do that.  Thuchan evidently found some expertise in Germany, for one example.)

Chakster, The story of my TT101 cost-wise is perhaps more encouraging than Halcro's story.  Mine was on eBay as part of a QL10 ensemble, which is a TT101 set into the top line Victor plinth and bearing a Victor UA7045 tonearm. The seller was honest enough to admit that the turntable was not working.  I was willing to pay no more than $600 for it, on the premise that the tonearm alone is worth about that much.  To my surprise, I won the auction at that price.  Moreover, all pieces are in mint condition.  I now think that the crack in the PCB which was causing the intermittent issues probably was there when the unit left the factory.  Thus my TT101 probably saw very little use over its lifetime.  

I use my TT101 in the QL10 plinth after heavy modifications to the plinth, including the addition of mass and damping, using aluminum slabs bolted to the underside, and replacement of the MDF tonearm board with a custom-machined, massive, aluminum mount.  I'm running a Fidelity Research FR64S in a B60 base mounted into the alu arm board.  I have a slate plinth, originally made for my Denon DP80, but the hole for the DP80 is just a little bit too big or too small for the TT101.  I'm quite happy with what I've got, anyway.

I don't want to encourage JP to raise his prices, but his services are VERY reasonable, especially considering the fact that they are vital to our DD lovers group, as Halcro stated.

I have a TT101 partially restored - still have a few quirks in the electronics, cosmetically however it is fully restored.  Must get this done soon so I can hear what this can do compared to the other "heavies"  SP10MK2 , 3 and the Higher End Denon's DP80, DP100 and the mighty DN308 - which I consider to be at the very top of the heap :-)

http://pbnaudio.com/audio-turntables/vintage-direct-professional/dn308

http://pbnaudio.com/audio-turntables/vintage-direct-professional/dp80

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/4909

Good Listening


Peter