Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?

"Living Dangerously - Vintage DD Turntables"

Sounds like a good premise for a new and suspenseful reality series on The Learning Channel featuring adventurous daredevil audiophiles that love to push the limits beyond the norm.

I have my TT101 back and running once again. The tech changed out 8 capacitors, and I saw that the old ones were quite leaky. I dodged a bullet on that one. Cost was $150 including labor, parts, and tax. I am going to have the TT81 done as well.

I will follow this entry immediately with the second part of this story.

Another thing: I decided to check out the motor bearing on my own. There is a large screw at the bottom of the motor (visible by dropping the sheet metal cover on the bottom. It is sealed with some kind of hardened clay like material. I carefully scraped and vacuumed away the sealant and then I opened the screw... lo and behold I saw a small steel bearing and it was sitting in about 1/2 ounce of oil!! Dirty oil at that. The screw itself is a cup and at the bottom of the cup is a plastic thrust plate.
I cleaned out the old oil with a soft cloth and let it drip out - but nothing really did, and re-filled it with Mobil 1 motor oil. I didn't re-seal it as I will get back in there in a year or so and do it again and the screw/cup holds all the oil it needs.

I wanted to be sure the spindle/motor spun smoothly once I had it all back together. But, I heard a rubbing sound when I turned the spindle (platter off). Oh crap. I had torn apart turntables before so I thought - here we go again.

There are six screws around the motor on top - three hold the motor in place and three hold the black steel top plate of the motor in place. I took all six out (they were surprisingly tight) and lifted the plate off - no more rubbing sound. I spun and listened as I reassembled it and if I over tightened any of the screws the rubbing returned. Once back together, rub free, I put the platter back on, hooked it all up and voila! It spins free and long without any sounds. I don't know if the tech tightened things up or what happened but I am thankful that it was such a simple fix.
It is playing Oscar Peterson in Russia right now and Peterson's flying fingers sound ever so beautiful.

Lew,
I think the Victor TT-101 originally sold for 165,000 Yen whereas the TT-81 sold for 75,000 Yen?
Big difference but the complexity of all the variable 'pitch' options plus the dual bi-directional servo sensors all contribute as well as the motor difference.

Great thread - I concur that the TT101 is a great table and I had the same concerns as Halcro, so I have a back up for spares

I have a tech here in Ottawa who is from Vietnam and specializes in servicing vintage Japanese gear, his workshop is floor to ceiling with vintage "junk". He seems to be able to fix anything I have thrown at him, including by backup 101 when it started to behave badly. So I am on the page that we can get by for a few more years yet.

On another note, I bought a heavy lead plinth for the TT101 from Tommy Cheung specially drilled for the table and accommodates 2 arms. Makes a big difference, but admittedly I have not tried the table nude. I found the best mats are the micro seiki cu-180 closely followed by the SAEC SS300.
My reference table is my Seiki sx8000 and the 101 is very close, such that sometimes I muse on selling the big micro.